So this is the logic of the leftist elites?

That destroying Hamas will only create new terrorists... so don't destroy them?

Israel invaded Southern Lebanon with some 78,000 combat troops and almost 3,000 tanks and armored vehicles in June 1982. The goal was to smash PLO terrorists, and Israel achieved significant near-term success. However, this military operation caused the creation of Hezbollah in July 1982, led to vast local support for Hezbollah and waves of suicide attacks and ultimately led to the withdrawal of Israel’s army from much of southern Lebanon in 1985 and the growth of Hezbollah ever since.

Israel maintained a heavy military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank from the early 1990s to 2005. These operations succeeded in killing many terrorists from Hamas and other Palestinian groups, but also triggered vast local support for the terrorist groups and massive campaigns of suicide attacks against Israelis that stopped only when the heavy Israeli military forces left. Far from defeated, Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian elections.

So to the degree that history is correct here, I am not arguing differently. Generally when you stamp out one set of terrorists, another grows in the aftermath. Stamping out Al Qaeda lead to ISIS. But at least you are giving yourself a reprieve and making the new terrorist group start from scratch. To what degree one might offer that Hezbollah is a powerful terrorist group, is there any question that the PLO would be more powerful today if they still existed and had been allowed to grow unfettered?

To hear some of these arguments, you would believe that the only reason Islamic terrorists exists is because of the actions of the groups that Islam hate. The old blame the victim card. But the reality is that these terrorists are created because they are indoctrinated as children to hate certain people and grow up with terrorism and violence being glorified. They are taught a twisted form of Islam that supports and even encourages terror and violence in the name of Allah. When Israel fights back or when the west comes into the area and starts a war, it certainly adds fuel to their hatred. But make no mistake, the actions of these people doesn't create the hate and it will not go away if the enemies of Islam just behave better.

Sorry folks, but the victim blaming arguments ignore the underlying reality that as long as there is an Israel and as long as Jews walk the holy land there will be Islamic terrorist looking to drive them out. Moreover, as with any hate group, the successes of the group in question will lead to more recruitment and support than failures. Even when it comes to terrorist groups, people love a winner and generally do not support the losers. Everyone wants to jump on board to engage in all of the glory of success, but who wants to die like a rat hiding in underground tunnels in failure? Hamas would only grow stronger if Israel sat back and did nothing. Maybe much stronger.

The only way to create lasting damage to terrorists is to combine, typically in a long campaign of years, sustained selective attacks against identified terrorists with political operations that drive wedges between the terrorists and the local populations from which they come.

Again with the idea that you can just drive a wedge between the terrorists and local population by being nicer is folly. Look at all of the hateful anti-semetic protests going on across the globe. Look at the hateful antisemitic demonstrations here in the United States and consider that they reach all the way up the food chain to the academia and even our own government. Some of these Americans have been openly cheering the killing of Jewish infants and the raping of Israeli women. What makes certain experts think that you can play nice with the Palestinians and somehow make everyone change their mind? These antisemites will not be happy as long as there is a Jewish state in the Holy Land. They want Israel and all of the Jews gone from that part of the world (if not gone from the world in general). Their hatred will not dissipate just because someone came up with a peace agreement.

Lastly here, let's be serious. We have been trying to mediate a truce between the Muslims in the Middle East and Israel for as long as anyone can remember. If politics and negotiation was the answer, then why do we still have Hamas and Hezbollah? It's been 20 years since there has been any sort of major western offensive in that part of the world and the terrorists are not going away. I'd say we have given peace a chance and that the Palestinians and their terror buddies are simply not on board with the idea of peace. For there to be an idea of peace, you need to change the minds of nearly all the Muslim community and many of your liberal western groups who all seem to think being an antisemite is what it takes to be part of the cool people club.

Israel needs to wipe Hamas and every bit of their infrastructure off the face of the earth. Even if all they do is destroy their underground tunnels, seize all of their weapons, and still allow the bulk of the actual Hama's group to exist somewhere in hiding, how long does it take for Hamas to reorganize and rebuild back to where they are today? Years, decades? Who knows, but it is better than providing them with success of the last attack and then watching Israel cave into the demands of the antisemites and not fight back. That sort of reward for bad behavior only encourages bullies to be bigger bullies.