You
have no electricity, water, or fuel. Your homes are being bombed and you have
been told to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip, ahead of an IDF ground invasion.
You cry out to the world for help. You ask us to hear your pain. But even
though the majority of you are innocent, this is difficult, because your
leaders attacked us. Attack is not really the appropriate word. It would
be more fitting to say that your leaders massacred us.
The loss of civilians anywhere is tragic, and unfortunately many civilians are killed during warfare. But in this case, as in the past, there are two sides and they are not morally equal.
On the one hand, there are those who specifically target civilians. They shoot and kill men and women, children and the elderly, in their homes and at their parties. They take babies and grandparents hostage, and destroy families and burn their homes.
On the other hand, there are those
who say 'Evacuate your homes," because, as IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel
Hagari today told reporters, "We are fighting a terror group, not the
Gazan population. We want civilians not to be harmed, but we cannot live with
the rule of Hamas-ISIS near our border."
Do
you not see the difference? We try not to harm civilians while Hamas
specifically targets civilians. They dance in the streets and give out sweets
when Israelis are killed, and it doesn't matter if the victim was a soldier or a
teenager. Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip in a reign of terror, teaching murder in
its curriculum.
Palestinians
of Gaza, we made a mistake for many years thinking that Hamas was acting in your
better interests. We opened our gates for your workers; we allowed your
fishermen to sail their boats. We allowed money into the Gaza Strip, thinking
it would be used for schools and hospitals. Instead, Hamas stockpiled rockets
and grenades, rifles and mortars. All in a calculated plan to launch a
murderous assault on Israeli citizens.
Hamas has failed you and you are paying the price. We know you are suffering, in the dark and without basic necessities, but it is Hamas that is responsible for this war.
We ask you to get out of the way. We don't want to harm you, and certainly not to kill you. We would prefer to live near you, side by side as peaceful neighbors, and we tried this many times in the past. What we are asking you now is that along with your cries for help, you should also cry out against what Hamas has done, not only to us, but to you as well.
Originally posted on The Times of Israel.
Don't you see that while the IDF is less evil than Hamas, it is also doing evil deeds through the mass killing of civilians and now by even denying them water. Although the IDF doesn't target children, they know that hundreds will surely die from their missiles, and they fire them anyway - that is pretty much murder. There are no warnings for many strikes, especially the assassination missions.
ReplyDeleteAnd is all this absolutely necessary to protect the lives of Israelis? No. That's a big reason why the brutality perpetrated on Gaza is so evil. Why doesn't the IDF just do it's job of protecting the border so that hundreds of murderous terrorists can't just cut through? Why do they need to go in like this? Did the past assassination missions, and all the killed collateral children, really degrade the capability of Hamas, or may they actually have increased it?
The war crimes now done by the IDF will create many more future terrorists, thus making us less secure. It seems to be just another cycle of murderous revenge, which will continue to kill Jews and Arabs.
The IDF does not target civilians and there are no mass killings of civilians. Israel re-opened the water spigots yesterday. The army has called on civilians to head south, so that they would not be injured in the battles. Hamas refuses to let them go, with plans to use innocent civilians as human shields. There is a difference.
DeleteThank you for the reply. I agree there is a difference. If we imagine an evilness scale, where 10/10 is the most evil group you can imagine, I would put Hamas at 8/10 and the IDF at 4/10. The IDF fires missiles that kill children - that is a fact. Over 700 children have been killed. If that's not mass killing I don't know what is. Many are buried alive in rubble. Them targeting terrorists is an unacceptable justification, especially when the terrorists are not an imminent threat anymore. Yes Hamas is using civilians as human shields, so of course they are to blame as well, but the IDF doesn't escape the blame. To really protect Israelis it's much more effective to defend the border, which they miserably failed at, than to brutally bomb Gaza, killing thousands of innocent people in the process. They should fix the defence and bomb the terrorists when they try to cross the border, not when they're amongst human shields. And further improve the Iron Dome.
DeleteThey resumed water supply only to the south after US pressure. People, including hostages, in the north who haven't fled for whatever reason still have no water. Giving only 24hrs to evacuate, heavy bombing even before and during the evacuation announcement, causing the death of critically ill hospital patients as hospitals are evacuated - the panic and collective punishment - these are obvious war crimes.
Please take a step back and really consider what you're supporting, if it's really absolutely required for Israel's current security, and what it does to Israels image and long-term security.
Thanks for returning to my site. This is not the place for a debate on who is responsible and who is to blame. I hope you will continue to read my articles.
DeleteWell put.
ReplyDelete