Post-Oct. 7 Statements in Favor of Destroying Hamas

I wrote an article that appeared at 3:30pm EDT under the title "Israel's Opportunity to Destroy Hamas." I thought that was going out on a limb because before then I had been isolated in calling for such a move.

Well, the mood changed quickly and extensively. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exemplifies that shift. He stated on Oct. 7 that "The IDF will immediately use all its power to destroy Hamas's capabilities." By Oct. 12 he had escalated this to vow to "crush and destroy" Hamas, adding "Every Hamas member is a dead man." He later reiterated the stronger statement:

1. Israel will "eliminate" the "barbaric" Hamas organization.
2. "We will destroy Hamas."
3. "Is is we who will demolish Hamas
4. "We have gone to war ... to destroy the brutal and murderous Hamas-ISIS enemy."
5. "We will continue until we defeat them."
6. "The war is continuing, intensively, in both northern and southern Gaza, in order to achieve all of our goals: Eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will never go back to being a threat to Israel."
7. "Hamas, a key Iranian proxy, must be destroyed."
8. "We are obligated to continue the fighting after a pause in order to complete our goal of destroying Hamas,"

What follows are statements calling for many things to be done to Hamas: defeat, destruction, dismantling, obliteration, eradication, collapse, finishing, removal, smashing, toppling, wiping out, bringing to its knees, demolishment, elimination. There are also occasional calls for Israel Victory.

The quotes are in rough chronological order, from earliest to latest. I do not claim completeness; these are the quotes I have come across. No country identification means Israel.

• Bret Stephens, New York Times columnist: "Hamas's Control of Gaza Must End Now."
• Naftali Bennett, former prime minister: "It's time to destroy Hamas."
• John Daniel Davidson of the Federalist: "Hamas must be eradicated just as the Nazis were eradicated. Any end to this war that doesn't achieve that will be a catastrophe for Israel."
• Almog Cohen, a member of Knesset: "We must collapse Hamas." And: "We will destroy Hamas without mercy."
• Lindsey Graham, U.S. senator: "Israel should do whatever it takes, as long as it takes, to destroy this threat."
• Harvey Bines, U.S. analyst: "Anything short of Hamas's total destruction will be portrayed as a Hamas victory."
• Amir Avivi, brigadier general (res.): "We need a decisive win. We need to destroy Hamas. We need to deprive them completely from their capabilities. We need to regain control of he Gaza Strip."
• Washington Examiner editorial: "Israel must have a free hand to destroy Hamas."
• Chuck Freilich, former deputy national security advisor (in Ha'aretz): "Israel must now deal Hamas an unequivocal defeat."
• Nikki Haley, Republican candidate for U.S. president: "Finish them, @Netanyahu."
• Victor Davis Hanson: "Israel now knows there is no living with a precivilizational Hamas. It must destroy it."
• National Review editorial: Israel "will have to pulverize Hamas."
• Michael Rubin, American Enterprise Institute: "Israel must remove Hamas from the Gaza Strip."
• Washington Free Beacon editorial: the "Jewish State Must Settle For Nothing Less Than Total Victory."
• Tamir Heyman, former IDF intelligence chief: "We have to win."
• David Horovitz, Times of Israel editor: "There is a war to be won."
• Daniel Greenfield: "Winning means destroying Hamas, its leaders, its terrorists and its supporters by any means necessary, and securing the territory they operated from so that it cannot be used to stage similar attacks."
• Yaakov Amidror, former national security advisor: "We will destroy Hamas, slowly but surely." And Hamas "should be killed and destroyed."
• Gilad Erdan, Israels ambassador to the United Nations: "Now is the time to obliterate Hamas terror infrastructure, to completely erase it." And: "G-d willing Hamas will be eradicated. It might take weeks, it might take a few months, but it will be eradicated."
• Ariel Kahana, Israel Hayom analyst: "efforts must be concentrated on turning defeat into victory. The way to do that is to take the initiative in our response and first of all to defeat the enemy. It is not enough to 'demand that they pay a huge price,' as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. In the circumstances imposed on us, and to quote the Chief of Staff David Elazar [Dado] during the Yom Kippur War, 'We must smash them to smithereens.' That is, bring them to their knees until they scream enough, hit him mercilessly, and mow them down to the ground."
• Lilach Shoval, military correspondent, Israel Hayom: "On this occasion, we really cannot just make do with a 'victory photo' for the sake of public relations, as nothing will be able to compare with the horrific opening blow delivered by Hamas. There is no choice, this time, we need nothing less than a decisive victory that cannot be disputed, one that will be remembered for generations to come."
• Meir Ben Shabbat, former national security advisor: "Israel should destroy everything connected to Hamas: the homes of Hamas operatives, government offices and offices belonging to the organization, institutions, banks, vehicles, generators, boats, warehouses and workshops." And: "The IDF needs to continue with its massive pounding, to destroy and to kill and to eliminate anything connected in any way to Hamas."
• Raphael Benlevi in the Jerusalem Post: "The only acceptable result of the current war is the unconditional surrender of Hamas and the toppling of its regime." In Tablet: For U.S. influence to remain strong in the Middle East, "Israel's victory must be overwhelmingly decisive, impressive if not shocking, and leave the region permanently changed."
• Arie Deri, head of the Shas party: "All agree on the goal that Hamas will not remain in existence either as a government or as a military."
• Dan Patrick, lieutenant governor of Texas, following the unanimous adoption of Senate Resolution 2: "Today, the Texas Senate sent a clear message that Texas unequivocally stands with Israel. Hamas' unprecedented terrorist rampage is heinous and abhorrent, and the Senate condemns their continued acts of evil. We pray for Israel's victory against its enemies."

