Like pretty much everyone, I imagine, I’m having a great deal of trouble watching much news these days. I do it, but it is quite upsetting, and people can be forgiven for giving the news a pass these days.

The horrific events triggered by the Hamas invasion are deeply distressing, and the near real-time video coming from places like the grounds of a music festival and from Gaza appall and horrify. And as is usually the case, observers around the globe are trying to figure out whom to blame and what the next steps might be for the world and certainly for the combatants involved.

The more I think about the events since the attack, and the more news I consume, I find myself fully convinced Hamas has engaged in perhaps the most self-destructive act any organization has taken in decades. And Hamas will pay a terrible cost for their misjudgment, a cost also almost certain to also be inflicted on far too many innocents in Gaza.

The viciousness of the attack has given the world videos of young people hiding behind their cars only to be approached and murdered in cold blood by Hamas gunmen. We’ve seen images of homes broken into and the residents executed and children horribly slaughtered. The Israeli response, as Hamas surely knew, has been swift and violent and wide-ranging. We’ve seen images out of Gaza showing the horrors of the attacks there, with the blood of innocents mixed with that of Hamas fighters.

So, there you have it, a horrible mess with suffering beyond comprehension. In the past, terrible stories and images out of Gaza might have moved world opinion against what some might call an overly aggressive Israel. But Hamas has massively miscalculated, and the result is much of the world will likely agree, at least for a while, that Israel’s goal of eliminating Hamas is a reasonable response.

Stay up to speed: Sign-up for daily opinion in your inbox Monday-Friday

I consider myself a Zionist, in that I believe  Israel has a right to exist. I also believe Israel, especially under the governance of Benjamin Netanyahu, has repeatedly gone too far, in terms of West Bank settlements and other actions, that unfairly crush the legitimate concerns and claims of indigenous Arabs – especially the Palestinians – have been ignored or, worse, punished. The only reasonable chance for a reasonably peaceful future, is the oft-mentioned but difficult to reach two-state solution, wherein Israel and Palestine both exist without trying to destroy each other.

Given Netanyahu’s various challenges, both legal and otherwise, and his efforts to restructure the legal system of Israel, it’s not unreasonable to think his time in office is drawing to a close in the not-too-distant future, and that may still be the case, given recent polling of Israelis. Heck, even after the attacks more Israelis want a Netanyahu opponent, Benny Gantz, as PM, despite Netanyahu’s appointing of Gantz to a “war cabinet.”

But the attack has largely unified most of Israel and, frankly, much of the rest of the world, firmly behind Israel even as a massive ground assault of Gaza draws ever nearer.

Over the course of a single day, I myself went from being very much against Netanyahu’s government to being a supporter of action against Hamas. The shift in public opinion is similar to my reaction, and that of most Americans, following the September 11th attack. I went from opposing then President George W. Bush on most issues to full support of his plan to go after Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. I still differed with Bush on many policy issues, but given the attack on us, I fully supported – as did roughly 90% of Americans – a proper and military response to those who attacked us.

In my own case, I admit some of that is personal, in that I happened to find myself, during my time as a military advisor at the State Department, in the Pentagon medical clinic when the plane hit. I had to see stuff and do stuff forever seared into my conscience and which, rightly or wrongly, helps shape my thinking when attacks like Hamas launched take place.

Perhaps Hamas feels becoming a villain in the eyes of most of the world doesn’t matter to them. Certainly, there are examples of terrible actions taken by the Israeli government, but attacking civilians and murdering them by the hundreds will exhaust what little support Hamas had beyond the borders of some Arab nations.

Prior to the attack, roughly six in 10 Americans said the U.S. should be willing to meet with the leaders of Hamas, in search of a two-state solution. Polling since Hamas struck has shown a significant increase in popular support for Israel among Americans, with two-thirds wanting our government to actively support Israel during this conflict.

I will continue to feel badly for the Palestinian people, but I find myself increasingly hawkish when it comes to Gaza. I’m not sure how much fault I will find in Israel seeking the destruction of Hamas, even as those actions may well create even more tragedy for far too many.

Hamas has made a terrible and likely final mistake, and Gaza and the people who live there are likely to suffer greatly as the cancer that is Hamas is excised.

Hopefully, one day hostages will be released and calmer heads can prevail, but I worry that day is quite a ways off.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.