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Answering Israel's Critics
06 January 2008
Six cliches you are likely to hear constantly in the coming days, and why they're false.
Originally Written by Yigal Walt, Ynet News; edited by me
1) "Israel's response in Gaza is disproportionate"
Since when is war a mathematical equation? The basic objective of any warring party is to inflict maximal damage on the enemy while minimizing its own casualties. This is how war works (unfortunately).
Would a British citizen complain that "too few" British soldiers are being killed in Iraq ? Probably not.
Would people sitting in Cafes in Paris allow rcokets to fall and explode upon them? How would they react if Belgium would continuously fire missles upon their city, for 8 long years?...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uep5UCVC2io
And on a more elementary note: Palestinian military inferiority is not an indication of moral superiority. Palestinian insistence on resorting to violence despite this military weakness is an indication of poor judgment perhaps - yet it is by no means an indication of moral virtue. Being militarily weak does not make the Palestinians right.
2) "But Qassams don't kill"
Actually, Qassams do kill. Not too often, perhaps, but dozens of Israelis were killed and wounded by rocket fire in recent years. Moreover, at this time the Palestinians are firing long-range Grad rockets with even greater explosive power. Such rockets killed two Israelis on Monday last week.
Yet beyond the casualty figures, the psychological damage caused as result of living under an ongoing rocket threat is immeasurable. Would anyone in the West agree to have their family live under constant rocket attacks and be regularly woken up by sirens in the middle of the night? Would anyone living under such conditions appreciate being told that "these rockets don't kill"? Probably not.
3) "It's all because of Israel's siege. Israel should allow aid into Gaza."
Israel has allowed goods into Gaza regularly throughout the "siege". Palestinians have been able to complement these deliveries with supplies smuggled through hundreds of tunnels (of course, they would likely be able to bring in even more food had they not used the tunnels to smuggle in missiles.).
The day before operation "Cast Lead" got underway, Israel allowed dozens of trucks carrying aid to enter the Strip. On Tuesday, another 100 trucks - double the normal number - are expected to enter Gaza after Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved the move.
In short, Israel is allowing aid into the Gaza Strip (but guess who has kept Gaza crossings mostly closed thus far? That's right, Egypt .)
4) "Why didn't Israel just agree to renew the Gaza truce?"
First, what truce? Terror groups continued to fire rockets throughout the lull, even if somewhat infrequently, and even if the world didn't seem to care too much. Nonetheless, Israel clearly declared that it is interested in extending the truce. Our top officials made it clear time and again.
Yet Hamas leaders clearly declared that the truce has ended on December 19th, and proceeded to bombard southern Israeli communities with dozens of rockets daily. In short, it is no wonder that even the Egyptians are blaming Hamas this time.
5) "But Hamas was elected democratically - why can't Israel accept it?"
Although Hamas won the Palestinian elections, it took Gaza by force, in the process hurling rival Fatah members down to their death from high-rises and shooting others in the knees with the declared aim of maiming them. Some democracy.
In any case, Israel in fact "recognizes," de facto, Hamas' rule in Gaza, which is precisely why it is justified in attacking the Hamas-ruled Strip, recognizing that it is indeed being governed by a terror entity. Israel did not launch the operation because Hamas is in power there - rather, it did so because Hamas is a terrorist organization that has deliberately targeted civilians with thousands of rockets over the past 8 years.
6) "Israel is targeting civilians"
It is a well known fact that Hamas uses innocent civilians as human shields. They stockpile their missiles and explosives in mosques and in houses. They force the population to stay in the battle zones, knowing they will be injured or killed when Israel tries to target Hamas in the city of Gaza, the most crowded place on Earth.
Israel goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties, by deploying precise ammunition and using the most advanced targeting systems. In fact, no other army in the world does this better than IDF in civilian areas. But unfortunately, civilians get injured, and killed. So do the civilians on the Israeli side, being targeted - intentionally - in the first place.
Remember: intention to hurt civilians, or the lack of it, means the difference between violence and accident.
Last but not least:
A one-minute video about the missles fired upon Israeli civilians (prior to Israel's attacks): http://sderot.aish.com/SderotPetitions/MissilesFromGaza.php