Is Netanyahu right on comparing destroying Hamas to Naziism?

Comments on speech by Netanyahu regarding fighting ideologies

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu courageously said in a speech on the ongoing Gaza war that Israel would defeat Hamas like the world defeated Naziism. And, Hamas members and resources in Gaza are indeed being degraded significantly in Gaza.

But how correct was Netanyahu, when he spoke back to critics and said, “Many in this parliament have been arguing …including former security experts, have all been explaining that Hamas can’t be defeated. They explain that Hamas is an idea, and it’s impossible to defeat an idea. Well there’s an idea called Naziism. The Neo-Nazis still live in Germany. But 80 years ago they destroyed the Nazi regime, and that is what we are going to do - destroy the Hamas regime.”

Netanyahu said it is indeed possible to defeat Hamas, even though it is an idea, the same way the world defeated the idea of Naziism. But how correct is he that Hamas as an idea can be defeated in the context of the current Gaza conflict?

Of course, Hamas’ personnel and resources can and certainly should be neutralized to Israel’s maximum ability militarily, and all hostages freed. The question is, whether military action is enough, or whether there is more Israel can do to weaken and destroy Hamas ideologically.So, why is fighting Hamas different than fighting Naziism?

First, Israel's geographic conflict zone is externally limited. Israel, per U.S. demands, is not allowed to attack in, nor hold responsible, either Qatar nor Iran. Biden reportedly told Netanyahu that any significant attack on Iran beyond the symbolic s300 strike and "you are on your own.” Israel is apparently also restricted in its options to hold Qatar responsible, for example, from its option to demand the Qatari government arrest Hamas leaders receiving aid and comfort in Qatar, and use of force if Qatari refuses. So for starters, imagine fighting Naziism but not being allowed to attack inside Germany where they have a safe haven to manage the war, obtain new weapons, and conduct financing.

Second, the Nazi ideology was largely the brainchild of Hitler, their “fuhrer”, and largely died without him. But the ideologies Israel currently faces, unlike Naziism, do not rely on any living person. Thus, neutralizing any Hamas leaders is at best only a temporary fix.

Hamas is a leaderless ideology. Even if Israel found Sinwar, who may have escaped, and even if all Hamas leaders were neutralized, they would soon be replaced by the ideology, which provides the military, financial, political, and social support to whomever is compelled to next step into those roles.

Third, the German people had rational, civilized personal interests based on Western values. Germany, after World War 2, was given an option to rebuild with the Allies’ help. But the Palestinians collectively by large majority will still want to conquer Israel regardless how well the Gaza infrastructure may be rebuilt. This is true even in their own personal disinterest, regardless if they have no military, and regardless the relative strength of Israel. That’s what throwing stones symbolizes. Even if a majority of Palestinian individuals would value peace and reconstruction, their ideology would channel power to more extreme elements.

Fourth, the dynamics and properties of the Hamas/Islamic fundamentalism/conquest ideological entity are far superior to the Nazi ideological entity.

Conquest of Israel is supported by a longstanding social structure woven into the Palestinian societal fabric over three generations. Hamas’ goals are also supported by an ideology entangled in religion, making its furtherance more valued than human life for many adherents, if not the meaning of life.

Hamas is a super-subgroup of Islamic fundamentalism and expansionism, which are growing super-subgroups of a major world religion that has increased from 90 million to nearly 2 billion in population in the past 125 years. Expansion is generally a common goal amongst them sharing broad and cross-ideological support, with a lack of major ideological distinguishing mechanisms. This means, the "Palestinian cause(s)", the "Hamas cause", and "Arab cause", and a major world religion are often conflated and intertwined, depending on whom you ask.

The level of collective hive-mind adhesion amongst the population supersedes rational thought and places the “cause” of the ideological entities above the interests of the individual Palestinians, probably stronger "grip" on its adherents than we have seen in any major world conflict to date. Israel doesn't know the solutions yet for separating the Palestinian people from these ideologies, nor separating one ideology from another, which is why Israel has been fighting against Hamas and Hezbollah for over 35 years.

