In her January 25 opinion column in The Toronto Star entitled: “Canada well positioned to push for Palestinian statehood,” Linda McQuaig, a contributing columnist at the newspaper, writes about the “unimaginable suffering” in the Gaza Strip, saying that it is particularly frustrating because it is “neither remote nor beyond human reach or control.”

While McQuaig is correct thus far, she then misidentified the true culprit behind the suffering of Gazans, writing that “the agony in Gaza is happening because of the relentless bombing and siege by Israel, a country with whom Canada has warm and supportive relations.”

While it’s obviously true that Israel is carrying out strikes in Gaza as part of its counter-terrorism efforts against Hamas, the Gaza-based Islamic terrorist group, the responsibility for the suffering endured by the people of Gaza is at the feet of Hamas.

Not only did Hamas start the current war on October 7, intentionally killing primarily Israeli civilians in its murderous onslaught, it has continued to perpetuate the bloodshed, by refusing to release the Israeli hostages it kidnapped that day, by using its own people as human shields in a cynical (but highly successful) attempt to gain international sympathy, and by continuing to wage war on Israel, firing rockets into Israeli population centres and showing that it has no interest in seeing a peaceful solution take hold.

Anybody even marginally familiar with Hamas should not be surprised by the group’s inhuman lack of concern for life, Israeli or Palestinian. The group is a fanatical jihadist organization, whose founding charter calls for the violent destruction of Israel and the creation of an Islamic State-style caliphate in its place, a message repeated by its leaders and seen first-hand on October 7.

Brushing past Hamas’ ideology, McQuaig laid all blame for the conflict at Israel’s feet, writing that Canada has a role to play, and could be “an important voice pushing for a lasting ceasefire and for the launch of a process that could eventually lead to the creation of a Palestinian state.”

All but ignoring the more than 100 Israeli hostages still being kept in hellish conditions in Gaza, likely in one of Hamas’ extensive subterranean terror tunnels, McQuaig’s column maintained a singular focus on ceasefire, regardless of the surrounding facts and ignoring how Hamas itself rejected a 2-month ceasefire proposal.

Like a cat mesmerized by a red dot from a laser pointer, ignoring everything else around it, McQuaig is unaware or otherwise chose not to mention that a ceasefire that does not secure the release of Israeli hostages, and of the defeat of Hamas, is not a ceasefire at all, but simply a guarantee of future wars.

As long as Hamas, which is dedicated to Israel’s destruction, retains the ability to fulfill its eschatological vision, it will continue to attempt to kill as many Israelis as possible.

As Iddo Moed, Israel’s Ambassador to Canada, made plain in a recent interview, the war can be over if Hamas releases hostages and lays down its arms and “everything will stop.”

As for the “creation of a Palestinian state,” Israel has offered that before, only to have their peace proposals met with violence. In 2000, and again in 2008, Israeli prime ministers extended their hands in peace, and were rejected.

The Gaza Strip, which was once home to nearly 10,000 Israelis, saw them all forcibly removed by Israel in the summer of 2005, which undertook the Disengagement in an attempt at peace. Hamas saw Israel’s offer, and soon seized the coastal enclave, turning it into a hub of terrorism.

There was a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas prior to October 7, and nothing but Hamas’ defeat can produce anything resembling a “lasting ceasefire” now.

Linda McQuaig’s opinion column where she blamed Israel for the conflict entirely absolves Hamas for its singular decision to perpetuate the war and continue the suffering.