Posted on 09/09/24
| News Source: Arutz-7
“Calls for a negotiated ceasefire with Hamas are not only immoral – they’re dangerous.”
This is the stark warning delivered by SA Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein, following recent pressure on Israel from Western countries – including Israel’s closest ally, the US – to finalize a deal with the Gaza-based, Iranian-backed terror group.
“By demanding a negotiated ceasefire instead of surrender,” says Goldstein, “the world sends Hamas – and all Jihadi terrorists – a dangerous message: no matter what you do, no matter what evil you perpetrate, you will always be able to extract compromises and concessions. Your violence, intimidation, and terror works.”
This, he believes, dramatically increases the risk of a terror attack on the West.
“As the United States, the UK, and the EU, in the name of a false moral equivalence, abandon Israel, their fellow democracy, to the savage wolves of Hamas, they strengthen the forces of terror – and the next target will be the West itself.”
International pressure on Israel has intensified in the wake of the horrific murder of six innocent Israeli hostages by Hamas.
“This brutal murder reveals the darkness of the evil that Israel is up against,” says Goldstein. “The international community must stop pushing for a negotiated ceasefire, and instead demand Hamas’s unconditional surrender and the immediate release of all remaining hostages.”
Goldstein emphasizes the moral distinction between Israel and Hamas that is being overlooked by global powers.
“Hamas is a terror organization driven by violent jihadi ideology. Israel is a peaceful, free democracy seeking to protect its citizens. To seek a compromise solution between Israel and Hamas is to endorse evil. It is to do a deal with the devil.”
In light of this distinction, he says the war in Gaza isn’t a conflict between two legitimate parties. “‘Ceasefire’ implies a moral equivalence between two sides, but ‘surrender’ says one side is bad and must be defeated.”
“The pain of the hostage families is unspeakable,” he adds. “Where is the United Nations’ call to Hamas to surrender unconditionally? Where is the clear support for Israel?”
The chief rabbi highlighted the grave dangers in treating this conflict like a typical geopolitical dispute, observing that Hamas, unlike a conventional adversary, is driven by a violent jihadi ideology that thrives on the suffering of innocents.
“Hamas uses its own people as human shields, and uses Israelis – both living and bodies of the fallen – as hostages with gross, unheard of, sadism to inflict maximum psychological torture.
"There is no cause that justifies this kind of cruelty," he adds.
Calling on Western allies to provide Israel with the full political, diplomatic and military support it needs to defeat Hamas, Goldstein notes with dismay how the opposite has happened.
"The US has slowed the delivery of weapons, while the UK has banned some weapons sales altogether," he says. “When Israel assassinates terror leaders like Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh, President Biden says these actions aren’t helping hostage negotiations. It’s misguided to think negotiating with Hamas will solve anything.”
Drawing parallels to World War II, Goldstein says Hamas must be defeated with the same decisiveness that saw the fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.
“In 1945, as the Allied forces neared victory in the war against Germany and Japan – both implacable ideological enemies – there was no suggestion of a ceasefire or compromise, no question that the goal was unconditional surrender.
“Asking Israel to negotiate a ceasefire with Hamas now, as it is winning the war, would be like telling the Allies to stop short of victory and leave Hitler in power in a weakened Germany.”
He says now is the time for world leaders to stop equivocating and take a stand.
"The message to Hamas heard in every capital of the world should be clear and simple: surrender and release all the hostages. Unconditionally. Immediately," a prominent figure urged, invoking the biblical plea of Moses to Pharaoh, "Let my people go."
At the same time, he urges, these words must be backed by action.
“The Israeli government and people must make the decisions they see fit, but the world must say to Israel: ‘We will support you. We will back you with the weapons you need, and with every political and diplomatic tool at our disposal, until Hamas surrenders and releases every hostage.’”
As the war in Gaza continues, Goldstein’s message is simple: "There can be no accommodation or compromise with the evil ideology of jihad. It must be defeated."