Hamas’s inva­sion of Israel on Octo­ber 7 was intend­ed to change the world.

The ter­ror­ists cal­cu­lat­ed that if their attack was spec­tac­u­lar in its bar­bar­i­ty, the Arab and Islam­ic world would ral­ly behind them, soci­eties would become mired in protest and divi­sion, forc­ing gov­ern­ments to adopt poli­cies of appease­ment.

For two years, it looked like Hamas’ strat­e­gy was work­ing.

But Trump and Netanyahu had oth­er ideas. While west­ern gov­ern­ments lined up to hand Pales­tini­ans a state, Israel com­plet­ed the final bat­tle­field manoeu­vres to encir­cle Hamas, sent a sharp warn­ing to Qatar in the form of a hit on Hamas offi­cials in Doha, while Trump mobilised US diplo­mat­ic and eco­nom­ic pow­er to win over the world to his peace plan, Arab states includ­ed.

With its patrons and allies in Tehran and Beirut humil­i­at­ed via explod­ing pagers, assas­si­nat­ed lead­ers and a smoul­der­ing nuclear pro­gram, Hamas faced the inescapable fact that it is friend­less and defeat­ed, and final­ly capit­u­lat­ed.

The wea­ried peo­ple of Israel and Gaza can now con­tem­plate a future beyond a wretched cycle of ter­ror­ism and reprisal.

But while Hamas has accept­ed peace, the last hold­outs are anti-Israel activists in Aus­tralia and the west­ern world. They have vowed to con­tin­ue. How else will they feel rel­e­vant oth­er than by cost­ing tax­paymil­lions, tak­ing police away from fight­ing crime, and soak­ing our soci­ety with a vio­lent ide­ol­o­gy than can be direct­ed at Jews one day and turned against west­ern val­ues, the next. While peace may not stop the protests or undo two years of anti­se­mit­ic pro­pa­gan­da, it ensures all things are revealed.

Who sup­ports war and who wants peace. Who takes pride in the Aus­tralian flag and who holds it only to set it on fire.

Who wants to give Pales­tini­ans peace and pros­per­i­ty. And who is hap­py to see them die just to have slo­gans to chant.