Hold all enablers of Hamas accountable, including Netanyahu

On the Fox News program Sunday Morning Futures, while justifying the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities, Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted, “Why does Hamas exist? Because of Iran.”

However, on Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists committed horrific crimes against humanity in Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages.

And the next day, The Times of Israel published an article titled, “For years, Netanyahu propped up Hamas. Now it’s blown up in our faces.”

The article explains how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bolstered Hamas, even allowing millions of dollars of “Qatari cash” to enter Gaza. The ultimate goal was to foster divisions between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, thus thwarting the development of a Palestinian state.

Israeli historian Adam Raz asserts that, since he was first elected prime minister in 1996, “Netanyahu has been working hard to strengthen Hamas.”

Raz explains that, in 2009, Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to stop its cooperation with the Palestinian Authority security forces in their fight against Hamas. In addition, according to Raz, when PA President Mahmoud Abbas stopped transferring money to Gaza in 2018, “Netanyahu saved Hamas by allowing in suitcases full of cash from Qatar.” Furthermore, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former Shin Bet security chief Ami Ayalon have both confirmed Netanyahu’s role in enabling Hamas. Ayalon estimates that the amount of money Netanyahu allowed into Gaza was more than $1.4 billion.

When he served in the U.S. Senate, Secretary Rubio introduced the “Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad International Terrorism Support Prevention Act of 2024.” At that time, Rubio stated: “The barbaric terrorist attacks against Israel on Oct. 7 by Hamas savages reaffirms the importance of sanctioning the group’s enablers and the governments who provide material support to these terrorists.”

In a morally consistent world, at the very minimum, Benjamin Netanyahu would be deemed a persona non grata and forbidden entry into the United States. In such a world, the numerous standing ovations Netanyahu received when he addressed a joint session of Congress last July would be considered acts of shame.

I continue to be amazed by how ideology and selective perception can blind us to truth.

Milwaukee