Hamas is Not Israel’s Core Enemy
Palestinians inspect the ruins of Aklouk Tower destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on October 8, 2023. Source: Wafa
By DJ Rosenthal
Terrorism has notched another short-term victory in its ongoing campaign to cause death and destruction and undermine a worldwide sense of security. On October 7, 2023, Hamas carried out unspeakable atrocities inside Israel, designed not just to kill as many people as possible but to inflict maximum horror and suffering. And, perhaps most shocking of all, the terrorists carried out their murderous rampage with exuberance and pride and committed numerous acts of gruesome sexual violence while doing so.[1]
As with other acts of violent extremism, it is both natural and comforting to want to believe that the perpetrators are inherently evil. They are “barbarians” and “monsters”; they think thoughts and commit acts that are incompatible with a civilized society. But, both history and social sciences prove this reasoning wrong and suggest the importance of a more holistic counterterrorism strategy, one that not only seeks to address the near-term threats posed by terrorists but also works to undermine the underlying causes that give rise to violent extremism.
In response to the horrific attacks of October 7, the Israeli government articulated a military objective to eliminate Hamas, which, if successful, would address the near-term threat to Israel’s security. But, to be truly successful in creating durable peace, the root causes of violent extremism within Gaza and the West Bank must be identified and addressed. Otherwise, a new generation of terrorists will no doubt rise to take Hamas’s place.
The “Bad Apples” of Violent Extremism
The 20th century was replete with acts of a different manifestation of violent extremism—unspeakable barbarism and inhumanity through systematic efforts to exterminate entire populations of people, from the Armenians during World War I and the Jews of Europe during World War II to the Tutsis during Rwanda’s civil war. Modern conceptions of these atrocities falsely describe the perpetrators as a discrete set of individual sociopaths, intangible political or ideological groups, or a combination of both.[2] For example, while history identifies the perpetrators of the extermination of Armenians as the Young Turks and a handful of its leaders, in reality, the organized and well-coordinated atrocities were facilitated and carried out by civilians, from officials within the Ottoman government to average Turks.[3] Moreover, the Holocaust was not, as many history books assert, the work of Adolph Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Goring, and other amorphous “Nazis.” In reality, the mass extermination of Jews was actively supported by Germans who were “neither perverted nor sadistic” but instead “terribly and terrifyingly normal.”[4][5] Similarly, in Rwanda, while the Interahamwe, a radical paramilitary Hutu group, planned the murderous rampage against the Tutsis, tens of thousands of Hutu civilians participated, killing their neighbors and committing other depraved acts at the direction of the Interahamwe.[6]
In the 1960s, psychologist Stanley Milgram sought to understand whether atrocities such as the Holocaust could happen again by exploring the degree to which ordinary people would be willing to inflict lethal electric shocks to others on the mere say-so of an authority figure.[7][8][9] In Milgram’s test, 65 percent of participants were willing to administer what they believed to be lethal shocks on another person after being instructed by an authority figure to do so. This figure increased to over 92 percent if the participant could instruct another individual to administer the shock—an increase attributable to the power of the diffusion of responsibility. The results demonstrate the power of obedience to authority figures, including when obedience meant harm and even death to others. During the Vietnam War, over 25 U.S. service members, at the orders of Lieutenant William Calley (who himself claimed to be following orders), killed over 300 civilians, including women and children, in what is known as the My Lai Massacre. It was Milgram’s Obedience study in real life.
Taking Milgram’s study one step further, psychologist Phillip Zimbardo considered how people would act toward others in positions of disproportionate power but with little to no guardrails on their actions. In this experiment, otherwise ordinary people gravitated toward depravity, mistreating and dehumanizing those in a subservient position when given power over others.[10] In some instances, the perpetrators even resorted to acts of sexual mistreatment. Torture by U.S. service members of detainees at the prison facility at Abu Ghraib in Iraq demonstrates these findings.[11][12] The Bush Administration incorrectly labeled these service members as “bad apples.”[13] In reality, these abuses were a sad but predictable result of a conflagration of powerful social forces, including obedience to authority, lack of training, demonization of the subjects, and patriotism run amok, which dismantled the social boundaries that normally constrain human behavior. In a more Darwinian telling, the social forces unleashed the raw human instinct of violence toward perceived threats as a means of self-preservation.
