Palestinians Cut the Heads Off Babies, Not Israelis! Why I'm Done with the Palestinian Movement

An Op-Ed by Dr. Darren Slade

Imagine someone were to offer the following argument:

"In the 1930s and '40s, six million Jews were forcibly removed from their homes and systematically slaughtered by Gentiles. Therefore, it is completely justified and understandable for Jews today to commit mass murder, rape, and the abduction of children and elderly women because they are an oppressed people."

Do you hear how stupid and morally repugnant that sounds?

We would never accept such an argument on behalf of Israel in the West; and yet, I have heard far too many people give that very same defense for the recent pogrom launched by Palestinian Jihadists against Israel on October 7, 2023.

And make no mistake about it: what Palestinian Jihadists did to Israeli civilians was not a declaration of war. This was not the action of a beleaguered and oppressed Palestinian citizenry engaging in justifiable warfare, civil unrest, or social justice activism. It was an attempt at relaunching another Holocaust by organizing the systematic massacre of a particular ethnic group. These are war criminals and homicidal fiends who must be dealt with quickly if the civilized world is to survive.

There is No Moral Equivalence between Israel and Palestine

Let's get something out of the way: this blog post is my personal (albeit, historically-informed) opinion on the recent outbreak of war in Israel. There are plenty of legitimate dissenters at GCRR who would disagree with many of my conclusions. And that's what I love about GCRR's membership; we know how to disagree and still be civil about it. Not only is the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict incredibly complex to scrutinize, but it is also very much like a Rorschach test:

How you view the situation in the Levant often says more about you personally (your political, religious, and ethnic biases) than it does about the historical facts.

It is no secret that I have been an outspoken critic of Israel's military responses and settlement expansions in the past, viewing these types of actions as unnecessarily antagonistic. And some of Israel's political rhetoric has definitely invited violence. It seems painfully obvious to me that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has undermined the peace process with Palestinians on many occasions and that his political party never really supported Jewish-Arab equality in the first place.

It's also important to know that I am neither Jewish nor tied to the State of Israel in any way, and I believe there is plenty of blame to go around for the situation in Israel-Palestine. But we must not make the mistake of claiming that both sides are equally at fault for the conflict or that there is some moral equivalence between Israel's right to defend itself and the Palestinian Jihadists who revel in murdering innocent civilians. They are not the same, and we cannot expect (nor should we want) Israel to live peacefully next to a territory whose government's sole existence is founded on a desire for ethnic genocide.

Groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and their jihadist allies literally have more in common with Nazi death squads than with any other organization. They blame Jews for all of their grievances and believe that exterminating Jews will solve all their problems. These fanatics cannot be reasoned or negotiated with because homicidal anti-Semitism is at the core of their cultural and religious identity. If they were to live peacefully with Israel, then they would cease to be who they are. And that's a problem for human civilization . . . in Israel and everywhere else.

I believe it was Sam Harris who once said something like, If Hamas were to stop fighting, there would be no violence. If Israel were to stop fighting, there would be no Israel. This is quite accurate. It is Palestinian terrorism, fueled by Muslim anti-Semitism, that keeps the cycle of violence alive and a peaceful coexistence impossible.

The Moral Difference between the Two is Stark

No doubt by now, readers will have noticed that I use the term "Palestinian Jihadists" interchangeably with Hamas. I am aware that many civilians living in Gaza are neither terrorists nor jihadists, and the Palestinian people are just as much a victim of Hamas' actions as the Israelis. But Hamas is both a terrorist organization and the duly elected ruling body over Gaza. The majority of Palestinians (from all the disputed territories around Israel) openly support Hamas' jihadist ideology. We cannot (and should not) use "Hamas" as though it is a different ethnic group apart from the Palestinians themselves. Hamas is entirely Palestinian, and (this bears repeating) the majority of Palestinians continue to want Hamas to represent their people as a whole. This makes Palestinians both victims of and collaborators with Hamas' homicidal barbarism.

When we are dealing with Islamic Jihadists all over the world, including among Palestinians, we are not dealing with a virtuous culture that believes in the value of life and liberty. We are dealing with a demonstrably horrific ideology that inspires violence against every human being who does not subscribe to their repugnant version of Islam.

Allow me to break down the stark moral differences between Israel and her jihadist enemies:

• Palestinian Jihadists quite literally rejoice and celebrate publicly when unarmed Israeli civilians are murdered. Israel does not.

• Palestinian Jihadists deliberately seek out and murder defenseless civilians like the elderly, nursing mothers, and little children as part of their war strategy. Israel does not.

• Palestinian Jihadists believe it is their religious duty to kill and slaughter Jews wherever they are. Israel does not.

