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After the Gaza War, We Must De-radicalize Palestinian Society
Illustrative: Palestinian children compelled to participate in a Hamas military parade. Photo: Twitter.
Watching the news these days it has become commonplace to portray Palestinians as double victims — of both Hamas and Israel. Everyone from President Biden to even Bibi Netanyahu has emphasized the distinction between Hamas on the one hand and the innocent Palestinians on the other. They are presented as hostages of Hamas, just as much as the Israelis being held at gunpoint in their tunnels.
While it is true that 16 years have passed since Gazans elected Hamas, much of the Palestinian population there is radicalized. They support Hamas, and — what’s most disturbing — they endorse the October 7 massacre.
New polling conducted by the Arab World for Research and Development proves that Palestinians overwhelmingly prefer Hamas and that they approve the massacre. Only 13% of Palestinians oppose the 10/7 attacks, whereas 75% support the slaughter, with 59% strongly supporting it.
Regular Palestinians cheered and spit on the mangled corpse of Shani Louk, and assaulted and harassed other victims and hostages.
This sad reality raises the question: if Israel achieves its goal of demilitarizing Gaza and destroying Hamas, what will replace it?
President Biden has made clear that there needs to be a two-state solution. But who will govern the Palestinian state? Biden recently proposed that the Palestinian Authority (PA) take the reins of government in Gaza. However, support for the Palestinian Authority is a dismal 10%. The PA will be received as a corrupt puppet of the west in Gaza.
If Palestinians are given the opportunity to elect new leadership , they will choose Hamas. Support for the Al-Qassam Brigades (89%), which is the military wing of Hamas, is even higher than support for Hamas in general (75%). This seems to suggest that what many Palestinians like most about Hamas is terrorism and violence.
Israel is faced with the same conundrum the US encountered in Afghanistan: the militant Islamist party is favored over any moderate alternative. Optimistic onlookers might think that, when given the opportunity for democratic governance, people will seize it. But if history is any guide, that is only true if the people in question are not radicalized. Israel cannot afford to make the same mistakes the US made in Afghanistan.
The US lost 2,402 service members in the 20-year war in Afghanistan, and squandered a staggering $2.3 trillion. What will it cost Israel in lives and treasure to keep Hamas from seizing power once again? The lesson Israel should learn from the United States’ misadventures in Afghanistan is that you cannot impose democracy and peace upon a population. A peaceful population doesn’t become a death cult overnight, and vice versa. This situation didn’t emerge suddenly, and the solution will have to be gradual as well.
Israel must not, as Bibi Netanyahu foolishly said, retain “security control of Gaza indefinitely.” Instead, Israel should learn from the US’s mistakes and outsource that role to an international peacekeeping force. After all, the UN is complicit in the radicalization of the Palestinians. Problems cannot be solved if they are not acknowledged, and the UN has to contend with the fact that they have facilitated the perpetuation of this conflict by inculcating hatred in their schools.
The US contributes about 20% of the UN’s overall budget, more than any other single country, and about 25% of UNWRA’s budget, which is responsible for educating Palestinian children.
The UN-run school system in the Palestinian territories have become indoctrination camps for terrorists. Their textbooks are full of such vile genocidal brainwashing that you would think they were Arabic translations of Mein Kampf. These textbooks poison the minds of Palestinian children and ensure that peace remains unattainable. Shockingly, one of the released hostages was held by an UNWRA teacher in Gaza. The UN cannot be trusted to administer services for the Palestinians when they aid, abet, and incite terrorism.
We should not continue subsidizing the radicalization of Palestinian youth by funding UNWRA. Once the dust of combat settles, and an international peacekeeping force is in place, reforming the Palestinian education system should be a priority. The deprogramming of the Palestinian population may take a generation, and the world needs to prepare for that.
Kenneth Blake teaches Critical Thinking and Government at St. Vincent de Paul College Prep in Petaluma, CA.
The post After the Gaza War, We Must De-radicalize Palestinian Society first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.