LILLEY: Gaza needs to choose peace, reject terror for things to change

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The terrorist attack Hamas launched against Israel came by land, by sea and by air.

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Within a period of hours, 4,000 rockets were launched, more than 200 Israelis were killed, thousands injured, and an untold number of civilians taken as prisoners.

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The world witnessed video and photos of the kidnappings, of hostage soldiers dragged through the streets, of the desecrated bodies of dead civilians and soldiers paraded in Gaza as crowds celebrated. These images weren’t the work of Israeli propaganda services, they were the celebratory images shared by a sick yet proud Hamas and their supporters, including their sponsors in the Iranian regime.

Old ladies and young girls have been taken hostage.

This was barbarism on full display, the wanton destruction of human life being cheered in crowded streets.

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There is no moral equivalence in instances such as this, there is no calling on both sides to remain calm. Hamas launched a well-planned, well-coordinated, and well-financed attack that had obviously taken months to plan as Jews across Israel were marking the Sabbath and the holiday of Simchat Torah.

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This was not one military force taking on another – this was nothing but a terrorist group attacking an entire civilian, democratic population.

“Canada strongly condemns the current terrorist attacks against Israel. These acts of violence are completely unacceptable. We stand with Israel and fully support its right to defend itself,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

Trudeau joined leaders across the Western world in stating that they stand with Israel. He was joined by other leaders at home in condemning the attacks.

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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre condemned the attacks and “the sadistic violence they have subsequently carried out against innocent civilians” while NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh called the attacks “horrific” and said all hostages must be immediately released.

The Green Party showed once again why they are on the fringes of Canadian politics with Deputy Leader Jonathan Pedneault blaming Israel for what happened, and Leader Elizabeth May sharing that sentiment.

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Alarmingly, there is a strong constituency for the view that Israel brought this on itself. The fault though lies with Hamas and their Iranian-regime backers who have controlled the Gaza Strip for nearly 20 years – ruling with tyranny and propaganda over Gazans, and waging war on the State of Israel.

As my Sun colleague Lorrie Goldstein has written, Hamas has never been interested in peace with Israel. From their inception in the 1980s, they have had one goal, the destruction of Israel and the annihilation of Jews.

An organization like that can only operate for as long as it has with support from a significant portion of the public. The lives of the common people in Gaza have not improved over the last 16 years and yet Hamas continues to hold power and continues to wage war against civilians and a state that does not occupy the land.

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Over the years Israel has offered peace, they have offered land for peace, various governments have made offers that were not popular with the whole population of Israel in an attempt to find peace. At each turn, the Palestinian leadership has rejected peace.

Hamas doesn’t even want to find a way to peace – they want to annihilate Israel. How do you negotiate with people who hold as their opening view that you shouldn’t exist?

If the Gaza Strip is “an open air prison” as the Green Party of Canada and radical elements around the world want to claim, it is because of the confluence of an Iranian-backed terror organization, occupying strategic territory, and Gazans who continue to allow a criminal terrorist organization hell bent on death, destruction and violence to run the place.

Nothing will change until the people of Gaza decide they want peace, that they can live side by side with their Jewish neighbours in Israel and they would rather have prosperity for their children than the destruction of Jewish children.

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