• Palestinian Jihadists publicly kidnap, rape, torture, and murder hostages in front of cheering mobs. Israel does not.

• Palestinian Jihadists revel in the carnage of desecrating bodies. Israel does not.

• Palestinian Jihadists proudly broadcast their savagery on social media. Israel does not.

• Palestinian Jihadists use their economic resources and humanitarian aid to stockpile weapons, instead of building an infrastructure that would actually improve the lives of its population.

• Palestinian Jihadists will gladly kill themselves in suicide missions just to murder civilians. Israel would not.

• Palestinian Jihadists strategically use human shields (noncombatant women and children) in order to deter retaliatory military strikes. Israel does not.

This last point bears elaboration. The very fact that Hamas uses human shields is a testament to their own recognition of the moral difference between them and Israel. Palestinian Jihadists know that Israel is reluctant to fire on civilian targets, and the Palestinians try to exploit this to their advantage . . . even if it means allowing their own people to die. Islamic Jihadists are known for using their own children, even blowing up their own kids, just to kill a few non-Muslims. There really is no moral equivalence between Israelis and jihadists.

• Israel has gone out of its way to avoid or minimize killing civilians. Palestinian Jihadists do not.

• Israel has arrested and prosecuted members of its own military for war crimes against Palestinians (though perhaps not in enough cases). Palestinian Jihadists have never done so with their own people.

• Israel both morally and legally forbids violent, indiscriminate barbarism. Palestinian Jihadists do not.

• Israel uses their resources and economy to build an infrastructure that improves the lives of its population. Palestinian Jihadists do not.

So far, Palestinian thugs have gunned down elderly people as they walked on sidewalks, executed mothers at point-blank range who were shielding their babies from gunfire, and hunted down young adults attending a music festival. It was Palestinians who live-streamed the killing of a grandmother and posted it on her family's Facebook page for them to see.

It was Palestinians who cut the heads off babies . . . not Israelis!

But what about Israel's oppression of Palestinians?

It should be clear to everyone that if Israel really wanted to commit mass genocide and exterminate every Palestinian in the region, they could do so easily. But they don't. Why is that? Because its own people would revolt in disgust, and its military officials would refuse on ethical grounds.

However, if Hamas were able to commit mass genocide and exterminate every Jew in the region, they would do so in a heartbeat. The only thing stopping them is a lack of resources. It is not a question of ethics or a desire to live in peace with their neighbors. They simply don't have the means to carry out such a large-scale Holocaust.

So, let's consider a few important facts:

• The Palestinians in Gaza were not living under Israeli occupation. There hasn't been an Israeli presence in Gaza since 2005 when Israel forcibly removed thousands of its own citizens (and Jewish graves) from the Gaza Strip.

• There was no Israeli provocation or expansion of settlements in Gaza that forced the Gazan military to invade Israel.

• Despite being out of the region for almost two decades, Hamas has continued to breed terrorists who would go on to attack Israel.

So, when we consider things like Israel's sanctions and blockade against the Gaza Strip, it is not to punish its civilian population who, incidentally, happen to support and defend Hamas' extremist rhetoric. It is to keep Hamas from acquiring the resources necessary to commit further genocide against innocent Israeli civilians. Are the sanctions harsh and oppressive? You're damn right they are!

The entire world should have done the same thing to Nazi Germany when the majority of its population supported Adolf Hitler's rise to power. But they didn't, and Europe had to burn to the ground in order to learn not to appease terrorists in the future.

All Gaza would have had to do in order to lift its economic sanctions and open its borders is jettison its homicidal ideology and make significant reforms in how it interacts with its Jewish neighbors. But they didn't do that, even when other Muslim countries had already developed peace with Israel.

"People are capable of committing genocide. When they tell us they intend to commit genocide, we should listen. There is every reason to believe that the Palestinians would kill all the Jews in Israel if they could. Would every Palestinian support genocide? Of course not. But vast numbers of them—and of Muslims throughout the world—would. Needless to say, the Palestinians in general, not just Hamas, have a history of targeting innocent noncombatants in the most shocking ways possible. They’ve blown themselves up on buses and in restaurants. They’ve massacred teenagers. They’ve murdered Olympic athletes. They now shoot rockets indiscriminately into civilian areas. And again, the charter of their government in Gaza explicitly tells us that they want to annihilate the Jews—not just in Israel but everywhere." —Sam Harris, 2014

So long as a genocidal government is endorsed by (and has control of) its civilian population, then harsh sanctions and border walls are the very least Israel should do to maintain their own safety. Think about it: Hamas had to fly militants over concrete walls just to kill innocent Israelis. Imagine how much easier it would have been had no "oppressive" security measures been keeping Palestinian Jihadists out of Israel. These harsh precautions do not make Israel responsible for Palestinian retribution. It makes them aware of being surrounded by a people who want them dead.

