Slaughter of the innocents reflects Hamas’s character

When the history of the 21st century is written, the babies found beside their cots with their heads cut off at the Kfar Aza kibbutz in southern Israel will symbolise the depravity of militant jihadists. Local security at the kibbutz battled to hold out against the onslaught for hours but were overrun when Hamas called for reinforcements, attacking the once beautiful village and mutilating pregnant women. More than 100 bodies have been recovered by Israeli soldiers in kibbutzes close to the Gaza border, including those of about 40 babies and young children. Also found was the body of an elderly woman whose grieving grandchildren discovered her fate when the terrorists took her phone to film her murder and then published the video on her Facebook wall.

Like never before, Hamas’s barbaric attacks have exposed the moral bankruptcy of elements of the green left and of militant Islam. Reactions after news broke of the slaughter of babies and toddlers were telling. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who purports to be a man of God, gloated on social media in broken Hebrew: “Zionists, you brought this calamity upon yourselves. Dictatorial Zionists, you cannot recover from the defeat of October 7.”

In faraway Canberra, Labor’s ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said Australians should not take a side in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Nor would Mr Barr condemn his coalition partner, the Greens, for backing a pro-Palestinian rally in the national capital on Friday. In Sydney, four NSW upper house Greens opposed a motion by Labor MLC Bob Nanva condemning the Hamas attacks and “standing in solidarity with Israel”. The Greens particularly rejected point five of Mr Nanva’s motion: the right of Israel to defend itself. Given Israel’s existential threat, it is hard to see the Greens’ position as anything but anti-Semitism.

Such prejudice is also evident elsewhere. New York University law school student bar association president Ryna Workman, who identifies as “non-binary”, said the slaughter in Israel was “necessary”.

NSW Premier Chris Minns was right to apologise to the state’s Jewish community for failing to provide a safe place for them to mourn following the weekend attacks. “The intentions were to light up the Opera House as a space for the Jewish community to commemorate what happened in Israel, the number of family and friends caught up in the conflict,” he said. “We didn’t do it. I take responsibility for that. I want to ensure it won’t happen again.” NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley’s apology sounded grudging. “We have the responsibility to ensure the safety of multicultural communities in NSW, and especially the Jewish community, who deserve to feel safe,” she told parliament. “Of course I apologise to anyone if they feel unsafe.” Not good enough. For Jewish Australians walking down the street in Sydney, Sky News host Sharri Markson wrote in Wednesday’s newspaper: “There’s now a discernible feeling of fear and worry. Should we take our children to school, having just seen these people – our fellow citizens – chant ‘Kill the Jews’ and ‘Gas the Jews’ on the streets we love? These are the questions I am now seriously asking myself in the city in which I was born and raised, and where I have always felt safe.”

Mr Minns wisely has stopped a planned Palestinian rally in Sydney on Sunday because “protest organisers have already proven they’re not peaceful”. But while police will be out in force, they admit they “can’t stop a thousand people” from descending on the Sydney CBD.

As Israel’s death toll soared beyond 1200, Joe Biden, in an emotional television address on Tuesday, spoke of the “unadulterated evil” that had been unleashed on the world and of the “brutality of Hamas, bloodthirstiness that brings to mind the worst rampages of ISIS”, the Palestinian terrorists’ bedfellows. “Infants in their mothers’ arms, grandparents in wheelchairs, Holocaust survivors, abducted and held hostage,” the US President said. “Hostages whom Hamas is now threatening to execute in violation of every code of human morality.” He had a clear message for Ayatollah Khamenei and his Iranian regime. “Let me say again, to any country, any organisation, anyone thinking of taking advantage of this situation, I have one word: Don’t. Don’t. Our hearts may be broken but our resolve is clear. Let there be no doubt. The US has Israel’s back. We’re surging additional military assistance for Israel, including ammunition and interceptors to replenish the Iron Dome. We’re going to make sure that Israel does not run out of these critical assets.” Mr Biden must stand by that pledge 100 per cent. It must also receive cross-party support in the US congress, unlike the lack of commitment being shown by feeble Trump Republicans over US support for Ukraine. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed US planes would be landing in Israel with supplies in coming days. “Let me be clear, we did not move the aircraft carrier for Hamas, we moved the carrier to send a clear message of deterrence to other states or non-state actors that might seek to widen this war,” Mr Sullivan said. That is reassuring.

Mr Biden also recounted how, as a newly elected US senator 50 years ago, he met Golda Meir, the Israeli prime minister at the time, in her office just before the 1973 Yom Kippur War: “She could tell I was concerned. She looked over and whispered to me: Don’t worry, Senator Biden. We have a secret weapon here in Israel … We have no (other) place to go.” Her observation then is no less relevant now as Israel faces one of the gravest threats to its existence since 1948.

As Meir told one of her generals at the time: “If the enemy stops fearing us, they’ll attack again, again and again.” That view probably will inform the Israeli bombardment of Hamas in Gaza in a few days. But it will be complicated by Israel’s determination to protect the lives of the hostages taken in the terror raids. Locating them will depend on detailed intelligence work; saving them will be an even more formidable challenge. In addition to the immediate counteroffensive in Gaza, breaking Iran’s hold on its terrorist proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, will be an important, complex challenge, as Roger Boyes wrote in The Times.

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas is 87 and Tehran has decided to take control of the Palestinian cause and assert itself in any succession struggle. Tehran also wants to sabotage any US-led reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Israel. In addition to intensifying pressure on Israel, Iran’s ascendancy, and that of Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, would be dangerous for the rest of the Middle East and the West.