If Hamas would simply stop firing rockets into Israel, all the carnage would stop instantly. But the hatred of the Jewish people is so embedded into the psyche of the Palestinian people that Israel is going to blamed no matter how much logic dictates against that.
The anger is as strong as I’ve ever seen it. Anger that was generated by yesterday’s attack of that UN school Palestinians were using as safe houses. It is however unclear who is actually responsible for that. Israel is investigating. It could very well be that Hamas itself is responsible. Maybe by accident. Maybe on purpose- in order to create more carnage and generate more anger. It would not be the first time one of their bullets killed one of their own children and they blamed it on Israel.
But even if Israel did hit them, they were no doubt hit in error trying to pinpoint their rocket launchers nearby.
None of this truth helps Israel’s image though. The world sees Palestinians being killed in mass numbers by Israeli planes and soldiers. It’s hard to blame anyone else when one sees that.
Is Hamas winning the PR war with this tactic? I think they may have won over some converts to their cause with it. But I’m glad to see a recent survey of Americans the majority of whom support Israel entirely on the matter.
Thankfully the United States is still saying that Israel has a right to defend itself against rocket attack and that it has a right to destroy those tunnels. While it is also true that you keep hearing various administration officials telling Israel to be careful about hitting civilians, they must too realize that the massive number of civilian casualties is the fault of Hamas’s tactic for purposes of garnering world sympathy. At least so far.
There are some who are listening to the Hamas claim that they are being strangled by the blockade of their ports by Israel. And that they will stop firing rockets indiscriminately into Israel’s civilian population centers once Israel lifts the blockade and allows good to flow through.
No one should believe for a moment that this is what this war is all about for them. Not that the blockade doesn’t hurt them. I’m sure it does. But Israel is not the only one blockading them. Egypt (which considers Hamas to be terrorists too) has blocked their entry points too.
Israel is not trying to starve anyone to death. They allows food and vital supplies (like medications) to flow freely into Gaza. The entire concern is that these entry points have been used to smuggle in weapons with which to attack Israel. Had they not been doing that… and simply wanted to live in peace with Israel and prosper, there would be no blockade at all. By anyone.
Make no mistake about what is going on here. This is about a group of people whose goal is to wipe Israel of the map and clean out the Jewish people from ‘their’ land… the land of Palestine. Until that happens they will never be satisfied. They will continue to work towards that goal in the belief that eventually God will side with them and they will achieve their aims.
Opening up those entry points would negate all of the progress Israel has made to degrade their ability to attack us. Weapons would flow freely into Gaza and they would restock their weapons in far greater number than they had before. And likely with better more sophisticated weaponry. Giving in to this demand would be suicidal.
Hamas has to be destroyed – or at least made impotent. Israel therefore has no choice but to stay the course until they get the job done – no matter what the PR costs are. It is a moral imperative.