By SUSAN KATZ

On Oct. 7, Hamas violated a long-standing ceasefire agreement with Israel.

On that day more Jews were murdered than on any one day since the Holocaust. Three thousand Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel and murdered 1,200 innocent Israelis, including 36 young children, and 31 Americans. Two hundred and forty people were taken hostage, from babies to seniors, including Holocaust survivors. As of Dec. 20, Hamas still held 115 hostages.

We know the timeline of the terror attack and of the atrocities Hamas committed because the terrorists video recorded their attacks. Hamas came with maps of the Israeli communities, of where to find children, and with instructions of how to torture and murder Jews and inflict as much pain and carnage on the Israelis as possible.

The terrorists intentionally burned people with family members watching to maximize the horror, given the history of the Holocaust. Hamas terrorists wore body cameras to record and celebrate these horrendous attacks. The recordings have been shown to governments and journalists around the world as proof of the depravity of Hamas. The killers paraglided into the Nova music festival, where they murdered and tortured 364 young adults who were there to promote peace.

Hamas’ crimes have been documented through eyewitnesses, some of whom recently testified at the United Nations about the violent rapes that occurred. Forensic medical staff confirmed the bodies of the attacked were mutilated and sexually assaulted.

Those who deny or try to justify that these things happened is tantamount to supporting Hamas and its objectives.

Historical context

Prior to 1947, when the United Nations ratified the partition plan of Palestine (Resolution 181) and created a Jewish State of Israel, the land was held by the British and before that by the Ottoman Empire (for 400 years). It was referred to as Palestine under the British Mandate; Jews and Arabs lived on the land and had lived there from time immemorial. Jews have lived in Israel for at least 3,000 years; they predate Christians and Muslims in what we now call Israel.

In 1917, the British government drafted the Balfour Declaration, which announced support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. This is not the Palestine of today; there were no people who referred to themselves as Palestinians, only Jews and Arabs living under the Ottoman empire until the British defeated the Ottomans.

When the UN ratified the partition plan in 1947, the Jews accepted the plan, which also designated territory for the Arab population. When Israel declared statehood in 1948, surrounding Arab countries attacked the newly formed state. Israel defended itself and gained land that would have gone to the Arabs had they accepted the partition plan. During this war many Arabs were displaced; many left because they were instructed to leave by Arab leadership. The local Arab population was told the Jews were going to be driven into the sea and they should leave so as to avoid the blood bath, and that they would return after the war. Some were also driven out by Israelis, as tragically happens during a war. In total, there were approximately 700,000 displaced Arabs.

Simultaneously, after the 1948 war 800,000 Jews were violently expelled from Arab countries for being Jews. These Jews left with nothing, stateless, but peacefully carried on with their lives elsewhere, mostly in Israel which was now an option unlike any for European Jews. There are currently 1.5 million Arabs living in Israel as Israeli citizens. There are virtually no Jews living in Arab countries.

There have been several attempts to destroy Israel by war in 1948, 1967 and 1973. Israel has been willing to give back conquered land for peace. After the 1967 war, Israel offered Gaza back to Egypt, but Egypt chose to make Gaza a perpetual refugee camp and sponsored terrorist groups there to continue fighting Israel, which currently has a peace agreement with Jordan, and with Egypt that included Israel returning the Sinai Peninsula. Israel has always pursued every opportunity for negotiated peace.

Present day

In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew its military and Jewish families from Gaza, hoping the withdrawal would lead to peace. Hamas was then elected and has controlled Gaza since 2006. For 17 years, Israel has endured Hamas’ suicide bombers, rockets, incendiary bombs, and other attacks and has tried to avoid full scale war with Hamas, recognizing the risk to civilians.

The attack of Oct. 7 was heinous, illegal under every international law of war, and made it clear that the only intent of Hamas is to destroy Israel by elimination of the Jews. Hamas’ charter calls for the establishment of an Islamic Palestinian state in place of Israel (“from the river to the sea”) and rejects all agreements made between the PA/PLO (Palestinian Authority/Palestinian Liberation Organization) and Israel. The USA, Australia, Japan, and UK, among others, have recognized Hamas to be a terrorist organization which is committed to the annihilation of the state of Israel and the Jewish people.

Hamas rules Gaza and is ultimately responsible for the welfare of the Palestinians there, and yet it hides weapons in mosques, hospitals, schools, UN facilities, and amusement parks. Hamas uses these same places to launch rockets against Israeli civilian targets and to house military bases. Hamas uses the citizens of Gaza as human shields while its fighters hide in 300 miles of tunnels beneath the cities of Gaza.

Financial aid from many sources, particularly Iran, intended to benefit the Gazans is controlled by Hamas and is used for weapons and to build the complex of tunnels with reinforced concrete, running water and electricity. Hamas has even impaired the water supply in Gaza by using the pipes to build rockets. Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior member of Hamas’s political bureau, declared that they are not responsible for protecting Gaza’s civilians, and said that the vast tunnel network is only for the protection of Hamas. The fuel, food and other resources that the Gazans need is reserved there for Hamas only.

Eliminating Hamas key to safety

We mourn all who have died on both sides during this war and hold Hamas responsible for all the deaths. Hamas could end this conflict by giving up the hostages and its goal of destroying Israel. No country, including Israel, should be expected to live next to an enemy sworn to its destruction and actively pursuing that goal. Hamas forced this war and if it would lay down its arms and allow the world to come together to rebuild Gaza as a peaceful state the war would end and the Palestinians in Gaza could flourish.

Gaza needs to be free, from Hamas.

— Susan Katz is Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Peoria.