But what about Israel's Disproportionate Retaliation Measures?

Does this mean that Israel has never committed atrocities against an unarmed Palestinian population? No, certainly not. To deny some of the harsh policies and human rights violations against Palestinians is to deny reality. Racism definitely exists in Israel, and some Ashkenazi Jews truly despise their Arab neighbors. There's no doubt that when Israel responds to terrorist attacks from Gaza, it is disproportionate and violent. Many civilians are killed, including innocent women and children.

Rocket attacks from Gaza may kill only a few dozen Israelis, compared to the several hundred Palestinians that will be killed by Israel's military. But these facts actually prove my point about the moral depravity of Palestinian Jihadists.

The vast majority of the time, Israel is responding to terrorist attacks. If Hamas would simply stop launching rockets against civilian targets, then Israel would not respond with missile attacks of their own. And let's not forget why the aftermath appears so disproportionate. Not only is Gaza one of the most densely populated regions on the planet, but Hamas regularly launches rockets from within civilian locations like schools and hospitals. In other words, Hamas purposely surrounds themselves with civilians so that more of their fellow Muslims will die when Israel retaliates, which in turn helps galvanize their populace to want revenge against the Jews.

It might be worth noting that Israel has shown more restraint in attacking Hamas than the United States and Western Europeans have done during their own wars. The type of global condemnation against Israel is wildly disproportionate to what they have actually done during times of war. Again, this does not mean that Israel shares no blame for perpetuating a cycle of distrust and violence. But the fact that Gaza was basically an open-air prison is actually a problem of their own making, created after these Palestinian Jihadists alienated themselves from the rest of the civilized world (including alienating themselves from other Muslim countries).

Moreover, despite Palestinian Jihadists never giving a warning about their impending rocket attacks, Israel routinely notifies the civilian targets ahead of time in hopes that noncombatants will evacuate the area. So, it's inappropriate to use body counts as a way of identifying the "bad guy" here. Israel used its resources to build bomb shelters for Israelis. Hamas built tunnels so they could continue terrorist attacks and kidnappings. Israel protects its citizens; Hamas endangers them. The fact that Hamas routinely puts its own people in harm's way, and takes criminal actions that elicit military bombardments, means that it is Palestinians, not the State of Israel, who are doing the majority of oppressing other Palestinians.

Just because Palestinians are more adept at dying than they are at killing does not make them more virtuous.

What might come as a surprise to outsiders is that there are major portions of undeveloped areas in the Gaza Strip, which are out of the way of Israel's military strikes. While Israel is not currently allowing refugees to flee Gaza into Israel, there doesn't seem to be anything preventing those same refugees from leaving the urban centers within their own territory. The fact that many Palestinians choose to stay in the blast zones, rather than migrate to the countryside, speaks more to a culture that revels in martyrdom than it does about Israel's use of missile strikes.

Finally, it's worth noting that Palestinian leaders are willing pawns of Iran's religious fanaticism. Both Hamas and Iran benefit from terrorist attacks on Israel. Hence, like so much of Islamic history, it is Muslims (not Jews) exploiting and abusing other Muslims. Only one side of this conflict is hoping for a significant loss of life, and it's not Israelis.

Is the Palestinian Movement Now a Jihadist Movement?

I'm starting to think that the Palestinian movement has devolved into a puppet show for jihadists. And it pains me even to consider this reality since I had formerly been an activist for Palestinian rights. There is a genuine culture clash happening, and pro-Palestinian sympathizers simply don't recognize it.

Israel has (for the most part) adopted the values of Western Civilization, which now says that collateral damage (unavoidable civilian deaths during war) is unwanted, regrettable, and even scandalous. Obviously, Western Civilization has not always held this value or even practiced it once they adopted it. But at least the West believes collateral damage should be minimized as much as possible.

Hamas and their jihadist allies, on the other hand, openly adopt the ethics of the Dark Ages where everyone (women, children, the elderly, etc.) is fair game. Only one side of this conflict publicly promotes savagery that revels in bloodshed. That's why, for me personally at the moment, it feels as though supporting the Palestinian movement is equivalent to supporting terrorism. There are simply too many Palestinians siding with and supporting the homicidal ideology of Hamas (and far too few publicly denouncing it). Far too many Palestinians educate their little children about the glories of killing Jews and the heavenly rewards of dying a martyr against Israel.

That's why it would be absolutely unimaginable to hear a report of Israel using its own women and children as human shields to deter rocket attacks from Gaza. Why? Because Israel obviously has a superior sense of morality and believes it is wrong to jeopardize the lives of noncombatants deliberately. The same cannot be said about jihadists. On the contrary, it is expected that Palestinian Jihadists would use human shields because they possess a morally bankrupt worldview.

