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The True Motivation of Terror — Hamas Terrorists Don’t Want a State
Yahya Sinwar, head of the Palestinian terror group Hamas in Gaza, in Gaza City on April 14, 2023. Photo: Yousef Masoud / SOPA Images/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
What really drives terror against Israel? To begin a proper answer, we must first understand the universal human need “to belong.” This primal need can be expressed harmlessly, as in sports fandom or rock concerts, or perniciously, as in jihadist terror-violence.
In matters of terrorism, widely alleged political motivations (e.g., sovereignty, “self-determination,” and statehood) are actually secondary or reflective. In the case of any proposed “two-state solution,” Palestinian sovereignty is never anything other than political manipulation or subterfuge. Not only would a Palestinian state fail to stop Palestinian terrorism, it would render such terrorism increasingly likely and even more injurious.
In ancient times, Aristotle already understood that “man is a social animal.” Typically, the seminal philosopher recognized, even a “normal” individual can feel empty and insignificant apart from any tangible membership in the “mass.” Inter alia, that mass is the State. Sometimes, however, it is the Tribe. Sometimes the Faith (always, of course, the “one true faith”). Sometimes it is “The Liberation” movement or simply “the Revolution.”
Details aside, whatever the mass claims of any particular moment, it is an unquenchable craving for belonging that threatens to produce catastrophic downfalls of individual responsibility and variously correlative triumphs of collective wrongdoing. Today, in jihadist-centered parts of the Middle East, unless millions can finally learn how to temper the overwhelming human desire to belong at all costs, all military, legal, and political schemes to control war and terrorism will fail.
It’s time for more serious explanations. To more genuinely understand what lies behind Palestinian terrorism against Israel, science-based analysts must first learn to look more deeply behind the news. In the final analysis, such “molecular” looks could helpfully explain jihadist fusions of susceptible individuals into murder-centered terror gangs. Prima facie, in the jihadist Middle East, war and terrorism would never take place in the absence of such inherently barbarous collective identifications.
Earlier, relevant core concepts were clarified by Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Whenever individuals crowd together and form a mass, both recognized, the exterminatory dynamics of a mob can quickly be unleashed. More precisely, they discovered, these dynamics could lower each single person’s moral and intellectual level to a point where even anonymous mass killing would be widely welcomed and encouraged. This is precisely what happened with Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack upon vulnerable Israeli civilians.
In today’s jihad-oriented Middle East, Islamic faith has been placed in the witting service of war and terror. Hamas terror against Israel is fueled by effectively unchallengeable evocations of “divine will.” Ironically, the net result of any such perfidious summoning is to drown out any authentic hints of sacredness or godliness.
Doctrinally, once empathy and compassion are extended outside the terrorizing jihadist mass,they must go unrewarded. In the case of Jews, moreover, humane sentiments must also be actively punished. Here, as generalizable virtues, empathy and compassion become extraneous and presumptively self-destructive.
There are pertinent details. In the name of allegedly divine commandment, jihadist/Hamas terror-criminality offers the wider world neither salvation nor holiness, but only conspicuously lethal “groupthink.” Among other things, the dissembling rhythms of this annihilating ethos make it futile for Israel to advance even the most honest efforts at peaceful coexistence.
This fundamental dilemma can never be solved by pundits, political leaders or self-declared “experts.” True solutions will require the concentrated intellectual efforts of uncommonly gifted thinkers. For Israel, it would emerge, any purported two-state solution could be a “final solution.” Here, the ironies would be both insufferable and unconscionable.
To undertake increasingly urgent investigations of Hamas terror-criminality, capable scholars and policy makers should look much more closely at the complex determinants of human meaning. Before we can slow-down terror-violence against Israeli and various other noncombatants, Hamas and kindred groups will first have to be shorn of their inclination to bestow celebratory status upon murderers. To affect those mass-directed individuals who turn to terrorism (i.e., ritualistic murder) for affirmations of personal worth, capable thinkers should first identify more benign but still comparably attractive sources of belonging.
In the very deepest analytic sense, Hamas terror-violence represents the result of cumulative individual failures to draw personal meaning “from within.” In Gaza and other mass-directed Palestinian areas, “redemption” requires “the faithful” to present tangible and perpetual proof of belonging. In any such presentation, evidence of participation in violence against Israeli men, women, and children is self-evidently gainful.
At its heart, Palestinian terror-violence against Israel is a problem of displaced human centeredness. Ever anxious about drawing meaning from their own “inwardness,” Hamas adherents draw ever closer to mass-based defilements. In all too many cases, a blood-soaked voice of anti-reason makes even the most gratuitous forms of terror-killing seem glorious.
