A Much Needed Reassessment

Last week, eighteen Palestinians were shot dead by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) along the Israel-Gaza border fence during supposedly peaceful civilian protests; it was the bloodiest week in Gaza since 2014.   

This was certainly a high death toll, and the IDF was automatically condemned worldwide. Even in Tel Aviv, thousands marched in protest of the IDF's actions.

But what was the true nature of these civilians protests? Is that all they were?

A closer look clearly shows that the protesters included many members of the terrorist group Hamas who attacked Israeli military personnel across the border fence.   And this was no surprise: Hamas had announced its intention earlier to breach Israel’s border fence and march thousands of people into the country.  And that is an act of war.

Consider: at the point of 15 Gazans killed in the clashes, 10 were affiliated with either Hamas or Islamic Jihad -- a statistic which speak volumes as to the true character of the protests.  These two Jihadi terror groups are unabashedly committed to the murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel.  

These were riots: tens of thousands of tires were set alight along the border to generate thick clouds of poisonous smoke; Molotov cocktails and stones were hurled, mirrors were aimed at the Israeli troops in order to blind their vision to conceal the border breaches.   Hamas even offered substantial payment incentives to families to go out and protest -- thousands of dollars for attending, and more for dying as a ‘martyr’.

Some peaceful protest.

Yet foreign observers sit back and instinctively and routinely criticize Israel without further insight into this march beyond its peaceful title.

True, no military in the world is perfect and unfortunate things happen in the fog of war.   But to automatically accuse Israel of war crimes in the face of such hatred and obvious aggression is morally outrageous. No country on earth would accept such violations of its borders and it is almost impossible to measure how another army would react in such a situation – pressure cooker conditions that don’t exist anywhere else in the world. 

No military should get a free pass – including the IDF.  Violations of policy and proper military conduct help no one.  But Israel lives in a very hostile and dangerous neighborhood and the Israeli army is populated by 18 and 19 year old draftees – teenagers - and unfortunately mistakes can be made.  Hamas terrorists, in contrast, are volunteers for an organization with a genocidal dedication to the destruction of the State of Israel.

‘Defense’ is the at the center of the IDF’s name.  Hamas on the other hand is anything but defensive-- it is focused on Jihad, an offensive war.

Liberal democracies like Israel look to avoid war – it’s bad for business. So let’s recognize that Israel wasn’t looking for a fight and to appreciate the very tough circumstances in which it finds itself.