These studies are often taken as a depressing commentary—humans may have an innate propensity to commit acts of cruelty and violence if nudged in that direction. But in formulating an effective strategy against violent extremism and terrorism, these experiments provide the key to long-term success. In addition to more immediate tactical gains to dismantle terrorist networks, counterterrorism efforts must simultaneously seek to pinpoint the environmental and societal forces that fuel violent extremism and develop and successfully implement strategies to address these causes. In short, when we materially change the circumstances and environment, terrorism can be deprived of the fertile ground on which it can grow.
The “Wellspring of Extremism”
Lessons from Milgram, Zimbardo, and other social psychologists and histories of “terrifyingly normal” people carrying out heinous acts indicate that, by and large, terrorists—including Hamas fighters, facilitators, and sympathizers—are not inherently evil.[14] Instead, they are the tragic product of what Former President Barack Obama called the “wellspring of extremism.”[15]
Modern terrorist organizations exploit powerful social forces to recruit others to extremist ideologies and violence. Strong authority figures—often moored to religious fanaticism—prey on individuals’ vulnerability and sense of injustice to inculcate a rigid version of morals based on an intolerance of and hatred for people who do not subscribe to their beliefs.[16] They label non-believers as the enemy whose obliteration is justified and provides the path to righteousness. These terrorist organizations often fill power vacuums left by failed states.[17] They control the press and oversee educational programs to control the flow of information, spread their ideology, and restrict dissent. They also provide basic governmental services to build loyalty to the regime and establish a sense of belonging and purpose.[18] Furthermore, they provide jobs and other financial incentives to citizens to contribute to their enterprise, including by supporting or directly engaging in terrorist activities. Together, these forces galvanize whole communities into a murderous ideology that extends beyond the normal guardrails of civilized society.
This path of indoctrination toward radical, violent ideologies is reminiscent of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” from Republic, which tells the tale of prisoners whose experiences have been carefully orchestrated since birth. Chained inside a cave and facing a wall, the prisoners can only see the shadows cast on the cave wall, which they perceive as reality. Thus, when a freed prisoner returns to share what he has discovered about how the world really works, including that the shadows are mere reflections of other things, the other prisoners reject those insights, choosing the familiar, albeit deeply flawed, worldview.
Like in Plato’s Cave, adherents to terrorist ideologies typically follow what they have been indoctrinated toward—a stilted, incomplete, and misleading worldview. In their case, this worldview is also inflexible and intolerant and justifies violence.
The Root Causes of Palestinian Terrorism
While the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is mired in controversy, one thing is clear - the Palestinian people have endured nonstop hardships and believe that they have been the victims of unaddressed injustice, deeply wronged by history, Israel, and the world. Their reality has long been one of hopelessness, which fuels the impulses of extremism and violence.
Palestinians have harbored generations-long anger since the founding of the Israeli state in 1948 and the displacement of their ancestors from their homes in what Palestinians refer to as the “Nakba” or catastrophe. In the subsequent seventy-five years, Palestinians have struggled to survive under corrupt, extremist, and recalcitrant leaders. Most notably, Yasser Arafat, former President of the Palestinian Authority, rejected peace, squandered international foreign aid, and actively encouraged radicalism within the Palestinian population.
Palestinian civilians have been forced to endure provocative actions by Israel, such as persistent settlement building, which is almost universally viewed by the international community as a violation of international law. And Israeli settlers have carried out acts of violence against Palestinian civilians with near impunity.
Furthermore, while arguably justifiable to counter the threat of terrorism, Israeli-imposed security measures have placed further hardships on ordinary Palestinians. Security barriers and checkpoints undermine the ability of many Palestinians to find work in Israel, thus fueling widespread unemployment within Gaza and the West Bank. Similarly, embargoes and blockades, while aimed to minimize the importation of weapons, deprive Palestinians of freely traveling or engaging in legitimate international trade. Even without placing blame, large numbers of Palestinians feel hopeless, viewing Gaza as a large open-air prison and collectively believing that they have been neglected by the world.
