Vivian Bercovici: Hamas makes it clear it has no interest in peace with Israel

Each Sunday morning at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invites the press for a brief photo-op, when he also makes clear the issue and message that he intends to dominate the news cycle that week.

Two days ago, Netanyahu left no doubt that Israel will move militarily, and soon, against Hamas should current hostilities continue.

For the past seven months, Hamas has organized riots at the border with Israel on Fridays after mosque prayers. Many among the international press have accepted the Hamas rendering of these gatherings as being “peaceful,” even though photos and video clearly show an overwhelmingly young, male crowd, many of whom are armed with Molotov cocktails, knives and grenades. They participate in what Hamas calls “The March of Return,” in which they aspire to overrun the Israeli border, murder and maim civilians, and then carry on to liberate all of Palestine and, especially, Jerusalem, from Israeli rule. There is nothing peaceful about these gatherings.

Hamas and its army of rioters, some weeks numbering more than 10,000, does not pose an existential challenge to Israel, but any one of these knife-wielding warriors absolutely does so to Israelis living in small farming communities near the border.

Compounding the immediate dangers posed by the riots is the Hamas launching of arson weapons: kites attached to oil-soaked rags and other incendiary devices that have directly caused the incineration of more than 4,000 hectares of Israeli farmland and nature preserve.

In recent weeks, encouraged by Hamas leadership, the riots have become night-time occurrences, every night, presenting greater challenges for Israeli troops to detect border breaches and other violent activity.