The Western world awoke Saturday morning to war in Israel, images of Hamas terrorists slaughtering Israeli civilians in the streets, and Hamas rockets raining down on Israeli neighborhoods. Israeli families were (and, as of this writing, still are) fleeing for their lives.
On social media, Hamas posted horrifying videos — a dead, naked Israeli woman being paraded through the streets, plainclothes Hamas fighters slitting the throats of civilians in their cars, and women and children being kidnapped and carried away to a fate worse than death.
The situation is fluid and developing, and there will be much to say in the days and weeks to come — about the Biden administration’s shameful and reckless appeasement of Iran, about the failures of the Netanyahu government to anticipate the attack, about the complicity of the emirate regimes and what they deserve now.
But one thing is immediately clear: Gaza will now be reduced to rubble. Israel, on the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, is once again in a fight for its existence, and the gloves will come off.
Given the long-established facts of the Israel-Palestinian question, this is as it should be. For all the talk about Nazis in Ukraine lately, the truth is that the real Nazis are in the Middle East, and they are all enemies of Israel. It’s time to deal with them for good. Hamas must be eradicated just as the Nazis were eradicated. Any end to this war that doesn’t achieve that will be a catastrophe for Israel.
For its part, the U.S. should make clear that it will veto any U.N. ceasefire resolution before Israel declares victory. And an actual victory will require Israel seizing control of all Gaza’s territory and then going house to house, seizing every weapon and killing everyone who doesn’t surrender. The Israelis will have to keep this up until the unconditional surrender of Hamas.
What does unconditional surrender look like? Let history be our guide. As Allied forces swept into Germany in 1945, tin plates bearing this proclamation from Gen. Eisenhower were nailed to posts and walls in both English and German:
I, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force, do hereby proclaim as follows:
- The Allied forces serving under my command have now entered Germany. We come as conquerors, but not as oppressors. In the area of Germany occupied by the forces under my command we shall obliterate nazism and German militarism. We shall overthrow the Nazi rule, dissolve the Nazi party and abolish the cruel, oppressive and discriminatory laws and institutions which the party has created. We shall eradicate that German militarism which has so often disrupted the peace of the world. Military and party leaders, the Gestapo and others suspected of crimes and atrocities will be tried and, if guilty, punished as they deserve.
- Supreme legislative, judicial and executive authority and powers within the occupied territory are vested in me as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces and as military governor, and the military government is established to exercise these powers under my direction. All persons in the occupied territory will obey immediately and without question all the enactments and orders of the military government. Military government courts will be established for punishment of offenders. Resistance to the Allied forces will be ruthlessly stamped out. Other serious offenses will be dealt with severely.
- All German courts and educational institutions within the occupied territory are suspended. The Volksgerichtshof, the Sondergerichte, the SS police courts and other special courts are deprived of authority throughout the occupied territory. Reopening of the criminal and civil courts and educational institutions will be authorized when conditions permit. All officials are charged with the duty of remaining at their posts until further orders and obeying and enforcing all orders or directions of military government or the Allied authorities addressed to the German Government or the German people. This applies also to officials, employees and workers of all public undertakings and utilities and to all other persons engaged in essential work.
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, General, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force
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