• Yoav Gallant, defense minister: "We will wipe out this thing called Hamas. [It] will be wiped from the face of the earth. It will not continue to exist." Also: "We will destroy the rule of Hamas. We will eliminate the military capabilities of Hamas. We will make sure this threat does not exist on our borders. It will be lengthy. It will be lethal. It will be powerful. And it will be for forever." And: "I am responsible for the defense establishment. ... I am responsible for bringing it to victory in battle." And: "This has to be the last maneuver in Gaza, for the simple reason that after it, there will not be a Hamas." And: "When the war is over, there will be no terror organization called Hamas." And: "We are going for the absolute elimination of the Hamas terror organization." And: "If the fate of Hamas is not complete dismantlement, we will not be able to live in the State of Israel. The end of this war—whenever it may be—will be based on our achievements. This will include destroying Hamas's ability to operate with military and governing capabilities."
• Gregg Roman, Middle East Forum: "There is no alternative but to bring Hamas to its knees."
• Walter E. Block and Alan G. Futerman (in the Wall Street Journal, under the title "The Moral Duty to Destroy Hamas"): The West "needs to support a complete, total and decisive Israeli victory. If this implies an overwhelming, unprecedented use of military force, so be it."
• Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives: "The only strategy strong and decisive enough to respond to Hamas's violence is to destroy the group utterly. At the end of this conflict there should be no remnant of Hamas."
• Nave Dromi, Middle East Forum: "We need to destroy Hamas."
• Ezra Yakhin, 95, perhaps the oldest reservist: "Demolish Hamas."
• Phil Murphy, governor of New Jersey: Hamas "needs to be eliminated - literally eliminated."
• Herzi Halevi, Israel Defense Forces chief of staff: "Yahya Sinwar, the ruler of the Gaza Strip, decided on this horrible attack, and therefore he — and the entire hierarchy under him — are dead men. We will attack them, we will dismantle them, dismantle their system."
• Daniel Hagari, military spokesman: The military goal is "the defeat of Hamas and the elimination of its leaders."
• Shay Shabtai colonel (res.): "Israel has no choice but to launch an offensive military attack, militarily defeat the Hamas organization, and politically defeat its government."
• Tzvika Foghel, member of Knesset: "The goal must be complete destruction of the enemy."
• Jerome M. Marcus, George Mason University: "At the end of World War II, the Allies' goal was clear: The German Third Reich must agree to an 'unconditional surrender.' The Allies' demand of Germany should be the model for Israel now."
• Bezalel Smotrich, minister of finance: "The goal of our war is the destruction of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. We will not settle for less than that, we will not agree to containment or any other washed-up expression."
• The European Parliament "reiterates that the terrorist organisation Hamas needs to be eliminated."
• Rasmussen Reports: Asked, "Do you agree or disagree with this statement: 'Israel has no choice but to seek the complete eradication of Hamas in Gaza',"66 percent of respondents agreed, 19 percent disagreed.
• Ariel Beery, co-founder of three Israel-based social ventures: "the only way for the Left, us progressives, to live up to our morals and keep the high ground is to call for the immediate unconditional surrender of Hamas."
• Amos Yadlin, former IDF intelligence chief: "We are going to destroy Hamas, as Nazi Germany was destroyed."
• Juan Vargas and Randy Weber, Democratic and Republican members of Congress: "The death and destruction ... instigated on Oct. 7 will only continue, unless and until Hamas is defeated."
• Gershon Hacohen, maj. gen. (res.): "Destroy, kill, and despoil as much of Hamas-Gaza and its accomplices as possible."
• Spencer Brown at Townhall: "Israel should eradicate Hamas. Both for the good of Israel and the good of any innocent residents of Gaza. The United States should help its ally Israel complete this mission, offering the best advisors and elements to execute it swiftly and decisively."
• Czechia's Prime Minister Petr Fiala, addressing Israel's president: "not only for your country, but also for all Europe and Western democracies, it is very important to defeat Hamas."
• Eitan Shamir, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (and a former supporter of "mow the grass"): "Israel has an urgent necessity – indeed, a survival imperative – to destroy Hamas's military capabilities and bring about the collapse of its authority in Gaza."
• E.J. Kimball, U.S. Israel Education Association: "Hamas must be destroyed."
• Dennis Ross, former U.S. diplomat: "Over the past two weeks, when I talked to Arab officials throughout the region whom I have long known, every single one told me that Hamas must be destroyed in Gaza. ... But they said this in private."
• Ezra Klein, New York Times: "Israel is right ... to want to destroy Hamas."
• Yisrael Friedler, colonel: "This is the most justifiable war in the world and we mustn't stop until we win."
• Nikolay Denkov, prime minister of Bulgaria: "Hamas and its entire military and administrative infrastructure must be eradicated."
• New York Post editorial: "Israel must destroy Hamas."
• Ron Dermer, minister of Strategic Affairs: "We're going to have to wipe out and eliminate ... not only Hamas' military infrastructure but their rule of Gaza."
• The Wall Street Journal conveniently summarizes the statements by five Republican candidates for president in the Nov. 8 debate:

