Repeat, repeat, repeat

When it comes to the Middle East, repetition has been unsuccessful in causing Europeans and many in America to accept certain truths.

To repeat. Hamas and Iran, and every other terror organization, are on record by their words and deeds about their goals: the complete destruction of Israel; a one- state solution with themselves in control and either expelling or killing as many Israelis as possible; that no diplomatic efforts will deter them from their objective and the reason is they believe they have a mandate from Allah to do what they are doing; if they are killed, their reward is an immediate transport to Heaven and all those virgins who await them.

Former Israeli diplomat Yoram Ettinger gets to the heart of the matter when he writes:" The diplomatic option assumes that the Ayatollahs are amenable to good faith negotiation and peaceful coexistence. It dismisses the regime-change option and resists the option of a viable military option hovering above the head of Iran's rogue Ayatollahs. The State Department's detachment from Middle East reality has been underscored by the suspension of economic (and especially oil export) sanctions, which has yielded to the Ayatollahs' anti-US rogue machine more than $100 (billion) since February 2021."

Despite these recent and previous examples that Israel's enemies are serious about their objectives and the unseriousness and denials of reality by the secular West, President Biden has decided to ramp-up pressure on Israel to order an immediate ceasefire. He thinks this will get the remaining hostages released. Even if it did, a temporary ceasefire (which the UN and others will demand be made permanent) would serve as a lifeline to Hamas, allowing them to regroup and rebuild because they have said they have no intention of abandoning their goals. Suppose they decide to do another Oct. 7 attack on Israel (as they have threatened) taking more hostages and repeating the cycle? It doesn't take a modern prophet to predict that it will if Hamas is not destroyed and security is established to protect both the residents of Gaza and Israel.

There are many sermons by Islamic clergy, many textbooks that teach hatred of Jews and Israel and many media stories (sadly, they are not only from the Muslim world, but also in the Western press) that appear more on the side of Hamas than Israel. Here is an excerpt from one of many sermons delivered a decade ago at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. The speaker, identified as Ali Abu Ahmad, calls for Jerusalem's liberation from "the Jews, the most vile of creatures" and for the destruction of America and the international coalition against Islamic State.

"Oh Allah," he prayed, "annihilate America and its coalition. Oh Allah, enable us to cut off their heads. Oh Allah, help our brothers, the mujahideen in the land of Iraq and Syria…"

There have been numerous statements of this kind before and after that sermon. Why would anyone need them repeated to understand their goal and why must the West endlessly repeat support for policies that have not and cannot work?

On Sunday, the Jerusalem Post reported that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced "the IDF withdrew from Khan Yunis after Hamas ceased to function in the area, adding that the troops left in preparation for a coming Rafah operation."

Winston Churchill said it best and his words bear repeating: "Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."

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Cal Thomas, America's most-syndicated columnist, is the author of 10 books.