Murderous Hamas terrorists have yet again supplied concrete proof of Catholic teaching that good can never come from evil.

Unquestionably noble as the pursuit of Palestinian statehood, justice and equality is, Hamas’ cold-blooded, criminal execution of six Israeli hostages when they were on the cusp of rescue must be condemned as a sinful act of savagery.

U.S. President pro tempore Joe Biden has all too often “stood behind Israel” by slow walking much-needed military support or seeming to want to sit out its war against Hamas altogether. But even he was quick to call the recent murders what they are – and brandish the American sword of Damocles at what’s left of Gaza’s ruthless criminal gang.

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“Make no mistake: Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes,” Biden said following revelations of the discovery of the hostages’ bodies in a fetid Hamas tunnel/hidey hole.

It’s legitimate to speculate that Pope Francis, too, must have reflected on the immutability of evil into good when he received news that young Hersh Goldberg-Polin was among those shot in the head and dumped by Hamas’ gangland-style executioners.

His Holiness had met the parents of Goldberg-Polin as they cried out to Heaven and the international community for the release of their son and the 97 remaining hostages inhumanely held as flesh-and-blood bargaining chips by Hamas. 

He was shown the photo of the gaunt and exhausted 23-year-old, his forearm blown off during the Oct. 7 violence, grimly enduring the depravity of captivity. Such a vision of horror could only clarify for any human mind and heart the point when valid political aspiration collapses into a pretext for pure wickedness.

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Just how far Hamas has descended into those depths was demonstrated by its leadership doubling down in the aftermath of the hostages’ bodies being discovered. Its mouthpieces initially tried to lie their way out of their culpability by blaming American weapons and Israeli bombing for the deaths. 

The howler, preposterous even by Hamas standards, was immediately debunked by the reality that another hostage, Qaid Farhan Al Quadi, was found alive by Israeli soldiers only days earlier in the same tunnel complex where the six lay freshly dead. Exposed yet again for their forked tongues, Hamas leadership then threatened to kill all remaining hostages following further attempts at rescue. Young Goldberg-Polin and the other five were victims of sheer nihilistic vengeance. 

Human lives were squandered because the estimated 40,000 Palestinian lives already lost in the madness Hamas has wrought aren’t enough. More must die to salve the pride and the blood lust of failed and flailing Hamas leaders. If that isn’t a delineation of evil beyond any possibility of good, then Moloch was but an overenthusiastic nanny.

It’s here those who have in the past year taken to Canadian streets, and alas returned the hideous spectre of public anti-Semitism to Canadian life, must engage in serious political, moral, and spiritual reflection. They must ask themselves as Canadians which side of the great good and evil divide they are on.

As we have argued for the 11 months since Oct. 7, the unavoidable distinction is between the Palestinian people and the leadership of Hamas. Yes, Palestinians must gain their own authentic political jurisdiction that is more than a Potemkin Israeli proxy. Yes, they must be accorded justice, which includes equality. They must be conceded another opportunity to this time seize the opportunity. But those are far on the other side of good from the malevolence of the pseudo-political terrorist entity called Hamas. Indeed, history will surely judge that Hamas was no more representative of, or necessary for, Palestinian achievement than Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge killing fields regime was essential for the recovery of Cambodia. 

With its immoral attack on Israel, Hamas brought a horrifying rain of destruction down on Gaza. It has since contemptuously regarded the people of the enclave as propaganda pawns and collateral damage cannon fodder. It has lost all ground to “negotiate” anything for anyone, much less long-suffering Palestinians.

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The old adage has it that the only thing needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. But there is an even simpler complexity. It’s when good people unwittingly cheer evil because, in their zeal, the instinct is lost to call it by its name and so differentiate it from good. 

Let us pray that Hamas’ war crime killing of six unjustly imprisoned people will restore the understanding that Holy Mother Church teaches us all.