  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said, "finish the job once and for all with these butchers Hamas." "I said finish them, finish them," said Nikki Haley. Vivek Ramaswamy said he would tell Benjamin Netanyahu "to smoke those terrorists on his southern border." "Wipe Hamas off of the map," South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said "America is here no matter what it is you need at any time to preserve the state of Israel."

  The Washington Free Beacon summarized four of their comments a bit differently:

  Florida governor Ron DeSantis said he would urge the Israeli government to "finish the job" by taking out the "butchers" of Hamas. Haley concurred: "Finish them." Ramaswamy, because he's young and hip, wanted Israel to "smoke those terrorists." Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.), who was also on stage, put it best: "You cannot negotiate with evil, you have to destroy it."
  

  

• Ben Cardin, U.S. senator (D-Md.) and chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: "It is essential that Hamas be destroyed. It is pure evil."

• Penny Wong, Australia's foreign minister: "A durable peace ... will require the dismantling of Hamas."

• Dry Bones: "Hamas must be taken out."

• Yossi Cohen, former head of Mossad: "Eliminating Hamas officials is a decision which needs to be made."

• Itamar Ben Gvir, minister of national security: "I'm calling to conquer the Gaza Strip."

• Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state: "Hamas must go."

• Dan Perry, American journalist: "Hamas must be gone."

• Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission: "The terrorist organization Hamas, or any other terrorist organization for that matter, cannot rule in Gaza."

• Gabi Siboni and Kobi Michael, Institute for National Security Studies: "We must erase any public expression of Hamas ideology."

• Ekathimerini (Greece) editorial: "The war should end not only with renewed deterrence like in previous confrontational cycles, but with Hamas out of power, defeated and disarmed and never in the position to threaten Israel again."

• New York Post editorial: "Hamas (and PIJ) must be eradicated."

• Elon Musk, rich person, from an i24 report: "Netanyahu emphasized the imperative to eliminate Hamas. ... Musk concurred, stating, 'There's no choice'."

• Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida: Israel has "a right to eliminate Hamas and win a total and complete victory."

• John Fetterman, senator from Pennsylvania: "If we want peace and we want a two state solution, then Israel needs to be able to destroy Hamas."

• Michael Rubin, American Enterprise Institute: "a lasting peace and the possibility of a two- (or three)-state solution [requires] the annihilation of Hamas."

• An unnamed senior Israeli official: "We'll do what we need to do to reach decisive victory."

• Walter Russell Mead, Wall Street Journal columnist: "Israel is on course to inflict defeat on the deranged and misguided Hamas movement."

• David McCormick, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania: His visit to some of the hardest-hit communities in the Oct. 7 attacks and meetings with the families of victims "just reinforced the need to absolutely eradicate Hamas."

• Benny Morris, Israel historian: "The war should continue until Hamas is crushed."

• Yoav Gallant, Israel's defense minister, to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, according to a call readout: He "reiterated the defense establishment's determination to continue operating until the removal of this threat, the destruction of Hamas battalions, the elimination of Hamas leadership and return of hostages."

• Yoav Gallant: Israel will pursue Hamas "everywhere, across all of Judea and Samaria, in the Middle East—everywhere. ... This murderous entity called Hamas will be pursued everywhere by the State of Israel and its warriors, in every way."

• Ron Dermer, War Cabinet member and Minister of Strategic Affairs: Israel's job after Oct. 7 "begins with utterly destroying the organization that launched that attack on Oct. 7. Hamas cannot survive this encounter as an organized military force in Gaza. Period. Now when the prime minister speaks about total victory, that's what he's talking about. ... We are sending Hamas in Gaza into the dustbin of history."

• Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan: If the Israelis "don't destroy Hamas in Rafah, then effectively they [Hamas] would have survived and will have won the war. They will declare victory."

• Mark Warner (D-Va.), U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee chairman: "Meeting with folks in Israel, in the military community, in the intelligence community, the idea that you're going to eliminate every Hamas fighter, I don't think is a realistic goal."

• David Petraeus, retired U.S. commander in Iraq: Hamas has "to be destroyed, just as we had to destroy the core al Qaeda and how we helped the Iraqi security forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces destroy the Islamic State." He goes on to suggest what worked for him in Iraq: "The foundational concepts of counterinsurgency are that you clear an area, you hold it, and you hold it in a very significant manner."

• Hugh Hewitt: "Israel has no choice but to prosecute the war in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed."

• Benjamin Netanyahu: After what Hamas did on Oct. 7, "it will not do this again. Neither will it exist."

• Brian Mast, U.S. Representative: "I think that Israel should go in there and kick the [expletive] out of them. Just absolutely destroy them, their infrastructure, level anything that they touch."

• Danny Danon: "If we do not destroy Hamas and continue this war, they will do it over and over again."

• Con Coughlin, editor for defence and foreign affairs at the London Telegraph: Israel must "be allowed to fulfill its military campaign to destroy the ability of Hamas to wage more mass-murders like October 7 ... as Hamas has sworn to do."

• Bezalel Smotrich: "We will not agree to the end of the war before the destruction of Hamas. ... We demand the continuation of the fighting until the destruction of Hamas and the return of all the abductees, the creation of a completely different security reality in Gaza and Lebanon, the return of all residents to their homes in the north and south and a massive investment in the accelerated development of these areas of the country."

• Prime Minister's Office: "The Security Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has defined the destruction of Hamas's military and governing capabilities as one of the goals of the war. The IDF, of course, is committed to this."

• John Fetterman: "When you have that kind of an evil, or that kind of a movement that came out of a society, whether it was Nazi Germany or imperial Japan or the Confederacy, right here in the South, that kind of movement has to be destroyed into submission."

• Joe Biden: Hamas "should be eliminated."

• IAF Commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar: "Hamas in Gaza will soon be defeated."

• A.J. Caschetta: "Israel Must Not Allow Hamas to Survive Gaza War."

• Luis Fleischman: "The Israeli government and its American allies must continue to do everything possible to eradicate Hamas. It's the only way peace can come to the region."

• David French, National Review Online: "The Law of War Permits Israel to Destroy Hamas."