What Might Have Saved Gaza?

American Greatness ^ | 13 Oct, 2026 | Victor Davis Hanson

[MtnClimber]

Hamas could have spared Gaza’s devastation by choosing peace over terrorism. The conflict has exposed international double standards toward Israel and fueled a resurgence of antisemitism.

After October 7, 2023

Could the destruction of Gaza after October 7 have been avoided? The answer is yes—had Hamas so wished.

First, if the Hamas leadership had simply complied with Israeli demands to (a) return the 251 hostages and (b) surrender the architects and perpetrators of the massacre of some 1,200 Israelis, the Israelis would not have had to fight Hamas in the streets and tunnels of Gaza.

Note how critics of Israel consistently fail to offer any viable alternative to the Israeli ground effort to destroy the Hamas mass murderers.

Nor do Israel’s enemies ever bother to explain why Hamas did not return its hostages and give up the perpetrators of October 7. Why did nobody expect the International Criminal Court or the UN to have the slightest effect when they ineffectually interceded to demand the return of the hostages and issued arrest warrants for the “war criminals” of Hamas?

The answer, of course, is that there was no more likelihood of them getting Hamas to cooperate than there was of the defunct League of Nations convincing Hitler to stop the killing of Jews or the UN persuading Pol Pot to stop murdering Cambodians. And it is likely that many anti-Israeli UN members silently approved of the murders.

Moreover, there is no evidence that most Gazans objected to the terrorism. Indeed, large numbers joined in when possible. More than 2,000 civilians tagged along in hopes of killing, raping, torturing, and looting with impunity. And when corpses and hostages appeared in the trucks of the returning Hamas murderers, the killers had to protect their prizes from their own even more bloodthirsty people

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TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: islam

[MtnClimber]

VDH ping

[hanamizu]

“Hamas could have spared Gaza’s devastation by choosing peace over terrorism.”

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Going back a few steps, Hamas could have made Gaza semi-prosperous and much more livable had they chosen to use all that concrete for homes instead of tunnels and that pipe for water and sewage instead of rockets.

[Sicon]

What Might Have Saved Gaza?

Outlawing islam and razing every mosque in it?

[Opinionated Blowhard]

I’m surprised that Victor Davis Hanson, of all people, did not put Gaza in a historical context. Gaza being a geopolitical mess is a relatively recent phenomenon of the past, say, 60 or 70 yeas. In Alexander’s time, it was a center of Hellenistic learning. In the Roman republic, it was a strategic base for Pompey. For a long time under the Byzantines, it was a fort. And then for a long time under the Ottomans, it was nothing. The problem of Gaza is the problem of political Islam; the problem of Iran’s proxy war with Israel. Hopefully the realignment of the Middle East that has been occurring, with Arab states reengaging with Israel, solves it.

[Tell It Right]

From VDH: 'Can anyone cite an example from history in which “proportionality” stopped an aggressor?'

As always VDH educates us from history. The only way for Israel to have peace from Gazans/Hamas/Palestinians or whatever they call themselves is for Israel to kill however many it takes until they surrender. That's an uncomfortable fact of war with an enemy who starts a war by killing and raping your civilians.

[ConservativeMind]

Chemical weapon use.

[bobbo666]

No.

70% of Gazans repeatedly voted hamas into power — with the stated goal of murdering all Jews. considering voting records in the US I suspect the other 30% who did not vote are just lazy arseholes like many in the GOP.

Obliterate the entire area, like Rome did to Carthage.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Not baking babies would have been an excellent start.

[BipolarBob]

Neutron bomb does the trick and saves the infrastructure.

[BipolarBob]

Neutron bomb does the trick and saves the infrastructure.

[Lurker]

Shove every last one of those savages back into Egypt at gunpoint.

Annex the land permanently.

L

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Egypt has a wall up to keep them out.

Every country who took them in, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria has had to either deal with them trying to over throw the government or of siding with invaders.

Nobody wants them with good reason.