There is more. When it is correctly understood as a form of religious sacrifice, Hamas terrorism confers the greatest possible form of power. This is the power of “martyrdom,” or power over death. At that stage, it is not merely belief or belonging that is being offered to jihadist murderers. It is also immortality. Lest anyone forget, the heroic death that the Palestinian “martyr” expects to endure is nothing more than a transient inconvenience on the path to a life everlasting. In essence, therefore, the Palestinian shahid “kills himself” (or herself) in order not to die.
At birth, each person contains the possibility of becoming fully human, an opportunity that could reduce potentially destructive loyalties to any murderous mass. Indeed, it is only by nurturing this indispensable possibility that we humans can seek serious remedies to war and terrorism. In principle, at least, Israel’s long-term struggle against Hamas and other jihadists should be to encourage potential terror-killers to discover the way back to themselves as empathetic human beings. But that’s hardly a realistic suggestion.
It’s a time for a summation. Israel should never misunderstand or misrepresent the core causes of Palestinian terror. To wit, Hamas killers are not most genuinely interested in sovereignty, “self-determination,” or statehood, but rather in evidence of belonging, pretended heroism, and a faith-reinforcing immortality.
For the immediate future, Israel will need to continue its life-saving military response to jihadist terrorism, especially when Hamas leaders remain determined to sacrifice Palestinian civilian populations for narrowly cynical and self-serving reasons. If Hamas leaders really believe in their own “sacred” promises of life everlasting to Palestinian “martyrs,” why are they unwilling to “sacrifice” themselves or their families? Only when this core question is raised and candidly answered could Israelis finally understand why well-intentioned concessions to Palestinian statehood would be misconceived and self-destructive.
Louis René Beres, Emeritus Professor of International Law at Purdue, is the author of many books and articles dealing with nuclear strategy and nuclear war, including Apocalypse: Nuclear Catastrophe in World Politics (University of Chicago Press, 1980) and Security or Armageddon: Israel’s Nuclear Strategy (D.C. Heath/Lexington, 1986). His twelfth book, Surviving Amid Chaos: Israel’s Nuclear Strategy, was published by Rowman and Littlefield in 2016. A version of this article was originally published by Jewish Business News.
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Antisemitism in Switzerland Has Surged to ‘Unprecedented Level,’ New Report Finds
A pro-Hamas demonstration in Zurich, Switzerland, Oct. 28, 2023. Photo: IMAGO/dieBildmanufaktur via Reuters Connect
Antisemitism in Switzerland continued to surge to an “unprecedented level” across the country last year, compared to the months leading up to the Hamas-led massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to a new report published on Tuesday.
The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG), in collaboration with the Foundation Against Racism and Antisemitism (GRA), released its annual report on antisemitism in German-, Italian-, and Romansh-speaking Switzerland last year.
To compile and evaluate all antisemitic incidents, the study used the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as a reference.
According to the report, the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza prompted a historic surge in attacks on the Swiss Jewish community.
“The war in the Middle East continued to cause a high number of antisemitic incidents in 2024,” the report stated. “The associated wave of antisemitism gained momentum over the course of the reporting
year, reaching an unprecedented level compared to the period prior to Oct. 7, 2023.”
The 31-page report registered 221 “real-world,” or non-online, antisemitic incidents in 2024, marking a 43 percent increase compared to 2023 and a 287 percent rise compared to 2022, the year before the Hamas invasion of southern Israel in October 2023.
Of all the antisemitic incidents registered in 2024, 11 were physical attacks on Jews, including an attempted murder in Zurich and an attempted arson attack on a synagogue. In contrast, prior to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel in 2023, hardly any such incidents had been reported.
One of the most notorious recent cases was the Zurich attempted murder, in which an Orthodox Jewish man was stabbed and left with life-threatening injuries by a Swiss teenager, an Islamic State supporter of Tunisian origin.
Described by SIG as the most serious antisemitic hate crime in Switzerland in the past two decades, the incident caused widespread shock and led to enhanced security for Jewish sites in Zurich.
According to SIG’s new report, there was a significant increase in antisemitic statements, with 103 reported in 2024 compared to 38 in the previous year and six in 2022.
The study also found that at least 45 percent of all antisemitic incidents were directly related to the Israel-Hamas war, with such a link established in around 28 percent of the total 1,596 registered incidents online.
“Antisemitism has reached the streets in Switzerland,” SIG Secretary General Jonathan Kreutner told Swiss Radio SRF, adding that, despite this development, freedom of opinion, such as support for “Palestine” and criticism of the Israeli government, should be possible in Switzerland.
