A former victim of the Palestinian terrorist groups’ use of human shields has courageously appeared on a national American television network to defend IDF military actions in Gaza. Brigitte Gabriel, author of ‘Because They Hate,’ appeared on the Fox News cable television network program, ‘The Kelly File,’ to discuss the question of whether or not Israel is to blame for the many civilian casualties in Gaza.
What she had to say – in lightly Arabic-accented in Israel – may have been a complete surprise to the millions of American viewers who have been fed on a steady diet of little other than scenes of bleeding, dead children and women with Israeli soldiers and gunfire.
‘The Palestinians have perfected using children to win the world’s sympathy,” she said, “and this goes back 30 years.”
Between 1975 and 1976, Gabriel herself was used, along with her own mother and siblings, in her family’s bomb shelter.
“We were nine children hiding in a bomb shelter,” she related. “My mother went out and begged the Palestinian leader who parked his cannon – they used to park their rocket launchers in front of our homes, launch at Israel fully knowing that when Israel retaliates we’re going to make the Evening News and they would move their rocket launcher from home to home, fire one rocket in front of each home and move away…. The Palestinians have perfected the propaganda war. They cannot win militarily against Israel so what they do is they use their own children as disposable collateral in order to win the war of public opinion against Israel.
The United Nations has sharply condemned Israel over its attacks on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists who positioned themselves close to UNWRA (UN Works and Relief Agency) schools and other facilities, where Gaza civilians were sheltering. During those firefights, civilians were wounded, provoking the outrage of the international community, which was only allowed to view scenes of carnage that appeared to be caused by Israeli missile or mortar fire.
News photographers are intimidated – and sometimes outright threatened by Hamas terrorists – to keep their camera lenses away from any scenes that might document the truth of the matter. Cowed into obedience and knowing the long arm of the terror groups can also reach overseas, they and their news agencies have long since come to understand it is not worth the price of their lives to do otherwise.
One Italian journalist was brave enough to tweet the truth in a post on the Twitter social networking site once he reached the safety of his home country, Italy, last week.
“Israel is always careful with civilian lives. Israel goes out of its way,” Gabriel stated bluntly. “What other country drops leaflets by the thousands warning civilians to leave because they’re gonna bomb in 48 hours? What other nation gives such notice? They do it in Lebanon, they do it with Hezbollah in Lebanon during the war. They do it with Hamas in Gaza. If the civilians do not leave, we need to ask why.”
Gabriel also pointed out that of all the rockets and missiles fired by Hamas at Israel, more than 100 fell short and actually exploded in Gaza.
“So all the casualties that Hamas is talking about are not exactly Israeli casualties or because of Israel. It’s because the Palestinians do not value the lives of their children and they are willing to sacrifice their children in the cause of jihad (Islamic holy war).”