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Israelis have won the war against Hamas.
But was it ever in doubt?
Over a thousand Israelis were killed on that horrendous day and more than two hundred taken hostage.
Hamas went in, killed and killed, and then ran back into Gaza with the hostages. They knew well what would follow.
Hamas knew that rockets and bombs from Israel would target them. But Hamas would be safely out of reach in the tunnels they had dug under Gaza. There, they could wait, along with the hostages, until public opinion demanded compassion.
Hamas knew, too, that their brothers and sisters would die. They knew that they would be their shield and protection.
So they kept firing unto Israel, waiting for public opinion to come to their rescue.
Meanwhile they counted their dead. The women and children. They counted their devastated homes. Their destroyed towns.
Surely, they reasoned, the world would see that Israel — the country that has tormented their existence for over a century — was the truly guilty party. Yes, Hamas had crossed into Israel and slaughtered and raped but the world would see their actions as signs of their desperation.
Their going into Israel and killing wantonly — Hamas reasoned — was not an act of blatant cowardice, but an act of enormous heroism.
While the attack was in the planning stages, I am sure there were courageous and sensible people in Gaza — humanists — who objected to it. I…
