scale of the violence in Syria helped lay the groundwork for the rise of ISIS, the fanatical cult; for the brutal Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, 2023; for Hamas’s use of hospitals as shelters in Gaza; and for Israeli strikes on hospitals and other civilian objects in Gaza too. When the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Palestine was found to be harboring Hamas fighters, no one was surprised: the UN, unable to stop a member of the Security Council from violating its rules, was no longer capable of preventing employees of its own agencies from engaging in lawless violence either.
