A terrorist military organization can be destroyed through military means. In fact, that’s the only way it can be destroyed.

Israel’s critics do have a point, though. The ideology of Hamas can’t be destroyed militarily.

However, the critics’ point doesn’t yield their conclusion — that Israel shouldn’t use all military means possible to crush Hamas. In fact, it yields a conclusion the critics abhor — that after crushing Hamas militarily, Israel must remain in Gaza to make sure that Hamas’ ideology does not revive it, or some successor group, as a military threat to the Jewish state.

This conclusion is reinforced by the trove of Hamas documents Israel has captured in Gaza.