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Villains and Victims in Gaza
The work of the late great political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville can offer us some key insights into how Hamas works.
The larger message is for two other groups. First, there is the terrorists’ natural constituency, whose hope for regime change is kept alive through the propaganda of ruthless violence. Such violence gives the appearance of strength in the presence of military weakness. Terrorists hijacking an airplane and getting unending coverage in the Western media will barely have an impact on the daily routing of flights. The terrorists most certainly will not overthrow a government or even get it to make meaningful political concessions. But for the terrorists’ supporters, the symbolic affirmation of such spectacular publicity replaces the inconvenient reality of military weakness with the necessary fantasy of military power.
Then there is the constituency comprised of those groups who are so wedded to the embrace of victims — real and imaginary — that the most despicable violence is not an act of evil, but a cause for investigation; a statement written in desperate measures by desperate people. Once a group such as Hamas has been defined as a victim, then its acts have to be explored, dissected, explained, rationalized, put into a context, but never condemned. Victims are, by such groups’ definitions, incapable of evil.
For four decades I have been attending forums on the Middle East conducted by liberal church congregations, colleges and universities, self-anointed peace and justice groups, and the usual gaggle of what are referred to as “the good people.” These people and their groups are intrinsic to the terrorists’ strategy. Their rationales for terrorist violence are vital to the continued use of violence. These so-called “good people” are the conduit to evil, and they are invariably self-proclaimed “progressives” or “liberals.”
All terrorist groups want people who will ask, “Why?” They want people who have long ago forsaken moral judgments for moral relativism. They want the guy who will stand up at the PTA meeting and say, “9/11 is the result of our foreign policy,” and not conceive of the possibility that he is uttering a cliché he could not intellectually defend, but think he is being profound.
It is not just that such people, by justifying violence, contribute to the continued perpetuation of violence, but also by being partisans for evil, they have given up the claim to be honest brokers for peace. In the case of liberal church groups, they have become so supportive of Palestinian terrorism that they would be incapable of being a broker for serious engagements or dialogues for peace. Does anyone think that the leadership of the Presbyterian Church, for example, exudes any moral authority when it comes to the Middle East? They are simply another militia, albeit one that justifies other people doing the killing they tacitly support.
In rethinking Tocqueville’s admonition about those causing an event who least wanted it to occur, I cannot help but picture how things in the Middle East might have been different this morning if the so-called “good people” had not squandered their moral authority on partisanship. Would Hamas have continued its missile campaign against Israel if the “good people” had gone into the streets to protest it? Would Israel have been more receptive to calls for a “cease fire” if over the past seven years of Hamas’ rocket fire, the United Nations had held emergency meetings to call for a Hamas cease fire? Could the liberal churches have mobilized today as honest brokers for peace had they not so glorified in one-sided boycotts and gloated over their personal engagements with terrorists?
I guess we won’t know, for a civic or church group regaining squandered moral authority is like a prostitute trying to regain her virginity.
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Abraham H. Miller is an emeritus professor of political science and a former head of the Intelligence Studies Section of the International Studies Association.
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32 Comments
1. roy:what about the people in Israel that suffers for 8 years from rockets that sent from Gaza by the Hammas??? I learn in college on Sderot, the sity that suffers from rockets. (now is the whole south). students in Yale university, Harvard university, Berkley, NYU, UCLA or all other university or college in America: Inagine that you are in the middle of an economic class, communication class, psychology class or anhy other class. suddenly, an alarm has been activated and you have 15 seconds to get out of class and run into an inner room or a protected area. could you live like this??? Israel doesn’t want to kill Phalestinians, we want to destroy the Hammas that ruin the live for all those Phalestinians that want to live peacefully.
Jan 8, 2009 - 1:22 am 2. DoubleTapper:My heart is also with those innocent people that suffers on both sides, but my mind say that WE’VE GOT TO SAY NO TO TERROR!!!!!
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Hamas is a terrorist organization.
They terrorize Israel, and their own people.
Jan 8, 2009 - 2:29 am 3. teddyroo:There is no way we can let them continue!
Would you want to live like this?
DoubleTapper
DoubleTapper@gmail.com
DoubleTapper, blogging on Guns Politics Defense from Israel
Back in the third grade, a bully gave me a bloody nose by sucker punching me because I was talking to a girl he liked. We both got in trouble for fighting.
