The Banality of Evil

A Shin Bet investigator interrogated the Hamas terrorists. It is incumbent upon each of us to read and internalize. Here are several central paragraphs:

Victor Sharpe

During the months of the war against the Hamas perpetrators of the October, 2023 Nakba massacre of Jewish men, women, children and babies in Israel, Ariel Kahana met the cruelest of these Palestinian murderers, those who committed the inconceivable crimes on October 7. ‘What stands out most, was their utmost banality.

As Hannah Arendt said, the Banality of Evil.

Of the ordinary persons who committed acts of atrocity, some of them were not even the Nakba terrorists. … For example, those who were involved in the kidnapping of the Bibas children were not Hamas terrorists. Many of the perpetrators of the most severe atrocities were not Hamas terrorists at all.’ In other words, they were ordinary Palestinian Gazans who committed atrocious acts without having a magnetic card with a personal number as members of Hamas…. These were and are people who saw the opportunity, entered and acted.’

Ariel Kahana says: ‘I did not see remorse. They were ghouls and merely upset that they were caught and would have been happy with a different ending. But I did not see them, under similar circumstances, doing something different. They were proud of what they did.’

Going out to war is one thing, but to rape, to murder and to burn and to be enthusiastic about it—what is this sub-human behavior? This is what we must all internalize: ‘We need to understand where we live. First of all, this is a religious war; we should understand that fact. Second, in the terrorist’s eyes he is not committing a horrifying act. Nor is he doing something that his prophet, Mohammed, also did, even when it came to atrocious acts. This is his example. This is jihad…. It is the militant insurance of Islam, and it is a duty for every Muslim to do.’

And here, to the attention of Kushner and Witkoff: Kahana asks: You already said earlier that there is no difference between Gazans and Hamas’s Nakhba terrorists. But now Jared Kushner is speaking about de-Hamasization and that we will essentially re-educate them. Is that possible in your opinion? And K. Correctly answers: ‘Absolutely not. Jihad is a general and personal duty, and the only way to receive exemption from it is if you are in a state of inability imposed by the enemy. Only then, within the framework of “the weakness of the believers,” can you refrain from jihad. So, you can hire a public relations office, distribute beautiful textbooks in the schools—here’s a spoiler: it does not work. The only option is to exercise full control. Note also that there is no remorse among them. Even 700,000 dead would not have helped. They do not count that. On the contrary, it is an honor for them….. It does not interest them, neither damage to property nor loss of life.’

And here comes the most important part of the entire interview: ‘The only thing that matters to them is the transfer of lands. Anyone who is not Muslim and is on land not ruled by Muslims is in Dar al-Harb – The House of War. That means he is in the land of war that must pass to Islam. Also, in New York and in Mexico. And therefore, only when the opposite happens will they care. When they see Yarden Bibas harvesting wheat in fields that were once their houses, and they understand that it is forever, only then will they say, “We lost, it was not worthwhile.” Anything else, temporary, a yellow line, a purple line, a line here, a line there, you demolished a house, stopped a truck, eliminated 70,000 or 700,000 of their people– none of that interests them.’

And Ariel Kahana returns and asks: So, what is the way to win? And this is the answer—and we should read these words again and again: ‘To take territory permanently and for them to know it. That it be clear to them that it is for eternity. As long as that does not happen, from their perspective they have won. It does not matter how many buildings you have demolished, or how many terrorists you have eliminated. Until they see Yarden Bibas harvesting wheat in fields that were once their houses, and that it is forever, from their perspective they have lost nothing.They will do it again. It will take a year, two, four or ten. If you did not take territory, you did not win and you did not finalize the battle. Period.’

We must internalize—the conclusion is clear: we are dealing with a population whose entire culture is the murder of Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and all non-Muslims. Men, women, youth, children and babies. To continue allowing them to live next to us in Gaza or among us in Judea and Samaria is suicidal.

Kahana clarified in a simple way how we must defeat them: ‘To take territory. ‘And for them to understand that ‘it is forever’—that is the application of sovereignty. Over Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Then and only then will they understand that they have been defeated and that they have no future here.

What are we waiting for?