In her November 7 column in The Walrus, appearing in print in the forthcoming January/February edition entitled: “Israel–Palestine: Canada Must Lead Where It Can,” Mira Sucharov, a professor of political science at Ottawa’s Carleton University, called on Canada to take a role in helping to facilitate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“We must demand an immediate ceasefire and the provision of humanitarian relief while we continue to call for the release of hostages by Hamas,” Sucharov wrote.

While Sucharov’s mention of hostages is laudable and important – a demand frequently omitted by those demanding a ceasefire – this is still incomplete.

As Sucharov is surely aware, Hamas is a genocidal and fanatical Islamic terrorist organization that is hell-bent on Israel’s destruction. Unfortunately, Hamas possesses not only a hateful ideology, but the means to carry out violence on a wide scale; as Sucharov points out in her column, Hamas’ October 7 massacre in southern Israel was the biggest mass murder of Jews since the end of the Holocaust.

Consequently, any ceasefire that does not account for a significant degradation of Hamas’ military capabilities at an absolute minimum will not create any conditions for any long-term or sustainable cessation of violence. On the contrary, a ceasefire will only give Hamas a much-needed break from Israeli attacks to re-arm and re-group, and to commit more atrocities in the future.

These concerns are not without foundation. Hamas’ senior leaders have loudly proclaimed their intent to carry out more attacks like October 7 should they be given the opportunity to do so. One senior leader, Ghazi Hamad, said in October that “We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again. The Al-Aqsa Flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth, because we have the determination, the resolve, and the capabilities to fight.”

Hamas’ senior most leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, called the group’s October 7 attack “just a rehearsal.” 

A ceasefire was in place at the time of Hamas’ massacre 12 weeks ago, which demonstrates beyond any doubt that such an agreement is meaningless in the face of a fanatical enemy that gleefully murders innocent Israelis and brags that it will continue to do so as long as it is able.

While Sucharov rightly described the scale of Hamas’ slaughter in Israel, she falsely accused Israel of committing atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza, writing that “the scale of Israeli bombing shows a disregard for key principles of international humanitarian law…all care must be taken to protect civilians. This is called the principle of distinction—distinguishing non-combatants from combatants.”

Israel does, contra Sucharov, distinguish Hamas combatants from non-combatants. Israel has sent troops on the ground to fight Hamas terrorists house-to-house, and more than 150 Israeli soldiers have been killed as a result. No country that commits indiscriminate bombing intentionally puts their own soldiers in harm’s way when it could easily do otherwise.

Israel has repeatedly warned Palestinian civilians in Gaza prior to attacking Hamas targets, a profoundly difficult practice given the terrorist group’s widely-documented integration of its fighters among civilian infrastructure. Hamas doesn’t just attempt to blend in amongst Gaza’s civilian population; it intentionally puts them at risk for the sake of its genocidal war against Israel, and knowing that every Gazan death is a propaganda victory for Hamas.

Thanks to these measures – and contrary to Hamas propaganda claiming that virtually everyone killed in Gaza is an innocent woman or child – Israel’s civilian-to-combat ratio has been vastly lower, and according to one international law expert, “The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) goes further than any army in the history of warfare to protect civilian lives.”

Like most Canadians, Sucharov wants to see the end of suffering in Gaza, but any solution that keeps Hamas in power so it can continue to steal aid from its own people and commit genocidal war against Israel, is virtually a guarantee of never-ending suffering and war. Hamas does not deserve a bailout.