You can explore intellectual “what ifs” until the end of time, but the fact of the matter is that there are times when a free entity – an entity that believes in good; believes in tolerance; believes in humanity; and wants to play fair – there are times when that entity is threatened. And it’s up to the entity to decide what threatened means. I know that if ANYONE I considered a friend, family member, or countryman where ever fearful for their lives or peace in the manner the Israeli’s are having to deal with, I would do everything in my power to eliminate the threat with ferocity and decisiveness.
So, if the third grade bully came at me again, I know EXACTLY what I would have done (fortunately he didn’t). I would have used my intelligence to find a way to prevent him from ever punching me in the nose again (using might, wit, whatever), so I could live freely, knowing full well that there are those out there who don’t care what the circumstances are, but would be prepared to judge me in an instant, perhaps punish me.
Every human being has the right to live freely without fear. That is the basis of humanity. Whomever in the world can’t see that fact without having to kick and sort through the political details needs to wake up.
Finally, I believe the author was somewhat remiss in not including some discussion or mention of the global jihad being actively waged by militant fascist Muslims.
Jan 8, 2009 - 3:55 am 4. Don:The terrorist’s goal is simple, by gradual (or rapid) rise in violent acts he causes his opponent (the regime) to react with more and more urgency (violence and oppression). Eventually turning the support of the people from pro regime to (at least) a passivity born from the numbness caused by continuous violence. From that point the movement moves to less painful (and productive) forms of revolutionary warfare. Terrorism was just one step in the rise of a revolutionary movement, now? Hamas, Hezbollah and others function as if the violence is THE end. They destroy hope in their followers by convincing them of the valuelessness of their lives except when they spend those lives in violence. No plan, no future except for orgies of violence (and in the event of victory) and retribution
Jan 8, 2009 - 4:27 am 5. Ron:How can these church groups and others excuse the evil that is done over and over ? Because they are in love with the image of themselves as peace-makers, and progressives. This self-love (let’s call it what it is, unresolved narssicism) is so all-involving that they never see the results of their behaviour.
Jan 8, 2009 - 6:20 am 6. Noah Guttman:teddyroo:
Your comment reveals exactly what is wrong with the attitudes of modern western society.
“Back in the third grade, a bully gave me a bloody nose by sucker punching me because I was talking to a girl he liked. We both got in trouble for fighting.”
You were not even interacting with the bully when he attacked you, yet the teacher/school held you both responsible for the act of “violence”
No attempt to understand what happens is ever made. It is automatically assumes that if violence occurs it is due to the actions of both sides.
When this principle is applied to the middle east then the acts of violence by arabs becomes the “proof” of some terrible treatment that the arabs have suffered at the hands of the Israelis.
Jan 8, 2009 - 6:22 am 7. BMoon:While I have sinced moved on from her philosophy and became a Christian, I remember how the atheist writer Ayn Rand clearly defined these so-called “good” people – “the self-anointed peace and justice groups,” the sappy bromide-filled “progressives,” – as parasities who emotionally, spiritually, and professionally thrive on evil by posturing as the ones who can fix it. In the end, it benefits these types that such perpetrators of evil like the terrorist groups exist, hence the strange, symbiotic, sympathetic camaraderie between supposed “Christians,” and those that advocate the most vile Satanic beliefs ever concocted, along with the utter annhilation of Judeo-Christian civilization. They are human sucker fish who attach themselves to inhuman sharks.
Jan 8, 2009 - 6:54 am 8. Boris:Since I’m critical of PJM a lot, I’ll say that I enjoyed this piece.
“The terrorists most certainly will not overthrow a government or even get it to make meaningful political concessions. But for the terrorists’ supporters, the symbolic affirmation of such spectacular publicity replaces the inconvenient reality of military weakness with the necessary fantasy of military power.”
This is true, but I will say that extreme reactions–either mild concessions or impractical retaliation–can give the appearance of an effect, thereby increasing the propaganda power of a terrorist act. So western governments need to be careful in their response to terrorism and recognize that, in the end, it is an act of propaganda, not an act of war (not to diminish the immorality of terrorism itself). Often the terrorists’ goal is to increase their power in their own immediate sphere of influence. Countering this requires deliberate retaliation that exposes the terrorists as weak. We should perhaps consider publicity stunts, such as pointing out how fearful the terrorist actually are–and how powerless. Mistakes like bombing a school (irrespective of whether the terrorists are hiding out there or not) act as wedges that push even reasonable people towards the terrorists–or at least against the victims of terrorism.
