The Banality of Evil

Read Ariel Kahana’s article in Israel Hayom of interview with K., a Shin Bet investigator who interrogated the Nukhba terrorists. Here are several central paragraphs:

“During the months of the war, K. met the cruelest of murderers, those who committed the inconceivable crimes in the Gaza envelope on October 7. ‘What stands out most there is the banality. As Hannah Arendt said, the banality of evil. An ordinary person who commits acts of atrocity. Some of them were not even Nukhba terrorists. … For example, those who were involved in the kidnapping of the Bibas children were not Hamas terrorists. Many of the perpetrators of the most severe atrocities were not Hamas terrorists at all.’ Kahana: ‘In other words, ordinary Gazans?’. K': ‘Ordinary Gazans who committed acts of atrocity, and without having a magnetic card with a personal number as members of Hamas…. These are people who saw the opportunity, entered and acted.’”

“Ariel Kahana asks: ‘Do they regret it?’ And investigator K. answers: ‘No, I did not see remorse. They are upset that they were caught and would have been happy with a different ending. But I do not see them, under similar circumstances, doing something different. They are proud of what they did.’

When Ariel Kahana asks him, ‘Going out to war is one thing, but to rape, to murder and to burn and to be enthusiastic about it—what is this sub-animal behavior?’ K. answers what we must all internalize: ‘We need to understand where we live. First of all, this is a religious war; we should understand that fact. Second, in the terrorist’s eyes he is not committing a horrifying act. Nor is he doing something that his prophet did not do, even when it comes to atrocious acts. This is his example. This is jihad…. It is the militant insurance of Islam, and it is a duty.’

And here, to the attention of Kushner and Witkoff: Kahana asks: You already said earlier that there is no difference between Gazans and Hamas’s Nukhba terrorists. But now Jared Kushner is speaking about de-Hamasization and that we will essentially re-educate them. Is that possible in your opinion? And K. answers: ‘Absolutely not. Jihad is a general and personal duty, and the only way to receive exemption from it is if you are in a state of inability imposed by the enemy. Only then, within the framework of “the weakness of the believers,” can you refrain from jihad. So you can hire a public relations office, distribute beautiful textbooks in the schools—here’s a spoiler: it does not work. The only option is to exercise full control. Note also that there is no remorse among them. Even 700,000 dead would not have helped. They do not count that. On the contrary, it is an honor for them….. It does not interest them, neither damage to property nor loss of life.’

And here comes the most important part of the entire interview: ‘The only thing that matters to them is the transfer of lands. Anyone who is not Muslim and is on land not ruled by Muslims is in Dar al-Harb. That means he is in the land of war that must pass to Islam. Also in New York and in Mexico. And therefore only when the opposite happens, will they care. When they see Yarden Bibas harvesting wheat in fields that were once their houses, and they understand that it is forever, only then will they say, “We lost, it was not worthwhile.” Anything else, temporary, a yellow line, a purple line, a line here, a line there, you demolished a house, stopped a truck, eliminated 70,000 or 700,000 of their people– none of that interests them.’

And Ariel Kahana returns and asks: So what is the way to win? And K. answers—and we should read these words again: ‘To take territory permanently and for them to know it. That it be clear to them that it is for eternity. As long as that does not happen, from their perspective they have won. It does not matter how many buildings you have demolished, or how many terrorists you have eliminated. Until they see Yarden Bibas harvesting wheat in fields that were once their houses, and that it is forever, from their perspective they have lost nothing. They will do it again. It will take a year, two, four or ten. If you did not take territory, you did not win and you did not finalize the battle. Period.’

We must internalize—the conclusion is clear: we are dealing with a population whose entire culture is the murder of Jews. Men, women, youth and children. To continue allowing them to live next to us in Gaza or among us in Judea and Samaria is suicidal.

K. clarified in a simple way how we must defeat them: ‘To take territory’—that is settlement. ‘And for them to understand that 'it is forever’—that is the application of sovereignty. Over Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Then and only then will they understand that they have been defeated and that they have no future here.

What are we waiting for?”

For the full article in Hebrew, click here.