Israel needs unconditional surrender from Hamas

Israel must declare the precise objectives of its campaign in Gaza – for its own citizens and soldiers, and establish the credibility of its efforts in the eyes of the world. The “destruction” of Hamas has no meaning in international law and is too vague to ask Israelis to sacrifice everything.

History provides an example of what Israel should do. At the end of World War II, the Allies’ goal was clear: the German Third Reich must accept “unconditional surrender.” The Allies’ demands on Germany should now serve as a model for Israel. Hamas’s war crimes are as depraved as those of the Nazis; their scale is much smaller only because the Jews now have a fortified homeland and an Israeli army. Hamas and the Nazis also shared the goal of Jewish genocide. Like the Allies, Israel should announce that it will obtain the unconditional surrender of Hamas.