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| The Face of War Khalil al-Hayya Hamas Leader |
By David Harris
July 13, 2014
Two centuries ago, the great German poet Goethe said: "The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes."
It's as true today as it was then.
The difference between Hamas and Israel couldn't be greater, yet you wouldn't know it when listening to some observers.
For the Non-Aligned Movement, it's all about Gaza's innocence and Israel's guilt. One fine day, with nothing else to do but consider how to provoke peaceful, serene Hamas-ruled Gaza, the big, bad Israelis decided to attack.
For a fair share of the media, it's above all a story of Palestinian suffering at the hands of Israel's military machine.
For the protesters in Frankfurt, Germany, on Saturday, it was about equating Israel to Nazi Germany.
It's a perfect illustration of reverse causality. Hamas triggered a war, but that's long since forgotten, if ever it was remembered. The focus now is only on the suffering of those who are responsible for the conflict in the first place.
Indeed, Goethe was right. There are those who can't, or won't, see what's right in front of them.
Ideological blinders get in the way. Or a failure of imagination about the true nature of Hamas. Or a gullibility that allows people to believe whatever the Hamas propaganda machine churns out. Or, in some cases, downright hostility to anything that Israel, the Jewish state, does.
It's high time for moral clarity, not moral fog.
Hamas is a terrorist organization. That's its official designation by the United States, European Union, Australia, Canada, and others.
Israel is a democratic country with an independent judiciary, the rule of law, free and fair elections, and a robust civil society.
Hamas is anti-Western, anti-Christian (and, not surprisingly, anti-Semitic), anti-gay, misogynist, and anti-intellectual.
Israel is the exact opposite.
Hamas has territorial ambitions on Israel. In fact, that's putting it too mildly: it would like to replace Israel in its entirety with a Muslim Brotherhood-ruled state.
Israel has no territorial ambitions on Hamas-ruled Gaza. To the contrary, Israel left it totally nine years ago, with the hope of never having to return.
Hamas has a vested interest in using its Gaza base for permanent confrontation with Israel.
Israel, which, alas, can't change its geography, has a vested interest in a peaceful, moderate, and developing state on its border.
Hamas, the sole ruler of Gaza since 2007, has used the last seven years to smuggle in weaponry and develop military punch, rather than building the foundation of a responsible state.
Knowing this arsenal has been stockpiled for the sole purpose of being used against it, Israel seeks, as any nation would, to prevent Hamas from attaining its lethal goal.
Hamas has no compunction about deploying terrorist cells and weapons in civilian population centers in Gaza, fully aware that Israel would have no choice but to appear to be targeting "innocent" people.
Israel goes to unprecedented lengths to avoid falling into the Hamas trap, even phoning and dropping leaflets in advance to warn civilians to leave target areas.
Hamas cynically tells the civilian population to stay put, not to react to Israeli warnings about imminent strikes. The more Palestinian casualties, the better, as far as Hamas is concerned.
Israel makes every effort to alert its entire population, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim, to Hamas missile strikes and move people into shelters as quickly as possible
Hamas uses mosques for storing arms.
Israel uses houses of worship, including mosques, solely for prayer.
Hamas uses schools for weapons depots.
Israel uses schools solely to educate its children, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim.
Hamas uses hospitals as terrorist redoubts.
Israel uses its hospitals solely to cure the ill and injured, including residents of Gaza who can't find adequate care there.
Hamas aspires to kill as many Israelis as possible, with rockets fired indiscriminately in all directions.
Israel seeks out only the Hamas terrorist infrastructure, and has aborted many operations when the risks of civilian casualties were too great.
Hamas, as the record amply shows, has no compunction about falsifying information, doctoring photos, staging scenes, and inflating numbers to make its case to the outside world.
Israel, by contrast, goes to great lengths, even to the point of sometimes losing the edge in the "media race," to verify information that it presents about its operations.
Hamas supporters explode in paroxysms of glee when Israeli targets are hit.
Israelis don't honk horns, shoot in the air, and pass out candy for doing what they wished they didn't have to do in the first place, and voice regret when the inevitable mistakes in warfare occur.
Hamas wouldn't know how to spell the words "international humanitarian law," much less adhere to it.
Israel's defense forces have specialists in international humanitarian law assigned to every unit in an effort to ensure maximum compliance.
Hamas shouts from the rooftops that Israel is a brutal enemy.
Israel, unlike any other targeted nation in history, is actually providing – right now – up to 70 percent of Gaza's electricity and much of its fuel and foodstuffs, even as hundreds of rockets are fired from Gaza into Israel.
Hamas celebrates death, something few Westerners can understand.
Israel celebrates life, something all Westerners should understand.
4 comments:
The propaganda war continues with little regard to facts or history.
In the end, Israel must destroy Hamas and its influence on the Palestinian problems.
The people of Gaza can become refugees as all victims of war have done for years. Israelis are also afraid to leave their homes for fear of rockets. In that they are all equal, but Israel did not attack cites and Hamas did.
Israel must eliminate the ability of Hamas to wage its constant war to eliminate Israel. Hamas has a choice and can stop. Israel must defend itself and has no choice.
If the battle is not equal, that is not Israel’s fault. It is their only hope.
The media seems to think it is some sort of game and Israel has not had enough deaths. Would they be happier if more Israelis died? I know the answer to that, so do not answer.
Gaza saw its last Jews leave NINE YEARS AGO AND DECIDED TO WAGE WAR TO ELIMINATE Israel. They made the choice and should suffer the consequences.
More from Bob Poris:
Everyone should read this and send it on to the rest of the world, including all world leaders and opinion makers.
Even if the death toll in Israel was equal to that of Gaza, it would not change the reality of the struggle.
As long as Hamas is excused of shelling Israel in the hope that if it kills enough Israelis, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze, Bahia, and almost every other religious group known to man, and hundreds of ethnicities, all living in freedom and of religion, the press, to vote, to be represented in their Knesset or Parliament, the struggle will continue.
ISRAEL VOLUNTARILY LEFT GAZA NINE YEARS AGO, AT GREAT COST, SEEKING PEACE. THEIR REWARD WAS Rockets OVER MANY YEARS AIMED AT CIVILAIN Cities LIKE SDEROT. THE WORLD OBJECTED TO ISRAEL RESPONDING APPARENTLY BECAUSE Israel was stronger than the Gazans.
But the Gazans deliberately hid behind their civilian facilities and used their people as human shields. They even told their people not to heed the warnings by Israel of attacks where civilians could be harmed!. What other nation has ever done that during a war? Israel should not “overeact” to having its cites attacked! What should they do? What would any other nation do to protect its people?
Israel should destroy Gaza! Its people have been warned and the world can find a safe place for them within the Arab world and in all those lands that believe they need sanctuary. Israel has no obligation to feed or supply their daily needs BUT STILL DELIVERS SUCH SUPPLIES EVEN DURING THIS WAR! Hamas delivers hundreds of rockets daily and provides no protection for its people!
It is a mess, but my sympathy is with the innocents on both sides, and with Israel as a whole.
The innocents do vote or contribute. In Israel they also serve. The Arab world has had over 60 years to find solutions. It costs nothing to recognize Israel, the Jewish State. Many that recognize Israel do not support it or cooperate with it.
They have choices. They choose to support Israel’s destruction.
They are not really innocent.
Israel warns of strikes so that they have a chance to flee. They chose to not build secure shelters. They chose to allow themselves to be used as shields.
How do we define innocent?
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