Hamas, along with a succession of predecessor and current regimes and offshoots, exploited these conditions to gain legitimacy, create a sense of identity and belonging, and inculcate authoritarianism, religious extremism, and violence. They squandered repeated opportunities to raise a generation of Gazans who could build a better future, instead filling the minds of Gazans with hate by blaming Israel and the Jews for all social ills and glorifying their elimination. As chilling proof, videos available on social media show elementary school-aged Palestinian children being taught not to read, write, or think critically but to kill Israelis.[19]
Toward a Long-Term Plan to Address the Root Causes of Palestinian Violent Extremism
Recognizing the need to address the “wellspring of extremism,” the United States’ counterterrorism strategy during my time at the National Security Council sought to move beyond traditional counterterrorism efforts to confront the underlying forces that fuel terrorism.[20] To be sure, our special operations forces carried out high-risk raids to remove terrorists from the battlefield, including the operation targeting Osama bin Laden, and conducted targeted drone strikes in terrorist hotbeds around the world.[21] But, those kinetic actions were partnered with longer-term efforts to starve terrorism of the underlying factors that give it continued viability, including diplomatic support to nascent and fragile democracies in the Middle East and efforts to build the foundations of civil society to allow people to participate meaningfully in the growth of their communities and to give them hope for a better future.[22] If sustained over time, these measures are the practical antidote to terrorism over the long term.[23]
Likewise, while Israel may be able to substantially degrade, if not defeat, Hamas on the battlefield, there must also be a strategy to address the deeply ingrained hate and glorification of violence against Israel that is endemic in both Gaza and the West Bank after years of control by Hamas and the influence of myriad other extremist groups. Eradicating this pervasive ideology is the only path for the Palestinian people and any prospect for a peaceful, productive coexistence with Israel.
That work requires changing the underlying conditions that have given rise to this endemic extremism. Palestinians must be empowered to shape a future that is both safe and prosperous. Core components of civil society, including inclusivity and civic participation, must be fostered. For example, the education of Palestinian youth must be reimagined to include notions of tolerance and critical thinking. People must have access to productive, sustained employment. Furthermore, efforts must be taken to deradicalize the thousands of Palestinians who, while technically civilians, have been brainwashed into thinking that their only salvation is Israel’s eradication. It is only with such a vision that they will turn their back on the violence, extremism, and destruction that Hamas and other terrorist organizations preach.
Israel, for its part, must rethink its counterterrorism strategy to ensure that the acts that it takes to protect Israel do not, as they have so often in the past, create the conditions for radicalism to flourish. And it must abandon morally bankrupt and inflammatory policies—such as continued settlement building—and instead take meaningful steps that pave the way for peaceful coexistence with its Palestinian neighbors.
While it is beyond the scope of this paper to articulate the specific deradicalization techniques and programs that should be implemented to counter radicalism in Gaza and the West Bank, numerous initiatives around the world seek to deradicalize individuals and reduce the risk of them turning to violence.[24] For example, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia established a program to deradicalize thousands of its citizens after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. While these efforts were designed for a different context, some of the core elements can be informative. These include:
Creating opportunities and incentives to build a productive workforce;
Providing education to promote non-violent ideologies; and
Leveraging the strong Muslim culture of honor and family to encourage citizens away from violence and extremism.
Undoubtedly, the challenges ahead in this regard are immense and will likely take sustained efforts and resources from the international community, most notably from Israel, the United States, and Israel’s Middle East neighbors. The Palestinian resistance movement has called for violence and the total annihilation of the Jewish state since Israel’s founding. Furthermore, powerful global forces, including Iran, have consistently taken actions to fuel Palestinian hopelessness and rage to further their own interests. Moreover, there has never been a sufficiently-functioning governing structure in Gaza or the West Bank that is committed to the long-term well-being of its people to enable these types of programs. Finally, as was likely intended by Hamas, the significant loss of civilian life and tremendous suffering in Gaza as a result of Israel’s seeking to eradicate Hamas will enrage Palestinians and others worldwide, nudging many toward notions of retribution against Israel and a continuation of the cycle of violence.[25][26]
Without addressing these challenges and the root causes of extremism and violence in Gaza and the West Bank, including the role that Israel has played in undermining the prospects of peace, there is little chance for Palestinians en masse to abandon the mythology of violent extremism and instead embrace an ideology of hope, security, prosperity, and peaceful coexistence with their Jewish neighbors.
