(LibertySociety.com) – The deadly terrorist attack against Israel was originally intended to be just one of many days of assault by Hamas against Israel. A report from the Washington Post cited multiple intelligence officials from four countries in the West and Middle East regarding Hamas’ plans. Those officials said the terrorist group had several days’ worth of supplies and ammunition. They also possessed a copy of Hamas’ plans to attack multiple places in Israel. In addition, the terrorist organization’s goal was to provoke conflict in many places across the Middle East.
Hamas carried out the attack knowing that Israel would retaliate by launching operations within Gaza. According to one Israeli senior official, Hamas “wanted to buy their place in history,” no matter how many lives it cost. Normalization efforts have been underway in the Middle East since the Trump administration and leaders from Saudi Arabia recently spoke about the progress that had been made. Following the attack, the United States immediately suspected it was to derail those efforts, which Hamas has all but confirmed.
Since the attack, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have retaliated without ceasing for over a month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed calls for a ceasefire during a CNN interview on November 12. The following day, he spoke with Sean Hannity on Fox News and warned that if Hamas was not destroyed, the conflict would affect European countries next. He predicted that Hamas would become a fear of all Europeans, similar to how ISIS was once perceived. Netanyahu told Hannity that “we have to make sure that the forces of good” prevail. He expressed gratitude to the Biden administration for standing with Israel, despite President Biden’s recent call for a pause in IDF operations to deliver humanitarian aid and allow civilians to leave.
Netanyahu went on to discuss how antisemitic people believe that Jewish people will remain the only targets of terrorist groups like Hamas. He told Hannity that they would not stop if they succeeded in eliminating the Jewish state.
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