Two years after October 7, 2023, the wounds remain fresh — not only for Israel, but for anyone who recognizes the fundamental duty of a government: to protect its citizens, to uphold the rule of law, and to see justice done when brutal criminals strike. On that Simchat Torah morning, Hamas executed a coordinated campaign of terror unlike anything Israel had seen since 1948: thousands of rockets, sustained infiltration, massacres in villages and a music festival, and hundreds made into hostages. The human toll was staggering — civilians slaughtered, families destroyed, children murdered, and sexual crimes documented and investigated. The world watched. Many governments called it terrorism; many people cried out for accountability.
This is not just a tragedy to be mourned and then filed away. It is a wake-up call. It exposed not only the savagery of an organization that celebrates murder, rape, and hostage-taking, but the strategic and moral failures that allowed such brutality to be financed and organized. Whether by direct sponsorship, permissive financing, or the indirect effect of lifting economic pressures, Iran’s ability to bankroll proxies like Hamas has been a central enabling factor. The unfreezing and movement of Iranian funds in recent years — even when constrained by humanitarian stipulations — has had strategic consequences: more resources in the hands of a regime that already sponsors terrorism across the region.
For Americans and for any citizen who believes in limited government and the sovereignty of nations, the lesson is clear: weak or inconsistent policy invites aggression. A nation that cannot or will not cut off the financing and supply lines that sustain violent non-state actors ends up complicit — however indirectly — in the violence they commit. If we value liberty and human life, we must insist on policies that make it impossible for terrorists to operate freely, while preserving our constitutional principles at home. That means intelligence led action, targeted sanctions, lawful military responses when necessary, and rigorous prosecution of war crimes and sexual violence. It also means refusing to normalize or excuse demonizing protests when they cross into anti-Semitism or into support for terrorism.
On the home front, the anniversary has been marked by pro-Palestinian demonstrations in many cities. Peaceful protest is an American right. But when demonstrations on a day of mass slaughter become a platform for anti-Semitic chants, equivocation, or for celebrating the attackers, the question is not political correctness; it is a test of our civic character. Tolerating or ignoring chants that echo the hatred of the 1930s, or permitting rhetoric that evokes sympathy for terrorists, is morally and politically corrosive. We would, rightly, condemn any mass public rally that cheered or celebrated Nazi pogroms in the 1940s; we must not treat the defense of the Jewish people any differently now.
Finally: justice demands both clarity of purpose and fidelity to law. Hamas must be dismantled as an operational and governing power — through military pressure where necessary, through international cooperation to squeeze sponsors and supply lines, and through courts and tribunals for crimes against humanity. We should demand that perpetrators of sexual violence, hostage-taking, and mass murder be investigated, prosecuted, and punished to the fullest extent consistent with international and domestic law. That is not vengeance; it is the application of justice in defense of civilization itself.
We owe the victims the truth about what happened, the pursuit of those responsible, and a sober re-examination of policy choices that made such an attack possible. That is the practical, constitutional conservatism I stand for: clear borders, robust defense, relentless enforcement of the rule of law, and an uncompromising defense of innocent life.
