While jihadist Hamas commits cruel, bloody atrocities, Israel’s enemies say the Jews deserve it

Dear Friend of Israel, Friend of FLAME:

On October 7^th, Palestinian terrorists from Hamas and other Islamist groups infiltrated Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip and began a campaign of barbarism and brutality the likes of which the Jewish state has never seen. Over one bloody day, an appalling 1,300 Jews were hunted down and killed, one-by-one—qualifying as a genocidal pogrom.

Entire families were slaughtered in their homes. Parents were murdered in front of their children, children executed in front of their parents. At least 260 young adults at a music festival were methodically murdered in cold blood. Israelis were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip, where the terrorists paraded them to a cheering rabble, thirsty for Jewish blood.

Unfortunately, this list of horrors is just a sample. It goes on and on. The savage tactics used by Hamas imitate the worst war crimes of the Islamic State (ISIS) and even Nazi Germany.

While many blame faltering intelligence for allowing this attack by Palestinian terrorists to take place, some blame can also be laid at the feet of the Biden administration, which continues to financially reward Iran—Hamas’ primary funder. Such appeasement of evil-doers only encourages them to accelerate campaigns to destroy Israel and harm America’s interests in the region.

Indeed, this grotesque campaign of bloodshed orchestrated by Hamas monsters is ironclad proof that attempts to placate the mutual enemies of Israel and the U.S. are as futile as appeasement was with Nazi Germany before World War II.

As sickening as the Hamas attack was, some enemies of Israel voiced opinions that the Jewish state had it coming—as if to say Jews deserved to be massacred.

The scale of the Palestinian terrorists’ operation makes it the largest slaughter of Jews in one day since the Holocaust. Eylon Levy, a former spokesperson for Israeli President Isaac Herzog, posted online, “It’s no exaggeration to say yesterday (October 7^th) was the darkest day in Jewish history since the end of the Holocaust.”

Others have compared the Hamas attack to the 9/11 terrorist attack on the U.S., in which approximately 2,600 Americans were murdered. That comparison is a woeful understatement. When you calculate Israel’s death toll in proportion to its population, it would be as if 41,000 Americans were killed.

Hamas committed a myriad of repulsive atrocities. They went house-to-house, killing entire families. They burned victims alive. In Kfar Aza, a kibbutz close to the Gaza border, the bodies of babies and toddlers were found with their heads decapitated. A mother, father, son, and daughter were filmed by Hamas terrorists crying in their home in Kibbutz Be’eri after their third child, a young girl, was killed.

Hamas also took more than 100 men, women, children and elderly hostage, including a Holocaust survivor in a wheelchair. One hostage was a young woman, who was murdered and stripped down to her underwear. Her body was taken to Gaza, where Hamas men beat and mutilated the corpse as it was paraded through the street.

According to the non-profit organization Israel War Room, Hamas was particularly targeting women for kidnapping. The group posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Hamas seems to have kidnapped mostly women. It has already been confirmed that Hamas fighters are using rape as a weapon of war.”

The barbaric tactics used by Hamas strongly resemble those of ISIS and Nazi Germany. Like the Einsatzgruppen, the jihadis rounded up Jews, put them together in rooms and then shot them. Like ISIS, they proudly showed off their hostages, parading them through the streets of Gaza and humiliating them. Now, they are threatening to kill hostages on camera, just as ISIS used to do. In a recent speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We have always known what Hamas is. Now the whole world knows. Hamas is ISIS.”

The policies of the Biden administration encouraged Hamas and their Iranian backers to escalate their campaigns to destroy Israel and harm American interests in the Middle East. After Biden took office, he immediately restored funding to the Palestinians that was cut off by the previous Trump administration—funding that Biden knew would go to subsidizing the Palestinians’ pay-for-slay policy of giving generous salaries to Palestinians who kill Jews.

Biden also relaxed sanctions on Iran in the hopes of renewing the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration, freeing up billions of dollars for the Islamic Republic to fund its terrorist proxies, including Hamas. Just last month, Biden gave Iran access to $6 billion in exchange for freeing American hostages, further swelling the mullahs’ coffers. Since taking hostages proved so lucrative for Iran, it’s no surprise that its proxy Hamas followed its patron’s example and took more than 100 people, including Americans, captive during their assault on Israel.

To his credit, Biden had the courage unequivocally to condemn Hamas’ brutal acts. The same cannot be said of many others, who believe that Israel and the Jewish people are receiving their just desserts for their treatment of the Palestinians. Indeed, people at rallies in cities all over the world rejoiced in the mass slaughter of Jews orchestrated by Hamas. At the Sydney Opera House in Australia, they chanted “gas the Jews” and “death to the Jews.” A demonstrator interviewed at a rally in New York said, “Hamas is a logical conclusion for people struggling and uprising.”

At Harvard University, 35 student organizations issued a joint statement blaming Israel for Hamas’ attack. At Yale University, the Pro-Palestinian Student Association expressed “support for the Palestinian resistance against the violent colonial oppression by settlers.” The Yale Students Association stated, “We mourn the tragic loss of civilian lives and hold the Zionist regime responsible.”

Please make the point when speaking with family, friends, colleagues—or in letters to the editor—that there is no justification for Hamas’ genocidal rampage against Israel and the Jewish people. History recalls that the Nazis’ atrocities against the Jews were also justified by those who believed in false, antisemitic tropes. Using false claims about Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians to justify the slaughter of hundreds of Jews by Hamas terrorists is equally evil.

Best regards,
Jason Shvili, Contributing Editor
Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME))

P.S.

You’ve surely seen headlines describing skyrocketing attacks on Jews in recent years and months—and you probably heard about the President’s new National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. But all evidence indicates that the Administration is not committed to fighting antisemites among its own voters and party officials. I hope you’ll agree that we opponents of antisemitism across all sectors of American society need to speak out. FLAME’s new hasbarah—explanatory message—“Can Biden’s Plan Beat Antisemitism?”—enumerates some of the antisemitic offenders most damaging to American Jews . . . and most likely to be ignored by the Administration. I hope you’ll review this convincing, fact-based editorial, which FLAME intends to publish in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, Star Tribune and Los Angeles Times. This piece will also be sent to all members of Congress, Vice President Harris and President Biden. If you agree that this kind of public relations effort on Israel’s behalf is critical, I urge you to support us with a donation. As of today, more than 15,000 Israel supporters receive the FLAME Hotline at no charge every week. If you’re not yet a subscriber, won’t you join us in receiving these timely updates, so you can more effectively tell the truth about Israel? Just go to free subscription.