The Hamas massacre of 1,200 people in Israel a year ago today was not just an atrocity but also a clarifying event. No matter what concessions are made to them, the terrorists will continue to murder and terrorize up to and, one suspects, beyond their desired destruction of the Jewish state. They must not be coddled. They must be destroyed and permanently neutralized.

Every time the international community, and more specifically our feckless and addled leader President Joe Biden, talks or acts as if Hamas and its terrorist cousins are legitimate, it undermines the principles of freedom, democracy, and human rights. Not long ago, it was generally understood that “you don’t negotiate with terrorists,” so much so that it was almost a mantra among leaders in the 1980s. Just as there obviously is no moral equivalency between Hamas, or its Iranian sponsors, and Israel, so too must the West not treat them as political equals. Israel stands for civilization, tolerance, democracy, and the rule of law. The terrorists stand for barbarism, tyranny, and arbitrary violence.