Can a terror ideology be complete destroyed?

That’s the explosive question fueling a fierce debate after an Israeli military spokesman may have suggested that Hamas and its extremist ideology could be a force that can never be fully defeated.

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IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari sparked an uproar on Thursday after telling Channel 12 News that believing Israel can make Hamas disappear is “throwing dust in the public’s eyes.”

He dismissed such an outcome as fanciful, asserting Hamas is an idea rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood’s Islamist indoctrination that can never be eradicated. Even though Hagari later clarified that he merely questioned the destruction of Hamas as an ideology it hasn’t silenced the debate.

In response, the son of Hamas’s co-founder Sheikh Hassan rejected Hagari’s perceived defeatist rhetoric.

“I see increasing voices saying Hamas is an idea that can’t be destroyed. This is what I used to think 15 years ago,” Mosab Hassan Yousef wrote on X. “Stop the lame excuse. The war will not end until justice is delivered and anyone who gets in the way will be destroyed as well.”

“Hamas depends on the Muslim Brotherhood, Islam, and the human condition. We can’t eradicate it overnight. But we can remove it from power, cut the head, and let the tail die.”

At its core, the heated question centers around whether Hamas’ combination of extremist beliefs and opposition to Jewish self-rule is some metaphysical force that can’t be overcome. Or if it’s just an evil ideology that can be crushed with overwhelming force, like how the Nazis were defeated during WWII.

Israel faces a critical juncture in its now eight-month fight against Hamas. The outcome of this high stakes question will have far-reaching implications for the nation’s security and the safety of its remaining abused hostages still being held in Gaza.

    Jonathan Finkelstein June 21, 2024 1:10 pm

    The proof is in the pudding, as they say. Was the Nazi ideology crushed in WWII? Seems to me it is alive today perhaps more so than since WWII. I don’t think an idea can be eradicated but the people who want to implement its implications can be. Another old adage is that freedom requires continual vigilance and defense. Our rights may be God given but there are always those people who would take them away. I agree with the proposed goal of the Israel-Hamas war to put a stop to the Gaza Strip again being a locus for aggression against the State of Israel or its citizens.

    . June 21, 2024 1:12 pm

    If I’m not mistaken, and as far as I know, on the subject of Amalek, the Torah says to eliminate each one.

    Stude M June 21, 2024 5:12 pm

    The West “defeated” the Nazis is WW2, and yet there are still Nazis. As long as Islam and its Quran teach that it’s the duty of every Muslim to annihilate Jews around the World, it cannot be defeated. It truly sucks to say that, but it’s their holy book. If Jews found a way to move to Mars, I guarantee you that Muslims would find a way to follow them there and kill them. Unless you’re prepared to kill over a billion Muslims, you can’t win. Even cockroaches survive a nuclear blast.

    Malka June 21, 2024 7:01 pm

    Absolutely, it’s an impossible task. An ideology can be diluted but not destroyed completely. Anti-Semitic sentiment rears its ugly head on a regular basis, and these days it’s because of the perpetual Jew hatred that is preached by radical Muslim societies. Hamas and other similar extremist groups (and their followers) are just part of the larger problem.

    Shachar oz June 22, 2024 2:07 am

    I appreciate Mosab Hassan Yousef a lot, and I so agree that it is feasible somehow to destroy an idea completely. But it will take decades rather than months.

    What the army can do, is first of all demiliterize the terror groups in Gaza strip, and destroy their smuggling tunnels as well as their manufacturing facilities. This way they could no longer bring in weapons. This should take few months.

    Then you will have people who hate you, but don’t have the weapons to kill you. The army can try to eliminate each person, but this will take more months.

    Lastly, you need to diplomatically close all ways of terror groups to arm itself in the future.

    Channah June 22, 2024 5:45 pm

    Debate about “ to defeat or not to be defeated” is nothing more than magical cowardice thinking. Just do the bloody right thing and wipe out evil, where and when it appears. All evil corrupt nations eventually disappear because evil cannot truly sustain itself – eventually its own destroy it . Just finish them do the right thing right now.

    Idfarechildkillersfuckisrael June 24, 2024 8:08 pm

    The irony of the people commenting on here the audacity to talk about the muslims wamting ti kill.you when comfortably talking about the amalek and killing billions you people are worse than the nazis. Finally we can all see it

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