Why America Must Support Israel’s Efforts to Destroy Hamas

This op-ed originally appeared in American Greatness on March 1st, 2024.

This week, I visited Israel with General Keith Kellogg, my colleague at the America First Policy Institute, to learn about the state of the Israel-Hamas War and Israel-U.S. relations. As part of our research, we met with senior Israeli officials and toured two sites where the horrific October 7 Hamas terrorist attack took place.

What we learned was disturbing and shocking. It confirmed our strong belief that America must stand with Israel in its efforts to destroy Hamas and not agree to a peace agreement with the Palestinians without major, generational reforms.

This was a very different trip than the one I took to Israel last July. There were no nonstop flights to Tel Aviv from Washington-Dulles. Our hotel, the same one where I stayed last year, had few guests and limited services. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the narrow streets around it in the Old City were deserted. It was clear that Israel’s economy has been hit hard by a sharp drop in tourism due to the October 7 terrorist attacks.

We visited sites where Hamas massacred innocent Israeli civilians in southern Israel at a kibbutz and the site of the Re’im music festival. It was shocking to see hundreds of bullet holes in tiny kibbutz homes where beautiful young couples were brutally killed. [See above photo]. Photos of these couples were posted outside of their destroyed homes. The music festival site was a sea of photographs of over 300 young people who were mowed down by Hamas terrorists. Many were killed as they desperately tried to escape the slaughter.

It was made clear to us at the sites of these massacres that these attacks were extremely well-planned and designed to kill as many Israelis as possible. Gazans who worked in southern Israel gathered intelligence on how to conduct the attacks. Meticulous steps were taken to destroy and blind security cameras and sensors at the border. It was also stressed to us that after Hamas fighters breached border fences, they were followed by civilians from Gaza who committed their own atrocities and looted Israeli homes and stores.

Read the full op-ed on American Greatness.