Israel, the United States, and numerous other nations have likely started Day 2 planning, including how to establish a provisional government to lead the people of Gaza into the future. Critically, these efforts must be broadened to identify and address the roots of Palestinian extremism. This work will be extremely difficult, require significant international participation and funding, and take a long time. But doing so is a vital component of any sustained effort to both eliminate Hamas and subsequent terror groups while laying the foundation for a safer future for Israel and a hopeful and prosperous one for its Palestinian neighbors.
About the author
DJ Rosenthal is a visiting fellow with the National Security Institute at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. Rosenthal was previously the director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council in the Obama administration.
Disclaimer
This piece is published as the Fall 2023 Board’s Selection, specially chosen by the editorial board for its unique perspectives and engagement with pressing global issues. The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of the editors or the journal.
Endnotes
Jeffrey Gettleman, Anat Schwartz, and Adam Sella, “‘Screams Without Words’: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7,” The New York Times, December 28, 2023.
Benjamin Valentino, “Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20th Century” (Stanford University, 1993).
“The Armenian Genocide (1915-16): Overview,” n.d., accessed December 24, 2023, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-armenian-genocide-1915-16-overview.
Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (Penguin, 2006).
Robert Gellately, Backing Hitler: Consent and Coercion in Nazi Germany (Oxford University Press, 2002).
“Outreach Programme on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and the United Nations,” n.d., accessed December 24, 2023, https://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/rwanda/historical-background.shtml.
Stanley Milgram, “Behavioral Study of Obedience,” The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 67, no. 4 (1963): 371–378, https://doi.org/10.1037/h0040525.
Stanley Milgram, Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View (Harper Collins, 1974).
Jerry M. Berger, “Replicating Milgram: Would People Still Obey Today?” American Psychologist 64, no. 1 (January 1, 2009): 1-11, https://doi.org/10/1037/a0010932.
Craig Haney, Curtis Banks, and Philip Zimbardo, “Interpersonal Dynamics in a Simulated Prison,” International Journal of Criminology and Penology 1 (1973): 69-97.
Seymour Hersch, “Torture at Abu Ghraib,” The New Yorker, April 30, 2004.
Duncan Gardham, “Abu Ghraib abuse photos 'show rape',” The Telegraph, May 27, 2009.
“The Road to Abu Ghraib: Introduction,” Human Rights Watch, 2004, https://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/usa0604/1.htm.
Randy Borum, “Psychology of Terrorism,” University of South Florida, accessed December 24, 2023, https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/208552.pdf, p. 32.
“Remarks by the President at the National Defense University,” whitehouse.gov, May 24, 2013, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/23/remarks-president-national-defense-university.
Randy Borum, “Psychology of Terrorism,” p. 19.
Kristina Hummel, “The Road to October 7: Hamas’ Long Game Clarified,” Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, November 28, 2023, https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-road-to-october-7-hamas-long-game-clarified/.
Randy Borum, “Psychology of Terrorism,” p. 24.
“Hamas’ Indoctrination of Children to Jihad Martyrdom Hatred of Jews,” Middle East Media Research Institute, November 3, 2023, https://www.memri.org/reports/hamas-indoctrination-children-jihad-martyrdom-hatred-jews.
“National Strategy for Combating Terrorism,” September 5, 2006, https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/nsc/nsct/2006.
U.S. Central Command, “Recent Syria Operation Highly Successful, Pentagon Spokesman Says,” n.d., https://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/NEWS-ARTICLES/News-Article-View/Article/885130/recent-syria-operation-highly-successful-pentagon-spokesman-says/.
“National Strategy for Counterterrorism,” June 2011, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/counterterrorism_strategy.pdf.
Steve Bonitatibus, “The Lessons Learned for U.S. National Security Policy in the 20 Years since 9/11,” Center for American Progress, May 26, 2022, https://www.americanprogress.org/article/lessons-learned-u-s-national-security-policy-20-years-since-911/.
John Horgan, “Deradicalization Programs: Recommendations for Policy and Practice,” Resolve Network, August 2021, https://www.resolvenet.org/system/files/2021-08/RSVE%20Policy%20Note_Horgan_August%202021.pdf.
U.S. Department of Defense, “A Time for American Leadership': Remarks by Secretary of Defense Lloy,” n.d., https://www.defense.gov/News/Speeches/Speech/Article/3604755/a-time-for-american-leadership-remarks-by-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-i/.
DJ Rosenthal, “Countries Breaking Ties with Israel are Sending an Important Warning,” CNN, November 2, 2023.