Based on its analysis, the report explained that “Swiss Jews are often seen as Israeli and are thus held responsible for Israel’s military actions and policies,” leading to members of the Jewish community being targeted in antisemitic attacks because they are seen as responsible for the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.
For example, children and young people at schools and universities are being asked to distance themselves from the Israeli government, the study found.
Such rhetoric has fueled the anti-Jewish stereotype of dual loyalty “that Jews are only loyal to themselves and Israel and not real Swiss.” As a result, the report found that the Jewish community in Switzerland feels increasingly insecure, prompting many to hide religious symbols such as the Star of David or a kippah.
In their study, the SIG and GRA demanded that the safety of Jews be guaranteed and call on society and policymakers to ensure the long-term security of Jewish institutions through police action and active support for local security measures.
“Antisemitism in Switzerland is no longer at a crossroads; it has visibly prevailed against all resistance and taken a frightening turn,” the groups said in a statement.
“Whereas attacks such as verbal abuse, spitting, physical assault, and even brutal attacks on life and limb were previously only distant occurrences happening abroad, they are now a reality here, too,” the SIG and GRA added. “The sense of security felt by many Jewish people has deteriorated considerably.”
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Miami Beach Mayor Withdraws Proposal to Evict, Withdraw Funding for Theater Screening Anti-Israel Film
Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham pose with the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature Film for “No Other Land” at the Governors Ball following the Oscars show at the 97th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, March 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mike Blake
Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner on Wednesday morning rescinded his proposal to evict a local movie theater from a city-owned building and revoke funding for the venue because of its screening of an Oscar-winning documentary that is critical of Israeli military actions in the West Bank.
The decision was announced at a Miami Beach City Commission meeting, where many members of the community addressed the commission and spoke in opposition to Meiner’s proposal against O Cinema, a sponsor of the Miami Jewish Film Festival, and its sold-out screenings of “No Other Land.” The Orthodox Jewish mayor of Miami Beach withdrew his proposal and deferred discussion to an alternative proposal he introduced on Tuesday night, which encourages O Cinema to show films that “highlight a fair and balanced viewpoint.”
“I really am appreciative of the passion that we saw today,” Meiner said at the conclusion of Wednesday’s meeting. “I’m trying not to get emotional, but I legitimately view this as a public safety threat — not immediately. I don’t think anyone in Miami Beach is going to get hurt or attacked because this movie is being shown, but I see and I’m witnessing what is going on in our world,” he added, addressing the global rise in antisemitism.
“What I was trying to do was highlight a level of hurt and what propaganda — yes, it all needs to be heard — but a level of propaganda that eventually can lead to devastation, whether it be pogroms in Europe, the Holocaust, and certainly Oct. 7,” the mayor said, referring to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel. “It stars with propaganda and dehumanizing people. And that’s why I brought this to the forefront because, in my view, it was a public safety issue.”
“Even though some of you said some things [that] were hurtful, I love you all. I really, really do,” he concluded. “We’re all Americans, we’re all proud to be in this country, it is a great country, and I really just want what’s best for us, our city, and our country, and the world. God Bless.”
Meiner introduced his eviction proposal last week, after he failed to convince O Cinema to cancel its screenings of “No Other Land” in a letter that he sent to its CEO Vivian Marthell on March 5. At the meeting on Wednesday, five of the commission members said they would oppose the eviction proposal, which also called to suspend grant money to the theater and discontinue any further funding.
On Monday, more than 700 international filmmakers — including Oscar winner Michael Moore and “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins – signed an open letter supporting O Cinema and encouraging the Miami Beach commissioners to reject Meiner’s proposed eviction of the theater.
O Cinema began screening “No Other Land” on March 7. The film centers on the demolition of Palestinian homes in Masafer Yatta, a collection of villages in the West Bank, and the struggles of Palestinians who confront Israeli armed forces over being evicted from the land, which Israel wants to turn into a military training facility. The film portrays Israeli armed forces as violent land grabbers that oppress and displace Palestinian families in Masafer Yatta, without explaining that Palestinians illegally built homes on the land that Israel had claimed for a military training zone in the 1980s. The film was made by a collective of Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers and activists, including Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra, a Palestinian who lives in Masafer Yatta with his family.
“No Other Land” won best documentary feature film at the 97th Academy Awards on March 2. It has won a slew of other awards as well, including the prestigious Berlinale Documentary Award and Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary Film.
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NYC Mayoral Contender Cites Hamas-Produced Casualty Figures While Condemning Israel for Restarting Gaza Campaign
Zohran Mamdani. Photo: Ron Adar / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect
Zohran Mamdani, one of the top contenders in the New York City mayoral race, on Tuesday condemned Israel for restarting war operations in the Gaza Strip, accusing the Jewish state of committing a “genocide” and citing Hamas-produced casualty statistics.
