Thinking about the war in Gaza, I keep coming back to this one idea.

The End Game

When I say that, I mean, where all of us going to be left in a year, two years, because

Israel and the U.S. have an intended goal here.

They say they want to destroy Hamas, or eliminate Hamas, crush Hamas.

And it's not clear to me if that's achievable.

It is not possible to destroy such an organization, because it is an ideology, it is an idea as well

as an organization and a military force.

The word Hamas means courage, right?

The word Hamas means zeal.

It is an Arabic acronym for the movement, which is haraq al-Islamiy al-Mukhawama, which

is the Islamic Resistance movement.

Muhammad Hafiz teaches about Islamic movements at the Naval Postgraduate School.

And he wants people to think beyond Hamas the terrorist organization, to consider the

ideology that animates its members, and what will become of it when the war is done.

Because the thing about Hamas, he says, is that plenty of Palestinians support its goals.

Even if they disagree with its tactics and its violence, they still agree that it is

a part of the national liberation movement.

And that makes it really difficult to defeat such an organization.

Should it be part of the liberation movement given its tactics that were displayed on October

7th?

What Hamas says is every national liberation movement has a right to resist occupation,

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