A ground invasion/humanitarian mission into Gaza might be an acceptable balance between the need to eradicate extremism while hoping to win the will of the people. The problem with nonviolence (for the Palestinians) and restraint (from the Israelis) is that they are slow processes, prone to setbacks and the mistakes of individual leaders.
Jan 8, 2009 - 7:18 am 9. Bugs:I think the appropriate response to the destruction of the World Trade Center would have been to build another World Trade Center. Instead, we left an open wound in the ground and covered it with some artsy little memorial – like a little emotional band-aid. It’s not just a memorial to those who died. It is a memorial to the success of those who did the killing. Why did we do this? Rebuilding would have sent the terrorists a valuable message: that our will to continue our lives is stronger than their will to disrupt them. It would have erased the terrorists’ work, physically and emotionally. Now, instead, their work is a permanent part of the landscape of New York City. That has to be a mistake.
Jan 8, 2009 - 8:45 am 10. ReConUSMC:Too Noah Guttman and Teddyroo :
Jan 8, 2009 - 8:50 am 11. aramkr:Noah what You said to Teddyroo was 75 % correct . He is Clueless .
What you left out of course was nothing got settled between the Bully and the Sissy …90 % of the time the ”Hostilely ”continues . Ending far worse generally than if it would have been settled quickly .
In the real world ….. there is the Book of all Books over that very subject ……. It called the Art of War ….. written in 1200 AD . But more in vogue today than ever . It is even used in Business not just in War tactics .
Even the Great First Black NFL Star Jim Brown dealt with the Racism Issue and used the Art of War tactics .
When he was tackled by other teams , they spit in his face , grabbed his Nuts , called him names and gave him cheap shots when he was down and the Refs did or said nothing .
The next time Jim Brown carried the ball he put his helmet into the face of the Fist tackler , his heads into the stomach and his head in the balls of the next .
On the very next play he was told ……. NICE RUN MR BROWN AND THEY HELPED HIM UP .
This is a race war in the GAZA and worst a Religous war as well .
OH YEA …. JIM BROWN GOT EVEN NOT MAD .
A MAN THAT FEARS YOU DOES NOT ATTACK YOU ……. THE ART OF WAR
IF HE IS DUMB ENOUGH TO ATTACK YOU …….. YOU KILL HIM …… PERIOD .
ISRAEL ARE YOU LISTENING ? …… SCREW THE UN AND EUROPE . WIN PERIOD !
Bugs:
Jan 8, 2009 - 9:09 am 12. DoktorNo:Your thoughts on the WTC are exactly right. When we elect people to office who think like you we will begin to put this scourge behind us.
Well, Hamas is just conducting “mosquito bite” tactics, thore rockets are dangerous, but fewer people had died in recent years from Kassams fire, than single suicide bombing.
It is important to keep in mind proportionality. Moreover, how do you expect the families of victims of Israeli bombarbment to abandon support for Hamas?
Jan 8, 2009 - 9:26 am 13. Peter the Sub Guy:9. Bugs wrote:
I think the appropriate response to the destruction of the World Trade Center would have been to build another World Trade Center.
Peter writes: You are VERY wrong. The entire reason they attacked the WTC on 9/11 is because they failed in 1993. If you built another WTC, they would only attack it again, and again, and again.
The appropriate response is exactly what we did. Attack those responsible and make sure they are incapable of ever attacking us like that again. Attack them until they are utterly destroyed. Only then will you be able to live without fear.
Jan 8, 2009 - 5:56 pm 14. Peter the Sub Guy:11. aramkr wrote:
Bugs: Your thoughts on the WTC are exactly right. When we elect people to office who think like you we will begin to put this scourge behind us.
Peter responds: No, if you elect people like that you are only inviting further and more devistating attacks, because terrorists like them only interpret actions like you advise as a sign of weakness.
Jan 8, 2009 - 5:58 pm 15. Peter the Sub Guy:12. DoktorNo wrote:
Well, Hamas is just conducting “mosquito bite” tactics, thore rockets are dangerous, but fewer people had died in recent years from Kassams fire, than single suicide bombing.
Peter asks: And do you believe Hamas would NOT be employing suicide bomber (or rather homicide-bomber) tactics if they could? There is a reason Israel built a wall around the Palistinian territories and keep the borders closed tight. To keep those who are willing to blow themselves up in order to kill innocents out of their country.
