There should be no confusion about Hamas. Its October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians — through murder, rape, torture, and kidnapping — was not a tragedy of war. It was a celebration of cruelty. The terrorists filmed themselves committing atrocities because they wanted the world to see.

And yet, in much of the West, the instinct was not outrage but doubt.

“Maybe Israel exaggerated.” “Maybe it was fabricated.” Some even dared to claim that Israel itself was guilty. This denial is not born of facts; it is a failure of imagination. Western societies, built on compromise and empathy, cannot accept that an enemy could openly glorify barbarism.

Israelis do not have this illusion. They have lived beside it for decades.

The Power of Propaganda

Hamas has long known it cannot defeat Israel on the battlefield. But it has mastered a different weapon: the manipulation of Western emotions.

The phenomenon often called Pallywood, uses staged funerals, dramatized footage, and unverified accusations to shape international opinion.

In 2000, the Muhammad al-Durrah case was broadcast as proof of Israeli brutality. Later investigations revealed manipulation, but the lie stuck. In 2023, when the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza was struck, Hamas instantly accused Israel. Western outlets repeated the claim without evidence. Hours later, US and European intelligence confirmed it was a Palestinian rocket misfire. By then, riots had spread worldwide.

Israel, meanwhile, produces meticulous evidence; satellite images, forensic reports, verified video. These are brushed aside as “public relations,” while shaky Hamas cellphone clips dominate headlines. This is not journalism. It is collaboration.

Two Moral Universes

This problem runs deeper than propaganda. It is a clash of civilizations.

In Hamas’ world, honor is measured in violence. Compromise is weakness. Martyrdom is glorified. Civilians are not protected, they are weaponized. Hamas has never hidden this. Its leaders openly admit it.

Hamas official Fathi Hammad once declared: “We desire death as you desire life.”

The same Hammad bragged on Al-Aqsa TV: “For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry … This is why they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly. This is something we take great pride in.”

This is not misinterpretation. It is confession.

Israel operates in an entirely different moral universe. Rooted in Jewish values such as tikkun olam — “repairing the world” — it values life even while forced to fight.

Israel warns civilians to evacuate, drops leaflets, places phone calls, and risks its own soldiers to reduce civilian harm.

There is no equivalence here. One side clings to life. The other exalts death.

October 7 Proved the Point

On October 7, Hamas carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Approximately 1,200 civilians were slaughtered. More than 360 young people were gunned down at a music festival. Women were raped beside the bodies of their murdered friends. Parents were executed in front of their children. Infants and Holocaust survivors alike were dragged into Gaza as hostages.

When Israel reported these crimes, many in the West scoffed, until Hamas’ own videos surfaced. The terrorists had documented their sadism because, to them, it was a victory to celebrate.

The evidence was irrefutable. Hamas’ cruelty was not incidental. It was the point.

Why Arab States Stay Silent

Even Arab governments understand this truth. Egypt closed its Rafah border, fearing infiltration. Jordan’s King Abdullah bluntly declared, “No refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt.”

Saudi Arabia and the UAE, while publicly critical of Israel, privately admitted Hamas had dragged Gaza into disaster.

They know Hamas’ history: destabilizing Jordan in the 1960s and 70s, smuggling weapons into Egypt, serving as Iran’s proxy. That is why Arab states avoid embracing Hamas, even while Western activists romanticize it.

So who bears responsibility for the cruelty? Not Israel, which agonizes over civilian casualties. Not the Jewish people, who mourn every innocent life lost, even those of their enemies. The accountability lies squarely with Hamas and with the culture of death it has cultivated for decades.

The West must stop projecting its own values onto this conflict. Israel does not exaggerate the threats it faces. It confronts them daily, with courage and moral clarity. Hamas kills because it chooses to.

Every time the Western media parrots Hamas’s accusations, every time academics describe terrorists as “resistance,” every time protesters chant for intifada, they are not defending human rights, they are enabling cruelty.

It is no longer enough to speak in generalities. Major Western institutions must be held to account. When The New York Times rushed to blame Israel for the Al-Ahli Hospital blast, it spread a blood libel that fueled riots. When the BBC repeated Hamas’ claims without evidence, it legitimized lies. When the United Nations Human Rights Council condemns Israel more than every other country on earth combined, it signals to Hamas that the world will always look the other way.

This is not impartiality. It is complicity.

It is time for the West to accept reality: Israel fights to survive. Hamas fights to kill. That is the only moral distinction that matters.

Sabine Sterk is the CEO of Time To Stand Up For Israel.