Destroy Hamas: Can It Be Done?

As each day passes of the horrific war in Israel, I hear more and more cries to destroy Hamas. A part of me agrees that the Israelis have no other choice: Israel must use Hamas’ ultimate goal against Israel, and wipe these barbaric terrorists off the face of the earth. And yet as I contemplate these actions, I wonder why more people aren’t skeptical about the outcomes of these strategies.

Don’t misunderstand: I fully agree with Israel’s intentions and would like nothing more than to have “Hamas eliminated.” But when I consider what will need to be done, the barriers to success, the destruction, and lives that will be lost—how will Israel evaluate success?

As one commentator wrote, Israel has finally awakened:

Israel has had to fight some half dozen wars with Hamas these past 18 years. Israel never fights to win, only to ‘mow the lawn’ until the seeds of terror grow again and new war erupts. That actually is Israel’s idiotic description, not my clever aphorism: ‘mowing the lawn.’ If Israel is to see an end to such savageries as 1,000 Jews slaughtered amid observances of a Sukkot Holy Week, she needs to fight for victory. She knows it.

What are the Israelis up against in order to exterminate Hamas? Here are just a few of the barriers:

There are 300 miles of tunnels, and Israel will encounter booby traps and need to engage in guerrilla warfare to get control and destroy them:

The tunnel system has previously been used to mount attacks on the Jewish state and it has myriad entrances and exits in schools and civilian buildings, areas which may serve as blind spots for Israel.

Parts of the tunnels can also run as deep as 130 feet, allowing members of the terrorist group to find quick refuge from airstrikes.

The Israelis could try to use drones and unmanned vehicles, but the level of success they might achieve is unclear.

How will the Israelis be able to identify Hamas and eliminate them? Many of their leaders are currently out-of-country; the Israelis will be able to track them down, but getting access to them might be challenging. Also, it will be difficult to distinguish between enlisted Hamas and the Palestinian population. How far down the leadership hierarchy will Israel go to ensure that they have eliminated those who would continue to engage in warfare? How many Hamas footsoldiers are their next leaders? Since Israelis have told the Palestinians to evacuate, will they assume that anyone who remains in Gaza must be killed? Is it possible to sufficiently remove the threat of future attacks and ensure that Hamas will not reorganize?

Another barrier will be the pressures from other countries. How long will the world wait and watch the destructive actions of the Israelis before they begin asking, then demanding, that Israel must bring peace to the region? What will they not only say, but do economically, to try to force Israel to stop the bleeding? These pressures will surely come from the United States, probably in the lead.

How long will it take Israel to say they’ve had success? Weeks, months, years? What will be the criteria for ending major incursions?

Will Israel be able to survive all the negativity and punishment that they will receive from the world? Will they get the food, munitions, and support they need?

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I’m not bringing up all these questions in order to discourage people from supporting Israel in its efforts; I’m raising them because, although Israel has one of the greatest armies in the world, it appears that their security intelligence was abysmal. Do they have the intelligence to pursue this war with fortitude and wisdom?

I also desperately want the people of the world, particularly the United States, to know that this war will be terrible beyond our imaginations. Americans, killed by Hamas or in the throes of battle, will be mourned. If Hezbollah joins in, it will be even uglier (although to date they have resisted pressure from Iran). And then there are questions about the other Arab countries and what they will do. Finally, there is Iran. Pathetic appeals from President Biden for them not to join in will be worthless.

I also want to emphasize that for many of us, the extermination of Hamas is long overdue, but we can’t voice those wishes lightly.

Thousands will die.