The title of this week’s article seems a ridiculous question. The Islamic Resistance Movement, or ‘Hamas’, is a known terrorist group. Its activities are usually condemned without question by all well-thinking citizens and countries.

However, we are going through a particularly peculiar time in history because of the war in Israel over the last year. The attack by Hamas against Israeli citizens on October 7, 2023 at a concert close to the Gaza/Israel border was different than any other by any terrorist organisation in history.

Why? The attack was carried out by an estimated 3,000 men in uniform.

This isn’t normal. Terrorist attacks never involve that many offenders. The resultant casualties can only be topped by the tally of 9/11, and that involved — in its actual execution — fewer than 20 men.

Israel’s response has not been normal either. This is so especially if you think of it as a response to a terrorist attack, but not if you think of it as a country invaded by another and then retreating into its nation. It is then normal that you will observe the same response that you see being carried out by Israel.

This response is warn, bomb, occupy the bombed zone. Push forward until you have control of the country. The refugee effect will automatically follow as citizens flee and top-tier leaders and war criminals join them in refugee camps, where they will eventually be hunted.

This is war, and it’s not pretty.

The condemnation of Israel’s activities is, to some degree, being influenced by the fact that the October 7 attack is not being considered an attack against one nation by another but, rather, by a terrorist group.

This is not entirely correct. Hamas is a terrorist group but it is also the legally elected Government of the Palestinians.

Palestine, which previously existed but was spelt ‘Palestina’, was meant — after the partitioning that created the State of Israel in 1948 — to be a separate country.

The act on October 7 was, in effect, an army attacking largely citizens and behaving like armies do when they invade countries.

You see, we like to romanticise the Allied troops in World War II, but it’s not entirely an accurate depiction of all that took place.

The ‘rape’ of Berlin in 1945 by the Russian soldiers who conducted the ground invasion has to be the most brutal and widespread attack against women in history.

It was literally a rape. It’s not a figure of speech. History has documented it but nothing has been done to apologise for it. Two million women were raped — many multiple times.

The bombing of France during World War II by the Allies resulted in the deaths of 57,000 civilians. This may not seem like a lot but remember, France was not an enemy of the Allies but rather a country that the Allied forces were trying to liberate.

In the bombing of Hanoi, known as ‘Operation Linebacker’, by the United States in 1972, over 20,000 pounds of explosives were dropped on the city of Hanoi in Vietnam.

In only 11 days, 1,624 civilians were killed.

The massive use of bombing has been a major staple of war since planes got involved in military conflicts. Israel’s use of it is being condemned largely because Hamas is not being looked at as the army of the Palestinians, but it should.

So let’s take the line that the Israeli response resulted from a terrorist attack that killed 1,207 people. Now, let’s look at the response to the reaction by the military powers of the United States and its allies to 9/11, which was carried out by terrorists.

Afghanistan was invaded; 46,319 civilians were killed in the response.

War is hell. It’s brutal. Its cost to civilian lives is immense, irrespective of the nationalities or races involved.

Governments use bombs to limit the casualties of their militaries.

What’s happening in Gaza is a disgrace, but it is no better or worse than the many conflicts depicted in movies that had us cheering for the good guys.

The story of the Palestinians in the Middle East is a typical one in an analysis of the 20th century. Ireland was partitioned after being invaded and occupied. India was partitioned to achieve its independence and in an attempt to avoid civil war (it didn’t work).

The partitioning of Palestina to create Israel was the end result of colonisation, the purge of the European Jews by the Nazis and an attempt to limit Jewish refugees in western Europe.

History has been unkind to most groups of people, from the Africans to the Chinese and many more in-between.

That does not justify the attack by the army of Hamas against the State of Israel on October 7, 2023.

The response has been brutal and inhumane and it is not okay.

It is also in no way unusual or different from how armies around the world respond when they are attacked.

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