The vicious systematic slaughter on October 7 of innocent men, women, and children points out the glaring lack of understanding the West has for the East (Middle East). Although most people were horrified by the atrocities, the Hamas propaganda machine was at work almost immediately. The lies and misinformation campaign was in full gear by October 8 and has not stopped for a moment since.
Congressman Jamaal Bowman was a case in point when he went on record saying there was “no evidence of beheaded babies or raped women.” As if that wasn’t bad enough, he went on to say it was all Israeli “propaganda.” He has walked back slightly on these remarks but the damage was done. He set in motion one of the worst libels against the Jewish People ever. The West just does not get it and never has. Appeasement of the Arab world has always been the hallmark of the United States State Department. It has never brought peace to the region. The Abraham Accords were not brought about by appeasement; they were brought about by strength.
The United Nations to this day has not condemned Hamas for its attack and atrocities. It took six months for the UN to even acknowledge that rapes had occurred. The UN declared on March 11, “There are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict related sexual violence-including rape and gang rape occurred…”
The West does not understand that Hamas and their ilk purposefully lie and deceive as a matter of course. They know the West is gullible.
The casualty figures reported by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health have already been proven to be bogus. Israel has been as careful as you can be in the heat of war to prevent civilian deaths. Israeli soldiers have put their lives at risk to prevent collateral damage. Unfortunately, Hamas does everything possible to have civilians killed and injured, including using human shields, making hospitals, schools, and mosques into military control centers, storing ammunition and grenades in maternity wards, and shooting their own to make it look like Israel did it. I am not convinced that it was an “errant” missile that Islamic Jihad fired hitting the Al-Ahli Hospital killing 471 people on October 18. It was most likely intentional. Again, the West does not understand the mindset of Hamas or Islamic Jihad. They do not care about their own people.
The appalling presentation of the George Polk Award for Photojournalism to New York Times-affiliated reporter Yousef Masoud is pure salt on the wound. He was and is publicly connected to Hamas and had foreknowledge of the October 7 massacre. A separate award given to Ali Mahmud working for AP for the “Photo of the Year” showing the half-naked, lifeless body of Shani Louk taken from the Supernova Music Festival with a Hamas foot on her back is outrageous and shameful. Mahmud also apparently had advanced knowledge of Hamas’ plan to attack. Instead of an award, these two should be tried for being complicit in the atrocities. The West once again fails to make the proper connections. These incidents only encourage and empower terror and the terrorist.
I am all for humanitarian aid. Unfortunately, the West does not understand once again that Hamas operatives are stealing the aid for themselves. Hamas is also the main reason the aid is prevented from reaching those who need it most. Hamas would prefer to use the Gaza population as a news story and a political narrative than actually trying help the people of Gaza. Hamas wants the media to blame Israel for everything when it is they themselves who are to blame. The West can’t fathom this.
It is estimated that Hamas spent billions of dollars to build its vast array of tunnels. The tunnels extend for over 350 miles. The money could have been better spent on infrastructure helping the Gaza population. Instead, it was wasted on terror tunnels to nowhere.
Jabotinsky wrote in 1923 in his essay “The Iron Wall,” “As long as the Arabs feel that there is the least hope of getting rid of us, they will refuse to give up this hope in return for either kind words or for bread and butter…”
We see this more clearly than ever. Appeasement and being fooled by the Hamas false narrative will only have dire consequences for the West. Only with complete defeat and surrender of Hamas will the Arab world finally make peace with Israel. The West better learn this quickly. I am afraid the West has regressed in its understanding. Israel has not.
Joseph M. Frager is a physician and lifelong activist.