Jan 8, 2009 - 6:00 pm 16. Yoni:Boris: but the problem is also the massive media coverage of the retaliation, as opposed to the non-existent massive media coverage of the Hamas rockets. So the problem isn’t the scope of the retaliation, but the scope of the media coverage to that retaliation, which influences and boosts the terrorists, not the retaliation itself.
Jan 8, 2009 - 6:31 pm 17. myth buster:You know what, Israel doesn’t have to persuade anybody. They can twist arms for persuasion. If they wanted to, they could enact a total blockade of Gaza- nothing and nobody can get in or out. Once enacted, they can let Gaza starve until they’re ready to abandon Hamas.
Jan 8, 2009 - 9:26 pm 18. TeddyRoo:To ReCon USMC:
I never expected my post would get slammed by a Marine. Nevertheless let me be presumptuous and thank you for serving our country. Our debt as Americans can only be paid by honoring and supporting you, and I have and always will as a proud American. I also respect the warrior’s perspective on this discussion.
My dad gave me a copy of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War when I was younger (long after my 3RD GRADE incident), and I read it front to back. It’s part of my make up now. I cannot agree with you more on its timeless wisdom and intelligence. To hear you quote it as a modern day warrior fighting for our country is good to hear.
Since you used the word clueless to describe me, and threw sissy in there, let me clarify the point of my personal example. The point was not my reaction, but that of the authority at my school as it relates to Gaza. (You’ll have to trust I’m not a sissy) They didn’t ask what happened, and I didn’t complain (like Jim Brown); however my example was an attempt to demonstrate the lack of intelligence/reason/support they exhibited, like Europe and the UN when it comes to Israel. When that happens, you have to take matters into your own hands, and Israel is doing that, the way we did when we didn’t wait for the UN’s approval. And the US supports them, because we GET IT.
Your point about Jim Brown is a great one. He found a way to deal with and overcome his enemies in the face of indifference. As a point of information, my bully/”sissy” situation was apparently settled that day after the sucker punch. The bully never messed with the me again. And I’ve dealt with quite a few more a-holes since that time like we all do. To Quote Sun Tzu:
“Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.”
For those interested, there is a translation here: http://www.chinapage.com/sunzi-e.html
Not sure if the bully never messed with me again because I stood my ground and didn’t cry or show weakness, or if his dad whipped his a** when he got home. Regardless, your point about “settling it” is well taken. In Israel’s case we have to acknowledge they’re in a tough spot. They’re surrounded by people who want to annihilate them, so settling it is a matter of being ready to go to war at any moment. Again Sun Tzu: “The art of war is of vital importance to the State.”
Jan 8, 2009 - 10:16 pm 19. Richard A Fay:Teddyroo, I also had trouble with bullies in the third grade. Unlike you, I hit back. I didn’t always win, but after a few incidents the bullies left me alone – and I didn’t get in any more trouble than you did. Bullies don’t respect restraint (if they did, they wouldn’t be bullies in the first place). They do respect superior bullies.
Jan 9, 2009 - 8:37 am 20. david foster:For at least two decades, Palestinian terrorism has been “explained,” justified, and even glorified. The people who have done this–largely writers, journalists, entertainers, and college professors–have a lot of blood on their hands.
Jan 9, 2009 - 8:49 am 21. John Galt:Rahm Emanuel’s father was a member of the Irgun, a Jewish terrorist organization that was mostly responsible for getting the British thrown out of what was to become Israel.
Mao was also a terrorist and it was in fact terrorism in China that led to the successful overthrow of of Chang Khai-shek and birth of communist China.
Jan 9, 2009 - 10:41 am 22. ReConUSMC:21. John Galt:
Rahm Emanuel’s father was a member of the Irgun, a Jewish terrorist organization that was mostly responsible for getting the British thrown out of what was to become Israel.
Mao was also a terrorist and it was in fact terrorism in China that led to the successful overthrow of of Chang Khai-shek and birth of communist China
Jan 9, 2009 - 11:56 am 23. rss:___________________________________
Sir the ”Difference ” is …….. China became a Marxist/ Communist Total Dictatorship killing over 140 Million in China and Millions more Starving to Death under Mao .Even though the left , Hollywood , Michael Moore called Mao , Viet Cong , Castro and Moslem thugs “Freedom Fighters .
Israel became a ” thriving ” elected Democracy and is the only one in the entire MIddle East .
Yet the Left calls them Israel Terrorist and not Hamas’ ….. who they see as freedom Fighters Sadly .
