WHEELING — Rabbi Joshua Lief of Wheeling’s Temple Shalom is hopeful that real peace will be reached between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, but he believes the only way lasting peace will happen is with the dismantling of Hamas.

“All of us have to agree as a community of nation that terrorism cannot be justified, that a group that calls for the death and destruction of their neighbors is not a genuine partner for peace, and that every person – Jews, Christians, Muslims, Israelis, Palestinians – absolutely have the right to self-determination and the right to live side by side with their neighbors in peace,” Lief said.

“Hamas opposes all of that,” he continued. “They have to be removed and defeated.”

The first steps of a peace process between Israel and Hamas, which have been locked in a brutal two-year war, began this week with a ceasefire and Israeli forces pulling back in Gaza. Within the next few days, remaining Israeli hostages will be freed, as will thousands of Palestinian prisoners. After that, negotiations for the next phases would begin.

Among the two sides’ desires are Israel’s demand that Hamas disarms and is replaced as leaders of a postwar government. Hamas wants assurances that Israel would pull out of Gaza and not be allowed to restart the war.

Lief said much of this bloodshed could have been avoided if Hamas would have returned the 251 hostages it took after its invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, an invasion where 1,200 were killed.

“I think that the greatest tragedy is these past two years is that the war itself and the devastation that has followed could have all been avoided had Hamas returned the hostages in the first place,” he said.

Lief said the war has been horrible in multiple facets — for Israelis that have been captured and killed, for the thousands of Palestinian citizens killed due to Hamas’ acts and what he feels has been the growth of anti-Semitism during the war.

That last aspect is something Lief feels has been exceptionally troubling.

“It’s pretty horrible to hear people who mean well chanting ‘Globalize the Intifada,’ which is an armed uprising against Jews,” he said. “That’s calling for attacks on me and our synagogue right here in Wheeling. That’s a pretty horrible thing to cheer for.”

Among the positives Lief has seen over the last two years is other Arab nations in the Middle East coming to Israel’s aid in its conflict with Iran. Jordan shot down Iranian missiles headed for Israel and Saudi Arabia allowed Israel to use its airspace to shoot down Iranian missiles.

Lief said that shows a growing movement in the Middle East to denounce terrorism, and that will be necessary in the process of instilling peace in the region, including the dismantling of Hamas as the governing body in Gaza.

“It’s going to take the whole world, starting with Israel and its Arab neighbors, to say no to state-sponsored terrorism and terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and others,” he said. “That is the positive that has come out of this, that the other Arab nations are going to have to help and realize that terrorism cannot be tolerated as a form of political speech. It is not a form of political speech. It is violence and it is evil.”