Fifth, Hitler did not have a fraction of this level and nature of global ideological support, let alone moral support. Our international system is based on the nation-state, with treaties, relations, and the United Nations existing by and between “nations.” Our system does not address supra-national ideologies. Today, unlike 75 years ago, we have terrorist groups more powerful than nations. We have terrorist groups with global ideological support. 146 countries “recognize” a terrorist-led Palestinian “state”. The General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian “state” (143 nations voted for, and 9 against) in May of 2023, even while Hamas is still holding hostages. The United Nations Security Council, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, the Human Rights Commission, are all increasingly using international law as a tool against Israel, law that the world is increasingly adopting as its moral perspective. And after all, war is largely a battle for the world’s moral perspective. With Naziism, the world came to the realization that Nazi ideology is immoral and against the interests of the united world.

Such wars must be seen in the perspective that, before the "laws of war", codified in the Hague & Geneva Conventions, it was common for armies to kill every man, woman, and child of their adversaries. Now that we created these new rules, we have such 75-year-long wars against terrorists embedded in civilian populations as a byproduct of these rules. Regardless the rules, the world's moral perspective can now change during the conflict, as ideology dictates moral perspective.

And of course, global anti-Semitism is growing based on all of these.

Sixth, the world lacks the ability and mechanisms to examine the moral questions underlying this conflict analytically, let alone answer them. Israel relies on the hope that one U.S. President would have the vision and courage to do so. But otherwise, Israel has no apparent strategy for resetting the world's deteriorating moral compass, other than our best diplomacy that led us here.

Seventh, with no other major competing political parties or ideologies, all of the Palestinians’ natural human tendency for in-group versus out-group polarization will always be directed at Israel. The choice between two groups like Fatah and Hamas may merely be, wanting to conquer Israel a little slower, or a little more aggressively. Israel's hope that the Palestinians will be dissuaded from Hamas via war-fatigue will likely not be enough in the long run. No matter how much misery Hamas brings upon the Palestinians and no matter how angry Palestinian individuals may be at Hamas in the short term, an alternative anti-Hamas ideological entity in Gaza remains unable to take hold. The Arab world’s embargo on any Palestinian leaving Gaza that Israel has thus far been unable to overcome ensures that Palestinians are unable to even vote with their feet, which would divide and weaken Hamas ideologically.

All these factors fuel the global anti-Israel ideology which Hamas feeds off of in the form of expanding shared viewpoint, regardless the Hamas military situation on the ground in Gaza. This broader global momentum is why Hamas feels like it is winning even if it loses every man on the ground in Gaza, and why it is not making a deal to release the hostages. For more on this, please read: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-true-reason-were-not-getting-hostages-back/

As such, Palestinians remain a fertile ground for recruitment of more extremists to lead them, as the Palestinians are adherents to and compelled by a broader ideology for the conquest of Israel than just Hamas ideology. Extremists can only swim in a sea of moderates, and they have that supportive population. Even if severely degraded, and even if Israel controls all borders, Hamas or other extremist group will begin to recruit personnel and reconstitute as soon as the fighting ends, just like the Taliban did in Afghanistan.

Israel's offensive can’t continue forever, and the world will increasingly demand the fighting stop, and resources be allowed in, which will be accompanied by more weapons. Whatever Hamas lacks in military capability will be done with sticks and stones and the world’s sympathy. Meanwhile, exterior parties like Hezbollah and the Houthis will pick up the slack with more attacks because they are increasingly better armed, and all part of the same broader ideological collective. Hamas and Fatah also just signed an agreement in Beijing supposedly ending their divisions. This is why it is so hard to design a "day after."

The question is not whether to fully support all military efforts to continue to neutralize all Hamas members and recover the hostages. The question is, what more can be done to weaken Hamas on the ideological level. Rational persuasion by offering Palestinians a better life doesn’t work. Even if the majority wanted it, the ideology will channel power to extremists to self-sustain the conflict. The solution must be on the ideological level.

Where I disagree with the experts Netanyahu cited is, that because Hamas is an idea it cannot be defeated. Ideas can indeed be defeated, by better ideas, and their strategic implementation.

Israel, and the world, need better understandings about the properties and dynamics of invisible, intangible, fluid, ideological entity hive mind entities in conflict as I have written about in many articles, from the group neurochemistry to the metaphysics; including how they behave, how they grow, how they spread, how they increase in control over their adherents, and how they change goals and values of their adherents. With those understandings come how to change, control, direct, divide, weaken, and defeat ideologies like Hamas, Islamist extremism, and even anti-Semitism on a macro and global level.

I believe these understandings are the future of war, and thus peace.