For at least two decades, Palestinian terrorism has been “explained,” justified, and even glorified. The people who have done this–largely writers, journalists, entertainers, and college professors–have a lot of blood on their hands.
Jan 9, 2009 - 12:40 pm 24. mohammed:——————————–
What about Israel: Gaza, Liban. It’s not Jesus motherland if such things happens by the Jewish wish.
Delusions, Delusions, Delusions
Jan 9, 2009 - 2:15 pm 25. Peter the Sub Guy:Sad human beings to think that Israel is defending itself. Now that America is crumbling and the Zionist institutions are falling like a pack of cards. Lehman, Bear Stearns, Goldman Sach and poor old Bernie Madoff. I wonder where the money will come from for Israel to keep committing murder. Self hating bigots.
24. mohammed wrote:
I wonder where the money will come from for Israel to keep committing murder. Self hating bigots.
Peter responds: Hamas and Hezbola have murdered more muslims than Israel.
Refute that!
Jan 9, 2009 - 4:55 pm 26. Maverick:Some may think that every since Hamas won the elections over Fatah, they have made no gains in building and growing as a nation, but their wrong. What we see is the only form of terrorist politics Hamas knows. No nation is going to recognize Hamas as a legitimate government because of their constant attacks on Israel. So, Hamas does the only thing they can do to get what they want. They attack Israel and when Israel retaliates, the United Nation and the world comes in and condemns Israel. Hamas uses the United Nations and the International Red Cross legitimacy to get Israel condemn by the world with the humanitarian efforts they provide to the innocent civilians killed. The United Nations and ESPECIALLY the International Red Cross are going to have to learn that terrorist practices politics too. In fact they practice their terrorist politics every six months, which is why Hamas must continue to send missiles into Israel. Every six months after a cease fire agreement has expired Hamas attacks Israel and after Israel retaliates, Hamas gets all kinds of supplies, money, medicine, fuel, food, and sympathy from the people they fool with their terrorist politics.
Jan 9, 2009 - 6:44 pm 27. Leon:Israel actually has killed comparatively very few Muslims. Muslims have killed more fellow Muslims than anybody else on the planet, maybe even more than Russia (and they killed a lot in Chechnya).
I guess they are allowed to do so, it’s all in the family…
Jan 9, 2009 - 9:27 pm 28. Christa:We need to stand up and protect Israel from those organizations that demand Israels death.
Jan 11, 2009 - 12:14 pm 29. Rob:I am a christian but I am firmly on the side of Israel. As Joe said, if someone hits me I have the right to defend myself any way I can. Israel has been enormously patient, but enough is enough. Why is Americas Press not showing the damage Hamas is causing with their attacks. The mental strain on the population of Israel must be horrendous. I am glad someone like Joe is finally speaking out. God bless him and all the people in Israel. Lets hope the world will realize how the terrorists and the american left wing press distort the facts.
Something about Edmund Burke saying about good people doing nothing ring any bell?
Jan 12, 2009 - 9:47 am 30. Marc Malone:I can’t decide which word is most appropriate to the sympathizers: Collaborators or Appeasers?
Jan 13, 2009 - 3:56 am 31. Peter the Sub Guy:30. Marc Malone:
I would say appeasers. Definitely.
Jan 13, 2009 - 4:54 am 32. Sue:The Jewish people have been the most despised, murdered people on earth for nearly 5000 years. First Egypt tried to eradicate them…they lost; then every country they went to tried too…they lost; the islamofascists in the Middle East have tried for nearly seventy years, and they too will lose mohammed #24. Why? First, nomadic people are not looked on by the domesticated people as good/decent/desirable, second the belief in one god takes away the prestige/money/power of the religious types in all civilizations. Then, of course, the hate and killing continue because even if the world forgot about them as nomads and their one god message, they had “Jesus” to remember these past 2000 years or so. But, what really gets everyone’s knickers in a bunch is the fact people, that Jews have more geniuses and hence have provided the world with more solutions to horrendous problems over the millenniums. Since people are generally greedy for money, power and prestige, they hate it that the people you try to eradicate by murder, continue to exist and continue to make the world a better place. The Middle East should be/would be a paradise if the people there learned to “love their neighbor” instead of killing him. Learned to love their children instead of hating them enough to wish death upon them through the murder of innocents. Learned to love themselves enough to have enough respect for themselves to stop the murdering rampages they’ve practiced for so long!
Jan 13, 2009 - 9:09 am