Hamas has demonstrated determination to destroy Israel – despite a year-and-a-half of warfare and thousands of casualties. Its founding document declares “not a single Jew will remain.”

The Houthis in Yemen recently announced they will stop any American or Israeli ships from using the Red Sea and accessing the Suez Canal.

The Iranian parliament chants “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reassured Iranians on national television that these are policies — not slogans.

These are not people with whom we can negotiate. Maybe it is time to turn to the lessons of history for dealing with non-negotiable opponents.

On January 24, 1943, at a meeting with Churchill at Casablanca, President Franklin Roosevelt asserted: 

“Peace can come to the world only by the total elimination of German and Japanese war power. The elimination of German, Japanese and Italian war power means the unconditional surrender by Germany, Italy and Japan.”

Roosevelt referred to an earlier American experience of unconditional surrender:

“Some of you Britishers know the old story — we had a General called U.S. Grant. His name was Ulysses Simpson Grant but in my, and the Prime Minister’s, early days he was called ‘Unconditional Surrender’ Grant.”

In the early American Civil War, when Union generals were having a hard time winning, Grant forced the surrender of more than 12,000 Confederate prisoners of war. 

When he besieged Fort Donelson, the Confederates asked for terms to surrender the fort. Grant replied “no terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.”

The surrender of Fort Donelson on February 16, 1862 was the first of three that Grant accomplished. The next was at Vicksburg and then General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. 

Grant’s toughness and persistence led Lincoln to ultimately make him the commander of all the Union Armies. His leadership significantly helped the Union win the war. 

Roosevelt and Churchill understood that setting “unconditional surrender” as their war goal would increase enemy resistance and make the war longer and harder. They also believed it was essential to destroy the Nazi ideology and the Japanese spirit of war fighting.

Once unconditional surrender became the goal, the volume of aerial bombardment became overwhelming. Allied Forces fire-bombed Hamburg, Germany and a host of Japanese cities. (Far more people were killed in Tokyo from fire-bombing than died from atomic weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.)  

Ultimately, our opponents gave up because they had no choice. We imposed dramatic changes in education and spent several years trying war criminals and locking up people whose views were unacceptable.

Now, the only real solution to Hamas (and many of our enemies) is to quit pretending that a limited-cost ceasefire will lead to anything. It would only give Hamas a chance to rehabilitate, rearm, and strengthen. 

It will allow for a bigger, more bitter future assault on Israel. The first step in destroying Hamas starts in Qatar. Qatar must be convinced to cut off all aid and expel the Hamas senior leadership, who reside there in safety. 

The second step must be to tell the Iranians that any future aid to Hamas will lead to direct American action against Iranian assets. Cutting Hamas off from money, weapons, and sanctuaries will lead to its collapse.

Similarly, the Houthis have been fighting for over a decade. Substantial bombing campaigns by the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates have had little impact. 

The American campaign must be based on a decisive coalition. This potentially involves allied ground forces — and decisive American intelligence and airpower — to destroy the Houthis’ capabilities. 

A local government must then grow capable of running Yemen and policing the Houthi elements once they have been militarily shattered.

Finally, the Iranians must be given a limited time to dismantle their nuclear program before it is dismantled for them. The idea that America should negotiate patiently with a group of religious fanatics who openly want us dead is ridiculous. 

As Roosevelt said in a nationwide radio address on September 11, 1941, “When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck before you crush him.”

It is time to return to common sense leadership. Historically, America’s leaders understood the world was dangerous. They were determined to stop the dangers before they destroyed us.

Faced with implacable hostility, the only rational, effective strategy is to impose unconditional surrender.