Please forgive my fury over Hamas mass murders and terrorism in Israel.
Many wars have been fought for the Holy Land. We now witness war in graphic detail on the screens Israelis helped create. Gruesome images of bloodthirsty Jew haters committing atrocities fire me up.
Anger is a natural early stage of grief. If I could, I’d place into tight shackles the mass murderers that kidnapped females at the Tribe of Nova music festival, and then I’d fully prosecute their flagrant war crimes.
Please give me five minutes alone with Ismail Haniyeh, the veteran Hamas leader in Gaza. Israel had him in custody as a terrorist many times, but let him go.
On his November 2006 Iran state-visit as Gaza’s prime minister, Haniyeh announced Hamas will never recognize the right of the Jewish State of Israel to exist. Amazingly, Haniyeh had the backing of former President Jimmy Carter, who appeared on my Dec. 12, 2006, radio show to promote his controversial book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.”
I grilled Carter about supporting Haniyeh and Hamas. Flummoxed, Carter accused me of misrepresenting Haniyeh’s inflammatory claims in Tehran. I knew I was correct, and stood my ground. Soon afterward, 14 Carter Center board members resigned, publicly listing numerous Carter anti-Israel incitements, including this:
“You denied on Denver radio on December 12 that Palestinian Prime Minister Haniyeh said he would never accept or negotiate with Israel. However the BBC monitoring service reported just the opposite. In fact Haniyeh said: ‘We will never recognize the usurper Zionist government and will continue our jihadist movement until Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem) and the Al-Aqsa Mosque are liberated.’ When presented with this fact you said, ‘No he didn’t say that, no he did not do that, I did not hear that.’ These are not points of opinion, these are points of fact.”
Back in 2006, the Anti-Defamation League documented how U.S. white supremacists enthusiastically embraced Carter’s claims. In his advocacy for Hamas, Carter claimed the pro-Israel lobby stifled debate, thus feeding destructive tropes about Jewish control of government and foreign policy, and the inherently “evil” nature of Jews.
No way this Hamas attack, timed 50 years after the Yom Kippur War, proceeded without pre-approval by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia’s evil baby-killer celebrated his 71st birthday on Saturday.
Putin definitely benefits from Hamas’ Simchat Torah attack. This was the festive Jewish holiday when we Jews finish, and begin again, the annual reading of the Torah. For better or worse, Moses’ holy scroll began all modern religions, and created the person, people and place named Israel.
Every atrocity Hamas just inflicted on Israel has been part of Putin’s terrorism playbook in Ukraine, complete with home invasions and kidnapping of children. Putin and Hamas are despicable.
As happened under Carter, I became frustrated with President Obama’s appeasement of radical Islam. I endorsed Mitt Romney, the clear-eyed candidate who declared Middle East-meddling Russia our primary geo-political foe.
Here was my electoral reasoning in 2012: “I disagree with Romney and Ryan on many social issues, but there are other, more pressing problems and priorities for America and the free world right now. If Romney wins, abortion rights are not going away. Neither are gay rights. But Israel might go away if certain events unfold.”
The Hamas attack on Israel has been commended by Russia and its ally Iran. I also suspect untrustworthy Saudi Arabian complicity. I’m permanently disgusted by the smiles on the faces of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Putin when the sociopaths met in late 2018, post-Khashoggi execution, in Buenos Aires.
But let’s focus on Iran, where pro-Hamas massacre celebrations have begun. There’s no attempt to distance Iran’s evil Islamic Republic from the actions of the Islamists who comprise Hamas.
Terrorists are convinced theologically that their acts of murdering Jews will gain them entry into an eternal paradise with 72 waiting virgin brides awaiting their arrival. They want to die as martyrs. Israelis want to live.
Damn, I’m enraged at anyone that proclaims that murdering Jews yields a great afterlife. Such nihilistic theologies have no regard for our earthly existence.
Is it any wonder there’s been such a decline in organized religion? This has been particularly true in Israel. Decent people don’t like religions that are bigoted toward other faiths, minorities and LGBTQ people.
That brings us to Benjamin Netanyahu, whom I long ago stopped supporting, as his personal immorality became evident. Since he’s Israel’s leader for now, I’ll reserve my Bibi fury for later, other than to ask how the hell a country could ever trust its fate to a man facing multiple credible criminal indictments? How could such a leader ever be fully focused on the safety of his nation?
Sorry to attack Jimmy Carter as he nears death, but many fatalities have followed Carter’s grotesque ineptitude regarding Russia, Iran and Hamas. This is not the time to pull punches, except against those now fighting Hamas.
Let’s focus our fury on Hamas and those who have helped them. Atrocities inflicted on innocent Israelis must be avenged. This was mass murder. And now it is war.
Craig Silverman is a former Denver chief deputy DA. Craig is columnist at large for The Colorado Sun and an active Colorado trial lawyer with Craig Silverman Law, LLC. He also hosts The Craig Silverman Show podcast.
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