Anything less will lead to war, not peace.

After years of tolerating Hamas’s rule, Arab states are suddenly scrambling to propose “solutions” for Gaza’s future. The newfound urgency isn’t born out of compassion for Palestinians, but out of fear that Israel, for the first time, is serious about finishing the job—ending Hamas and rebuilding Gaza on its own terms.

That, of course, is unacceptable to the Arab world. Nations that spent decades propping up Hamas while refusing to absorb Palestinian refugees, who have funded terror but never governance, now want to dictate what comes next. That alone is reason enough to reject their involvement. But more fundamentally, their proposed solutions are designed to ensure Hamas survives as a “government-in-waiting”—exactly what cannot be allowed.

Meanwhile, Western intellectuals—“soft Zionists” and moralizers like Bernard-Henri Lévy and Donniel Hartman—moan about the “deep, profound national identity” of the Palestinians and warn against uprooting them from their land. Hartman calls Israel’s approach “morally corrupt.”

But let’s be clear: The real moral corruption is allowing a fantasy national identity to justify perpetual war and genocide. The “Palestinian cause” has been defined entirely by its commitment to Israel’s destruction, not by any vision of peace or prosperity. It is not a nation, it is an ideology—an ideology of annihilation.

So let’s speak in the only language of war we should use regarding those who attack Israel: Total Victory. Total Occupation. Total Reconstruction.

World War II: The Model for
Permanent Victory

After World War II, the Allies understood that mere military victory over Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan was insufficient. They did not negotiate ceasefires or allow remnants of fascism to fester. Instead, they demanded unconditional surrender, dismantled the Nazi and militarist regimes, placed Germany and Japan under Allied governance, eradicated their war-making capabilities, and reconstructed them under the strict supervision of the victors. These measures ensured that fascism did not return. Seventy-nine years later, Germany and Japan are democratic, stable, and pacifist.

Compare that to the half-measures and ceasefires in Gaza over the last 20 years. Each time, Hamas rebuilds, rearms, and resumes its war of extermination. No more. Total war must be followed by total reconstruction—on Israeli terms.

The Nazi Comparison Isn’t a Rhetorical Device. It’s Reality.

By early 1945, Germany’s leadership sought a negotiated ceasefire. Some threatened to kill Allied POWs as leverage. Others offered to stop fighting but refused to surrender their weapons. The reason? To preserve “the profound national identity of Germans” and ensure Nazis played a role in reconstruction. I’m sure Rabbi Hartman sympathized with that sentiment.

The Allies rejected every overture. Instead, they bombed Germany into submission—Dresden, Berlin, Pforzheim, Würzburg, Dortmund—until unconditional surrender was the only option.

Eisenhower’s proclamation to Germany made the stakes clear: “We come as conquerors, but not as oppressors. We shall obliterate Nazi-ism and German Militarism. We shall overthrow the Nazi rule, dissolve the Nazi Party, and abolish the cruel, oppressive and discriminatory laws and institutions which the Party has created.”

No one stopped to worry about the “deep connection” Germans had to their land. No one asked whether expelling ethnic Germans from Poland and Czechoslovakia—13.5 to 16.5 million of them—was “immoral.” The war was won, and that was all that mattered.

Likewise, Japan’s leaders believed they could force a negotiated settlement by inflicting heavy losses on American forces. The U.S. response was two atomic bombs and the threat of more. As Secretary of State James Byrnes put it: “Having to pay such a heavy price to make complete victory certain, America will never become a party to any plan for partial victory.”

This is the model for permanent victory in Gaza.

The Only Path Forward: Eradicating Hamas, Rebuilding Gaza on Israeli Terms

Israel has no moral obligation to negotiate Gaza’s future with anyone. It has only one obligation: victory. Hamas’s leadership, fighters, and financial networks must be eradicated. The entire governing and military structure of Hamas must be dismantled. No ceasefires can be allowed that give Hamas time to regroup. Gaza must not be left to any Hamas-linked government or Palestinian factions sympathetic to terrorism. It should not be outsourced to or funded by any outside state that does not abide by the reconstruction plan administered by Israel and the United States. Just as Germany and Japan were governed by the Allies after WWII, Israel must oversee all aspects of security, infrastructure, and education to prevent extremism from re-emerging.

De-Hamasification must be as absolute as denazification was in Germany and as the destruction of Japan’s imperialist infrastructure. Mosques, schools, and media outlets that promoted jihad must be shut down. Teachers, clerics, and officials who spread Hamas’s ideology must be removed. UNRWA must be shut down and be barred from operating anywhere in Gaza. A new, non-terrorist political structure must be introduced, one that does not glorify martyrdom.

Just as the Allies blocked Nazi and militarist sympathizers from influencing post-war Germany and Japan, Israel must prevent Hamas’s foreign backers—especially Iran and Qatar—from pouring money into radicalizing the next generation.

Why Anything Less Than Total Control Will Fail

If Hamas is only partially defeated, history will repeat itself. Ceasefires will allow Hamas to rebuild, just as they have after every previous war. New terrorist groups will fill the power vacuum, just as ISIS did after the U.S. withdrew from Iraq. Gaza will remain a launching pad for terror, forcing Israel into another war within a few years.

A “reconstruction plan” controlled by Hamas’s allies—Qatar, Turkey, the simpering supporters in Europe and the U.N.—will only ensure the survival of terrorism. As Churchill observed: “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”

Victory Is the Only Option

The Allies did not allow Germany or Japan to dictate the terms of peace. And Israel must do the same with Gaza. Total defeat, total occupation, and total reconstruction are the only ways to prevent Hamas’s return and bring real peace. Anything less is not a victory—it’s indecision and appeasement—that will lead to the next war.