Amid growing calls for Israel to stand down and agree to a cease-fire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is firmly rejecting that idea.

When Hamas terrorists and Palestinian citizens brutally attacked and murdered men, women, and children on October 7, Israel has mobilized to defend themselves and attempt to get the remaining hostages released. 

The stories coming from the Hamas attacks are horrific and cannot – MUST NOT be ignored. Yet that is what students and professors on college campuses across the United States (and world) are demanding. They and far too many politicians are demanding that ISRAEL stand down and not retaliate. Because, if they do, all those innocent Gaza civilians will be killed. Except that Hamas WANTS them killed. 

IN HIS OWN WORDS: Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh, from the comfort of his home in Qatar: "We need the blood of women, children, and the elderly of #Gaza… so as to awaken our revolutionary spirit."

Listen to this vile terrorist scum sacrifice his own people, while living in the… pic.twitter.com/GL7ZTfa5Dw

— Embassy of Israel to the USA | #IsraelUSA75 (@IsraelinUSA) October 27, 2023

Keep in mind, this is the same Hamas leadership living in cushy splendor in Qatar. Also, this is the same leadership that has consistently used their own citizens as human shields. And plans to do so even now. Prime Minister Netanyahu has a few choice words about that. 

It means holding Hamas accountable for the double war crime it commits every day by deliberately targeting Israeli civilians and deliberately using Palestinian civilians as human shields. It means not only making clear that the use of human shields is an immoral tactic of war, but making certain it is an ineffective one.

As long as the international community blames Israel for Hamas’s use of Palestinian human shields, Hamas will continue to employ this tool of terror. Hamas will continue to use the basements in Gaza’s hospitals as the command posts of its vast terror tunnel network. It will continue to use mosques as fortified military outposts and weapons depots. It will continue to steal fuel and humanitarian assistance from United Nations facilities.

While Israel is doing everything to get Palestinian civilians out of harm’s way, Hamas is doing everything to keep Palestinian civilians in harm’s way. Israel urges Palestinian civilians to leave the areas of armed conflict, while Hamas prevents those civilians from leaving those areas at gunpoint. Hamas is preventing foreign nationals from leaving Gaza altogether.

The Squad and many others have been bleating about the safety of innocent Gaza citizens for weeks now. They have been demanding that Israel agree to a cease-fire so Palestinians won’t be killed. Israel, meanwhile, has repeatedly warned Gaza citizens to leave. However, no one in The Squad or others will ask the simple question: Why won’t other countries such as Egypt or Jordan let Palestinians in?? 

Queen Rania of Jordan is on record slamming Israel and supporting Palestine. Yet Jordan WON’T let Gaza citizens in. Gee, I wonder why? Egypt has since changed their mind, not so Hamas. 

Hamas is blocking foreign nationals including Britons from leaving Gaza, the United States said on Sunday, as Israel sent more troops into the strip to join a ground offensive.

Britain was on Sunday working to rescue trapped citizens as civil disorder and looting broke out at UN aid warehouses in besieged Gaza.

Virulent anti-semitism crawled out from under its rock and went mainstream starting on October 7, 2023. It isn’t just the ripping posters of the Israeli children held hostage off of lampposts. It’s the vandalism, the physical attacks, and the vile chants along with celebrating the deaths of Jews. 

Tens of thousands of protesters in London over three successive weekends called for “jihad” and chanted “from the river to the sea,” a demand for the erasure of Israel and by extension its citizens. A crowd in Sydney, Australia, chanted “gas the Jews” after the Hamas attack.

Americans like to believe such things couldn’t happen in the U.S. They have. The Anti-Defamation League last week reported a 388% increase in anti-Semitic incidents from Oct. 7-23 compared with the same period a year ago. The 312 incidents the ADL recorded include a car carrying individuals with Palestinian flags allegedly swerving toward a Jewish family and several alleged assaults by pro-Palestinian protesters. The ADL tally counts 109 anti-Israel rallies that featured support for Hamas or violence against Jews in Israel.

And yet, Israel is supposed to agree to a cease-fire?? REALLY? Does anyone really think that, with Israel standing down, the anti-semitism will magically disappear?? Guess what folks, this is one Pandora’s box that will have to be closed with force. 

Amazingly, Hillary Clinton understands that Hamas would benefit from Israel caving to the ‘don’t retaliate’ crowd. 

WATCH – Hillary Clinton: "People who are calling for a ceasefire now do not understand Hamas, that is not possible. It would be such a gift to Hamas because they would spend whatever time there was a ceasefire in effect rebuilding their armaments, creating stronger positions to… pic.twitter.com/lyx7Gytecn

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) October 30, 2023

Yes, I know. It took awhile to pick my jaw up off the floor after seeing that. Yet, she’s right. Hamas and therefore Iran, who funds Hamas, would greatly benefit if Israel stands down. It would give them time to re-arm (given the near constant barrage of rockets from Gaza and the West Bank into Israel) and train new forces. Which would very likely lead to even great atrocities against Israeli citizens and Jews around the world. A stand down by Israel would embolden the terrorists and their supporters. 

A cease-fire would be surrender. 

Calls for a cease-fire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism. That will not happen.

Israel must not and should not stand down. 

Feature Photo Credit: Israel flag on hill by edu_castro27 via Pixabay, cropped and modified