The under-reported news of the Gaza war is Israel’s discovery of an extensive network of tunnels built by Hamas. These are not the tunnels from southern Gaza, built for smuggling food and weapons from Egypt. These tunnels are in northern Gaza going into Israel, and they were built so that Hamas terrorists could infiltrate Israel and commit mass killings and kidnappings.
A thorough report in the Washington Post describes the tunnel network and how Hamas goons who popped out of one of the tunnels were carrying restraints and tranquilizers to subdue their captives. Another report claims that Hamas was planning a massive operation for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, sending hundreds of Hamas terrorists to overrun Israeli kibbutzes, murdering and kidnapping their residents.
An Israeli spokesman vividly describes the extent of this tunnel network. “There are two Gazas, one above ground and one below ground: an underground terrorist city.” Hamas has invested enormously more resources in the underground Gaza—including special escape tunnels for Hamas leaders and their families—than in the above-ground one. Let there be no more doubt that Hamas leaders regard their own people as cannon fodder whose job is to be killed to provide anti-Israel photo ops.
More to the point, let there be no more doubt about Hamas’s intention toward Israelis.
You may recall that when President Obama traded the Taliban Five for Bowe Bergdahl, a lot of people offered the excuse that Israel regularly trades terrorists for hostages. Now we see where that gets them. Hamas has been sealed off from Israel by a wall, and their rockets are blocked by the Iron Dome defense system, so they have adjusted their tactics toward the one thing that works: taking hostages.
Any discussion about cease-fires or about the proportionality of the Israeli response should take into account the horror-movie monstrosity of this threat. Israelis live in a walled enclave surrounded by people who regard them with implacable hatred, and now they have to fear the prospect of humanoid creatures emerging from underground to drag them into the darkness, where they will be bound, drugged, beaten, tortured, starved, and abused, possibly for years. Hollywood could not make it more blood-curdling.
Keep that in mind when you think about Israel. The Jews live in a live-action horror movie, and the Palestinian bogeyman really is out to get them.
I will only add that it was after this news broke that Barack Obama called on Israel to adopt a new cease-fire with Hamas. Obama is driven by “humanitarian” concerns—for the Palestinians. But this is actually the worst, most callous response he could offer. The only proper response is to let Israel take as long as it needs to destroy and disarm Hamas and to find and destroy its tunnels.
After all, everyone knows, in a horror film, what happens if you turn your back on the monster too early.
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