Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
In a CNN interview on October 5, 2025, Jake Tapper asked President Trump, “What happens if Hamas insists on staying in power in Gaza?”
President Trump responded: “Complete obliteration!” That’s the exact right response that Israel and the entire region needs to assure peace in the Middle East.
And on October 16, 2025, President Trump posted on Truth Social:
“If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them!”
And on October 14, 2025, U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner (Pres. Trump’s mechuten) stated: “From the beginning, President Donald Trump made two principles unmistakably clear. First, Israel has an absolute right to defend itself — not a conditional one, not subject to foreign approval.”
During the few short days since the ceasefire deal began, commencing on day one, Hamas has violated the ceasefire deal multiple times and insisted on staying in power. First, instead of disarming, Hamas immediately reconstituted itself. Hamas recalled and recruited 7,000 troops and replenished itself with terrorists released from Israeli jails. Second, Hamas immediately sent civilians and then terrorists to attempt to attack Israeli troops at the “yellow line” behind which Israel retreated. Third, Hamas has been publicly executing and slaughtering hundreds of rivals – using the pretext that they are Israeli collaborators. Fourth, Hamas has failed to return approximately 15 of the bodies of Israelis that it murdered and held in Gaza. Fifth, Hamas has commandeered Gazan schools and hospitals, and is using them to interrogate opponents. Sixth, Hamas is summoning employees of aid agencies to obtain information to enable Hamas to retake control of humanitarian aid supplies.
Seventh and worst of all for brave Israeli soldiers and their families who have already suffered so much to try to end Hamas’ brutal terrorism, on Sunday (October 19), in Rafah, Hamas terrorists emerged from tunnels and shot anti-tank missiles and sniper fire at Israelis, murdering two young Israeli soldiers – Yaniv Kula (age 21) and Itay Yavetz (age 26), and injuring three Israelis, including severely wounding an Israeli reservist. Eighth, yesterday (Monday, October 20), three Hamas terrorists, and later additional Hamas terrorists crossed the yellow line in the Shuja’iyya area, threatening Israeli troops and again violating the ceasefire.
Every single day of delay prior to obliterating Hamas enables Hamas to further reorganize, further strengthen itself, solidify its control over Gaza, terrorize and murder more Palestinian opponents, and launch more deadly attacks against the Jewish State of Israel’s citizens.
ZOA thus strongly urges the Administration not to delay supporting what has become inevitable and necessary, namely, Israel going in and obliterating Hamas.
When Maria Bartiromo asked during an October 16, 2025 interview, “Is there a timeline to get Hamas to disarm, in your mind?” President Trump correctly explained that Hamas is replacing its fighters with young new terrorists, but responded: “. . . it’s not a hard timeline, but it’s a line in my own mind. And at a certain point, if they don’t do what they’re supposed to do, then we’ll have to do it for them.” ZOA urges the president to make that line now.
When CNN asked, “What happens if Hamas refuses to disarm?” during an October 15, 2025 interview, President Trump responded: “Israel will return to those streets as soon as I say the word. If Israel could go in and knock the crap out of them, they’d do that. . . I had to hold them [the IDF] back. . . . .” We appreciate the administration understanding the need to return to demolish the Hamas terrorists, but the administration should not adopt the Biden policy of holding Israel back from what Israel must do to assure its safety and peace.
We are also concerned about the Axios report, that, in response to Hamas’ deadly attack on Israelis on Sunday, an unnamed U.S. official said the U.S. merely urged Israel to “respond proportionately but show restraint,” and “told Israel the focus should be on isolating Hamas for its violations and actions and moving fast towards creating an alternative for Hamas in Gaza, rather than resuming the war.” There is no way to isolate Hamas and end Hamas’ violations and violence without obliterating Hamas.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance admitted last night (October 19, 2025), following the Hamas anti-tank missile and sniper attack that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded another three, that “There is no security infrastructure currently that would ensure Hamas is disarmed.” The only way is to destroy Hamas, before Hamas becomes stronger and more entrenched.
It is also vital to avoid any excuse that absolves Hamas of responsibility for its terror attacks. ZOA was concerned that, on Air Force One on Sunday, when speaking about Hamas’ deadly anti-tank missile and sniper attack on Israelis, the president commented: “As you know, they’ve [Hamas terrorists have] been quite rambunctious. They’ve been doing some shooting, and we think maybe the leadership isn’t involved in that.” ZOA also urges the president not to fall for attempts to disassociate some Hamas terrorists from their supposed leaders. They are all Hamas terrorists, armed and trained by Hamas, and carrying out the unchanging dictates of the Hamas charter to murder every Jew and destroy Israel.
Concerningly, the president also indicated that he did not know whether Israeli counter-strikes were “justified.” Striking a terror organization that has murdered your soldiers is not only justified; it is vital to do so.
History has taught us that ignoring evil with no real response will lead to disastrous outcomes. The world did not respond forcefully when Germany illegally invaded Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland — a time when it could have stopped Hitler. This led to World War II and millions of deaths. The world and America did not respond forcefully when Iran took 66 American hostages — a time when Khomeini could have been stopped. The result was the establishment of an evil terrorist regime and thousands of deaths. The world and America, under President Biden, stopped Israel from responding forcefully in May 2021, when Hamas launched 4,500 missiles at Israel in a matter of days. As a result, Hamas continued to grow stronger and perpetrated the October 7 massacre. Israel and America did not respond to, and even whitewashed, the Palestinian Authority’s violations when Yasser Arafat violated every obligation the Palestinian Arabs had under the Oslo agreements. This resulted in the establishment of a Palestinian Arab terrorist regime that incited and gave financial rewards to Palestinian Arab terrorists to kill and maim thousands of Jews. We dare not make the same mistake again with the Gaza deal by not forcefully responding now to Hamas’ egregious violations.