“Israel’s renewed bombing of Gaza — funded by our tax dollars — has already killed more than 400 Palestinians in just a few hours, including scores of women and children. It is among the deadliest days of a genocide which has taken the lives of more than 50,000 civilians,” Mamdani said in a statement. “‘The Israeli government has chosen to give up on the hostages,’ an organization of Israeli families said this morning. The Trump administration must bring all of its pressure to bear on [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to establish the ceasefire now.”
On Monday night, Israel resumed airstrikes targeting Hamas in Gaza under the directive of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose office said in a statement that the military action followed “Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators.”
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry claimed that around 400 Palestinians were killed from the initial Israeli airstrikes, although the ministry does not distinguish between terrorist combatants and civilians. Moreover, researchers have shown that casualty figures published by Gaza’s Hamas-run health authorities have been inflated to defame Israel.
Mamdani, a representative within the New York State Assembly and progressive firebrand, has made anti-Israel activism a cornerstone of his political career. Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, has both advanced state legislation seeking to punish Israel and labeled the Jewish state’s defensive military operations in Gaza a “genocide.”
Although Mamdani is considered a threat to win the New York City mayorship, his position in the race has slipped. Mamdani commands 8 percent of the vote among New Yorkers, good enough for third place, according to a poll by Quinnipiac conducted between Feb. 27-Mar. 3. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo holds a commanding lead at 38 percent, per Quinnipiac.
Comparatively, according to a poll conducted by Honan Strategy Group from Feb. 22-23, Mamdani previously sat in second place with 12 percent of the vote.
In 2021, Mamdani issued public support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement —an initiative which seeks to economically and diplomatically isolate Israel iasthe first step to its eventual destruction. He claimed that support for the anti-Israel movement is growing within New York City, saying on X/Twitter that “the tide is turning. The fight for justice is here. The moment is now.”
That same year, he also called for prohibiting New York lawmakers from visiting Israel, asserting that “every elected [official] must be pressured to stand with Palestinians.”
In May 2023, Mamdani advanced the “Not on Our Dime! Ending New York Funding of Israeli Settler Violence Act,” legislation which would ban charities from using tax-deductible donations to aid organizations that work in the West Bank. Mamdani argued that the legislation would help the state fight against so-called Israeli “war crimes” against Palestinians. The socialist dismissed critics of the legislation, saying that his anti-Israel proposal is “in line with the sentiments of most New Yorkers.”
On Oct. 8, 2023, 24 hours following the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, Mamdani published a statement condemning “Netanyahu’s declaration of war” and suggesting that Israel would use the terror attacks to justify committing a second “Nakba.” Many Palestinians and anti-Israel activists use the term “Nakba,” or “catastrophe,” to refer to the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948.
Mamdani then said that Israel can only secure its long-term safety by “ending the occupation and dismantling apartheid.”
Five days later, he further criticized Israel’s response to the Hamas-led massacres, saying that “we are on the brink of a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza right now.”
In January 2024, he called on New York City to cease sending funds to Israel, saying that “Voters oppose their tax dollars funding a genocide.”
In addition, Mamdani is a high-profile member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a far-left political organization with critical views of Israel. Though the DSA has long opposed Israel, the organization has ramped up its pro-Hamas rhetoric during the ongoing war in Gaza. On Oct. 7, the organization issued a statement saying that Hamas’s massacre was “a direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime.” The organization also encouraged its followers to attend an Oct. 8 “All Out for Palestine” event in Manhattan.
In January 2024, the DSA issued a statement calling for an “end to diplomatic and military support of Israel.” Then in April, the organization’s international committee, DSA IC, issued a missive defending Iran’s right to “self-defense” against Israel. In addition, the socialist group slammed former US Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) over his vote in favor of replenishing Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system.
Mamdani’s political ascendance comes amid a spike in anti-Jewish hate crimes within New York City.
New York City has been ravaged by a surge in antisemitic incidents in the 17 months following the Oct. 7 massacre. According to police data, Jews were targeted as the victims in a majority of all hate crimes in the city last year.
Meanwhile, pro-Hamas activists have held raucous — and sometimes violent — protests on the city’s college campuses, oftentimes causing Jewish students to fear for their safety. New York City schools are also currently facing criticism for failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students from antisemitism.
The post NYC Mayoral Contender Cites Hamas-Produced Casualty Figures While Condemning Israel for Restarting Gaza Campaign first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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