In response  to “On Gaza and Palestine: Lest we forget,” we have not been “duped” on Gaza. Quite the contrary, actually. Hamas remains the controlling entity of the area and has publicly executed Gazans who speak against it. Among other ceasefire violations, Hamas remains armed – a t hreat to both Israel and Gazans. Far from being “delude[d] into thinking that all will be well,” many of us who watch daily recognize that, without a concerted and global effort to completely eradicate Islamic extremism and the culture of jihad and death in Gaza, we should expect yet another round of atrocities at the hands of Hamas and its Palestinian supporters. Since the ceasefire, both sides have traded shots and taken casualties. Hamas ambushed and killed Israeli soldiers behind the yellow line, Israel responded. Recently, Israel struck several targets in Gaza including “a weapons depot, arms manufacturing site, and two rocket launching positions.” Some disarmament! Every time Israel has to put planes in the air, boots on the ground, or rockets in the sky, it’s a reminder that, ceasefire or not, Hamas, Palestinian Jihad, Hezbollah, Houthi, and other Iranian-backed  factions are operating under their own rules. Beyond terrorism as a career choice, we should all feel some distress knowing that many Palestinians have willingly and proudly died rather than recognize Israel’s right to exist. Just as Arabs have the right to Islamic states (Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Yemen, Syria, Turkey, just to name some), Jews also have the right to the Jewish State of Israel, which is the reestablishment and inheritor of the Jewish kingdom of King David over 2,000 years ago. Perversely, the notion of a surviving Jewish state is a concept so devastating to Palestinian parents in Gaza that they send their young children to terrorist training camps to learn how to kill Jews. I agree with the op-ed author that the pressure to end this war must come from the Gazans themselves. However, this is less about what she calls “amoral political leaders in the U.S. and Israel” or “greedy U.S. contractors” and more about Iranian proxies and subcontractors for terrorism. We should avoid leaning into arguments that aren’t true, don’t get us closer to a sustained change in Gaza and don’t support any progress in the years-long process to rebuild the land. In addition to disarmament of Hamas, important goals are to eradicate extremism as a cultural north star, modernize education, and create a professional untainted government for Gaza founded on the rule of law. The perfect cannot be the enemy of the good. Ultimately, Palestinians and the world must hold Hamas accountable for corrupting their own land, promoting a death culture, and using their people as cannon fodder. For years, Hamas met Gazan protests with torture and abuse. The Hamas government set the stage for the October 7 atrocities a decade before it invaded Israel, stealing billions in global aid, bringing up a generation of children into Islamic extremism, and glorifying terrorism against anyone who doesn’t share the same world view. Gaza can never again be allowed to achieve pre-2023 levels of corruption, terrorism, and war-mongering. It’s not just Israeli security that depends upon it, but Middle East stability and, by extension, the future and security of civilization, including the United States. Finally, pointing a finger at Israel for the “moral tragedy” in Gaza is a favorite pastime for some. As we always do, PRIMER urges writers and reporters to examine their biases. After all, we’d surely place the enslaved children in Sudan, trafficked women and girls in Nigeria, the half million Syrians slaughtered by the Assad regime, and Ukrainians surviving without power or heat in brutally freezing cold Eastern European winters under the “moral tragedy” banner.  Perhaps also the unknown thousands of protestors who were recently executed by the Iranian regime? The silence from the ‘freedom’ groups on these issues speaks volumes.  Mark Fishman is President of PRIMER-CT (Promoting Responsibility in Middle East Reporting).   ...read more read less