Shame on Pro-Palestinian Demonstrators

Further evidence of this difference in values comes to light with the global pro-Palestinian response to news of Hamas' invasion. Instead of Palestinians (or pro-Palestinian sympathizers) denouncing the horrific, Nazi-like atrocities perpetrated against little children, we saw demonstrations cheering on these grotesque acts of mass murder . . . simply because the terrorists are viewed as "oppressed Palestinians." In one instance, Hamas sympathizers chanted, “Gas the Jews!” in Sydney, Australia! Disgusting.

Just a helpful reminder . . . again. The Palestinians in Gaza were not living under Israeli occupation. There hasn't been an Israeli presence in Gaza since 2005. There was no Israeli provocation or expansion of settlements in Gaza. So, please stop saying it.

What's absurd is that many pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the West are often attended by politically liberal youth who honestly believe they are fighting on the side of social justice and human rights. Hell, I used to be one of them. They naively believe that the Palestinians, peaceful or otherwise, share the same liberal culture and values as they do. What these "social justice warriors" don't realize is that if the majority of Palestinians actually got what they wanted, then the following would happen:

• Israelis and Jews would cease to exist, having been exiled or killed off.

• The State of Palestine would not allow religious diversity. If you are not a Muslim in Palestine, then you would be a second-class citizen.

• The State of Palestine would not allow freedom of speech, freedom of expression, or freedom of the press.

• The State of Palestine would not support gender equality, women's rights, female empowerment, or female representation.

• The State of Palestine would not support LGBTQ+ rights. In fact, being gay in Palestine would get you killed.

The significance of this can't be overstated. Over-privileged liberal youth, who are desperate to manufacture a civil rights movement for themselves, really don't understand what they're supporting. Liberals sympathizing with Palestinian Jihadists are like African-Americans sympathizing with the Ku Klux Klan. It actually works against your own self-interests.

It was fellow liberals who were dancing at that music festival in Israel when "oppressed Palestinians" indiscriminately gunned them down. They hate us liberals just as much as they hate Jews, and they certainly don't care about Western notions of diversity and equality.

So, when people take to the streets to demonstrate on behalf of "Palestine" in the wake of such atrocities, then they are, in fact, supporting homicidal terrorists who cut the heads off babies. Israel didn't go into their homes and execute nursing mothers. Those were Palestinians who did that.

Proudly brandishing Palestinian flags immediately after Palestinians murdered hundreds of little kids is beyond insensitive and in poor taste. It is morally indefensible. Shame on those who do such things in the name of "human rights."

No enlightened liberal, Muslim, or human being should hide behind the legitimate grievances of Palestinian civilians to justify (or ignore entirely) the utterly abhorrent massacre of Israeli civilians. Right now, in this very moment, Palestinians are deserving of our strongest, unequivocal condemnation for voting in, continuing to support, cheering on, and participating with terrorist organizations like Hamas. If we dare to condemn all of Israel for the human rights violations of its governmental policies, then we should condemn all of Palestine for this attempted ethnic genocide.

For me personally, the Palestinian movement lost all moral claims to being an oppressed victim the moment they organized a pogrom against little kids.

Palestinians just robbed the Palestinian movement of its moral rightness, and it's time the world wakes up to the realization that perhaps the Palestinian movement is not as "good" as liberals want it to be.

Is a Full-Blown Retaliatory Invasion Proportionate?

At this point, I'm not sure it even matters whether something is proportional or not. The conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis doesn't seem like it will ever end until one of these groups wipes the other off the planet. I just wish Gaza had chosen a better route than to provoke a dragon with an itchy trigger finger. What did they think was going to happen with such a heinous invasion?

All I can say is this:

I have a six-year-old little girl at home. If a bunch of barbarians broke into my home and beheaded my beautiful, innocent daughter, then I wouldn't hesitate to mow down every person who was involved . . . every organization that participated . . . every person who cheered . . . and every structure that housed these maniacs. I would burn down their entire civilization, and die doing so, all for the sake of avenging my little girl.

And maybe that's the problem.

It just seems that some actions are so heinous, they cry out for vengeance.

Of course, I'm just one dad thinking hypothetically about his little girl. There's now an entire country of moms and dads with murdered or kidnapped children . . . and they have an arsenal of weapons at their disposal.

Palestinians just killed their babies!!! What would you do if these were your children?

No government, no organization, no community, and no person should ever have to tolerate living next to a people whose stated reason for existence is your annihilation. And now, sadly, the Gaza Strip won't have the opportunity to evolve into a civilized region of the world on its own accord.

So, please remember this the next time people are comparing the two groups:

It was Palestinians who cut the heads off babies . . . not Israelis.