Perhaps the title of this article is incorrect. Israel has been at war with Hamas since the terrorist organization was initially formed in 1988, but only one side recognizes it -- Hamas.  By Charter and deed Hamas is sworn to the annihilation of Israel and every Jew within it.  Having grown accustomed to fighting the nation-states they’re surrounded by, Israel at the outset never truly viewed the inexorable threat Hamas would turn out to be.  Similar to an untreated cut finger initially scoffed at, if allowed to fester soon turns into a major infection.  

This is the exact position Israel has found herself in since September 12, 2005 when the late prime minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, at the behest of his son Gilad and his deputy leader, Ehud Olmert, unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip.  What was the rationale for what has turned out to be such a disastrous, pollyanna move?

In a speech given on Monday, August 25, 2005 justifying the pullout Sharon stated in part:  

• “We cannot hold on to Gaza forever. More than a million Palestinians live there and double their number with each generation.”

• “This plan will be good for Israel in any future scenario. We are reducing daily friction and its victims on both sides.”

• “The Israeli army will redeploy along defensive lines behind the security fence.”

• “Those who continue to fight us will meet the full force of the Israeli army and security forces.”

Here we are 14 years later, has any of this come to fruition?  This is what Mark Steyn wrote in the Irish Times, August 22, 2005: 

"This then is the audacious gamble of the Gaza withdrawal: the best way to demonstrate that the Palestinians are undeserving of a state is to force one upon them. It's a dangerous move.  I'm not sure I buy it. I still think the Gaza pull-out will increase violence and terror.” 

He could not have been more prophetic.  

As a multitude both within and out of Israel predicted from the get-go, the Gaza pullout led to the setting up of a terrorist state, with lawless Islamist gangs fighting each other for control. Instead of setting up a parliamentary democracy with respect for the law and human rights, it devolved into a savage civil war between the corrupt ‘good guys’ Fatah and murderous Hamas, the eventual winners. Regarding the violence, Melanie Phillips had this to say on June 13, 2007:

“As terror gangs shoot each other in hospitals, lynch each other in the street, kill each other's families, and throw each other off rooftops, The fact is that what is happening in Gaza is the savage retort to all those who believe that a Palestinian state is the answer. When handed the reins of self-government, this is how the Palestinians behave. Hundreds of rockets fired upon Israel, and their own people thrown off the top of tall buildings and murdered in hospital.”

In fact, 12 years on, the violence against Israel has intensified exponentially, both in occurrence and lethality.  Since her withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, along with every inconceivable act of terrorism committed against Israeli and foreign citizens, Israel has fought three major wars with Hamas in 2008-09, 2012, 2014.

Make no mistake, Hamas and its assorted terrorist allies such as Islamic Jihad are endemic foes of the Jewish state, relentless in their goals, truculent in their actions.

From the May 18, 2001 shopping mall bombing that killed five and injured one hundred people, to the Park Hotel bombing the following year, up to this past week when 300 missiles were fired into Israel, one of which destroyed a home sending six people to the hospital, Hamas has been inexorable and true to its charter. 

“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it... Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious.  It needs all sincere efforts.”  The Hamas charter, replete with such proclamations, spells it out plainly for all to see.  There is no compromise, no wiggle room for negotiation, not a possibility of settlement with a messianic cabal of fanatics hell bent on genocide.

Since its disengagement from Gaza in 2005, Israel has responded to suicide bombings, missile attacks, stabbings, vehicular homicides, tunnel infiltrations, kidnappings, ordinance-filled balloons, and whatever else this implacable foe has thrown at her, with pinprick, measured responses.  Unfortunately, such calibrated warfare has meant nothing to these recalcitrant terrorists.  They have no qualms using hospitals, schools, private residences, and human shields to conduct aggression.  Paradoxically, despite warning Gazan civilians to vacate areas of military activity during successive conflicts, Israel has drawn nothing but condemnation from the U.N. and pro-Islamist nations throughout the world. The reason? Supposed lack of proportionality in her responses; as if any of these self-righteous countries would ever tolerate such incessant aggression for so long a period of time.

Israel is at a crossroads today, a great deal of which is of her own making.  This is analogous to the early 1930s when the allies passed up the opportunity of eliminating Hitler only to do it years later at a much greater, catastrophic cost.  Although it’s not 1940 all over again, it’s late in the game.  With Iranian sponsorship, Hamas and its affiliates are no longer isolated and are growing in power daily.  Palliation is no longer the answer.  To save the body further infection, now is the time for the cure.