Don't starve; you can release kidnapped children and surrender any time' - former US Naval Officer
Former US Naval Officer S. Goodman has a simple solution for Hamas in its current war against Israel - unconditional surrender.
Nazis pleading for compassion
In reaction to a Nazi-style slaughter and torture of hundreds of defenseless Jewish babies, toddlers and women by Hamas terrorists, Israel stopped shipments of fuel and food to Gaza. The area has been controlled by Hamas since the residents voted them into power in 2006, shortly after Israel left the territory.
Hamas now complains about the conditions, demanding that Israel pay for and deliver electricity to it even as it tortures Israeli children and rains rockets down on innocent families.
No
Goodman says no one in Gaza need go hungry. “They just need to release kidnapped children and surrender,” Goodman said in an exclusive interview with Frontline News. He is calling for Hamas to turn over the more than 100 hostages, mostly women and children, it is holding in deplorable conditions, to lay down their arms and give up, as he wrote a text message to us:
GAZA IS FREE TO RELEASE ALL CAPTIVES, DISARM, AND UNCONDITIONALLY SURRENDER at any time. Their fate is in their own hands. Israel will no longer place its people in danger by allowing this terror enclave to continue.
Endless wars
Some modern wars have become endless conflicts in which no side earns a true victory, but are only paused temporarily until the next cycle of violence. Such has been the case with Israel's previous attempts to quell rocket fire and kidnappings executed by Hamas. Hamas is requesting a continuation of that policy, pleading for international pressure on Israel to allow Gaza to enjoy a free flow of electricity, food, water and fuel, and thus the ability to remain in power.
True victory
Traditionally, though, the main deterrent against the initiation of a war was the potential consequence of the aggressor losing and being conquered, with the men taken prisoner and perhaps executed while forever losing all or part of one's homeland. The possibility of losing one's freedom, home, possessions, and possibly life came into the equation as nations weighed their options before initiating a war.
Partial victory
The Western approach to war changed in the 20th century, when the United States chose not to make a full victory out of the outcome of WWII. Instead, America turned over control of Germany to Germans, after a regime change. The US Marshal Plan funded Germany, with over 10% of the $173 billion aid to post-war Europe going to the initiator of the conflict.
Just a cease fire
Israel has made an even further departure from the tradition of conquest, agreeing to end several defensive wars without demanding even regime change. Even when invading nations retreated from Israel and left Israel in control of their territory, Israel has attempted to return those very territories, as it did with Sinai, southern Lebanon and Gaza. Thus, Hamas repeatedly attacks Israel and Israel responds until Hamas arranges a ceasefire, leaving in power the very leaders who started the battle without any concern that the next battle could end with their imprisonment.
Regime change
America, on the other hand, did not offer Japan a cease fire or peace treaty, after Pearl Harbor, where each side could just stop firing with no other consequences. The US was quite clear that the war would continue until the Japanese surrendered. The allied forces even released an official document, the Potsdam Declaration, clarifying that nothing less than unconditional surrender would stop the destruction of the war:
Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender
The prodigious land, sea and air forces of the United States, the British Empire and of China, many times reinforced by their armies and air fleets from the west, are poised to strike the final blows upon Japan. This military power is sustained and inspired by the determination of all the Allied Nations to prosecute the war against Japan until she ceases to resist. . . .
The might that now converges on Japan is immeasurably greater than that which, when applied to the resisting Nazis, necessarily laid waste to the lands, the industry and the method of life of the whole German people. The full application of our military power, backed by our resolve, will mean the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland. . . .
Following are our terms. We will not deviate from them. There are no alternatives. We shall brook no delay.
. . .
There must be eliminated for all time the authority and influence of those who have deceived and misled the people of Japan into embarking on world conquest . . .
The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction. [Emphases added].
Civil war if necessary
Sensing that the Japanese emperor was prepared to surrender, staff of Japan's Ministry of War together with officers from the nation's Imperial Guard, attempted a coup, known as the Kyujo incident, to stop the move. Supporters of the surrender fought them off and surrendered the next day.
Germany also saw coup attempts in the war, though they were carried out by rebels who were in favor of ending the war. The resistance was so extensive that the Gestapo arrested close to one million of Germany's approximately 70 million citizens for resistance activities and executed tens of thousands. In one attempt to assassinate Hitler and end the war — known as the 20 July plot — Hitler was injured by a briefcase bomb. The explosive was set off by Wehrmacht officers who joined the German resistance, possibly including general field marshal Erwin Rommel.
Gazans too
Unlike German citizens, who faced an army of over 13 million soldiers defending Hitler, and who were to some extent kept in the dark about Nazi atrocities, Gazan citizens outnumber Hamas terrorists 100 to 1 and are fully aware of Hamas atrocities, sharing videos of them on social media.
Hamas can still surrender but, if they don't, 2 million Gazans can overthrow the 20,000 Hamas terrorists. Either way, Gazans could then begin enjoying the benefits of freedom from the fascist group.
