Narcissism is defined by a core inner emptiness around which people build an amoral god complex. People who suffer from this condition cannot acknowledge responsibility and, therefore, cannot and will not change. This is important to know because Hamas and its fellow travelers in the West are narcissists. This means that, if they have power, there will never be peace between the people in Gaza and the West Bank, on the one hand, and Israel, on the other hand.

Let me start with a story about a friend of mine. When their child was having problems in elementary school, the school counselor urged the two of them to go to couples therapy because he'd concluded that their constant bickering affected their child. Fearing to lose face in front of the counselor, the husband agreed to go.

To my friend’s great surprise, once in counseling, her husband did not deny that he verbally abused her. However, he denied that his abuse had anything to do with a discordant home that affected their child. Instead, he said, the problem was that my friend didn’t meekly accept the abuse. If she would just shut up and take it, they’d have a peaceful home, and their child would be fine.

Image of Narcissus from a 14th Century copy of Roman de la Rose. In the National Library of Wales. CC0.

That’s textbook narcissism.

Narcissists are empty at their core. To offset that, they build an elaborate carapace that places them at the center of their own universe. They will never accept fault, no matter the consequences of their actions, but will always blame others. In their own minds, they are gods, with truth and morality defined by their needs. For this reason, narcissists, like other sociopaths, ace lie detector tests. If what they’re saying serves their needs at that moment, they are not lying.

This personality disorder is playing out on a grand scale among Hamas and those who support Hamas. Israel didn’t simply get up one morning and decide to kill a couple of hundred civilians in Nuseirat, which would have been a psychopathic act. It was the fact that uniformed Hamas fighters and non-uniformed Gazans actually committed such a psychopathic act on October 7 that started all this.

But before getting there, let’s go back a step further. According to Hamas and its fellow travelers in the West, everything Hamas is doing is to end the Israeli occupation. The useful idiots in the West assume this means the occupation of Gaza. They are unaware that Israel left Gaza completely in 2005.

The hardcore haters know that the real “occupation” Gazans wish to end is Israel’s existence. When they chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free,” what they mean is that they will slaughter all Jews between the Jordan and the Mediterranean.

It's that long-term goal that led approximately 3,000 Gazans to break a ceasefire, storm Israel, slaughter over 1,200 people, and kidnap over 240 more.

At this point, according to the narcissistic view, nothing contentious, discordant, or violent had occurred. Hamas and its non-uniformed troops were right because they are. End of story.

The real problem was that Israel dared to respond. Had she not pushed back, there would have been “peace” and a “ceasefire” until Hamas’s next depredation. Then, too, peace could be preserved if Israel just sucked it up.

It’s that same thinking that’s characterizing the response to Israel’s hostage rescue. The Hamas defenders ignore that Hamas kidnapped civilians. They ignore that there is a hot war going on and that, under the rules of modern warfare, civilian casualties are acceptable if they are not primary targets. And, of course, they ignore that Hamas planted hostages deep within a civilian refugee camp, an act by which they intentionally turned civilians into primary targets.

That Hamas would defend its acts is to be expected. What’s more surprising is that Western “liberals” defend them, too, and do so along classically narcissistic lines. Or as Kiyah Willis, a former leftist, says,

It's insane that people are mad at Israel for rescuing the hostages and not at Hamas for taking the hostages in the first place

— Kiyah Willis (@kiyahwillis) June 9, 2024

Here are just some examples of this narcissistic refusal to acknowledge Gazans’ responsibility (Bonchie and Kurt Schlichter have been particularly good at catching this line of thinking):

Lacks foundation as to “innocent Palestinians” https://t.co/21ocdg7tCV

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) June 10, 2024

They want to be able to take and keep *hostages* while crying victim if an operation is carried out to free the hostages.

This detachment from reality isn't organic. It's driven by an international community that has taught "Palestinians" to think this way. pic.twitter.com/mQcQ4vgsmP

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) June 8, 2024

If you look really closely, you’ll notice a difference in how CNN treats claims from Israel and from Hamas.

Can you spot it? pic.twitter.com/wlwXrb919c

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) June 10, 2024

Could you please go kiss your own ass? https://t.co/U3Btw64IQc

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) June 9, 2024

The one where you don't get to start a war and then call a time-out the moment consequences arrive.

Start less wars next time. https://t.co/4pMrx2YJTL

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) June 7, 2024

I don’t cheer loss of life, even for the bad guys. Every life wasted is a tragedy.

But just from a basic logic standpoint I don’t get this. “How dare you rescue hostages in an unsportsmanlike manner” doesn’t resonate with me. pic.twitter.com/CjdqP8tN6H

— Jarvis (@jarvis_best) June 8, 2024

Inevitably, the catchphrase, in one form or another, is “innocent civilians.” The Israel Foreign Ministry points out the lie:

We need to talk about the elephant in the room.

Many Gazan civilians participated in killing, raping, and kidnapping Israelis on October 7.

It is also reported that Gazan civilians were paid by Hamas to hold hostages captive in their homes.

Hamas is intentionally involving the… pic.twitter.com/XEJPU9bjVz

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) June 10, 2024

Because Hamas and its supporters cannot and will not acknowledge responsibility for what is happening, there will be no true peace or ceasefire with Hamas. Instead, just as happened with the narcissistic Nazis and Bushido Japanese, Israel must achieve a complete military victory. Otherwise, this is a war that ends only when Israel is entirely exterminated.