Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip almost twenty years ago. The Palestinians there elected Hamas, and destroyed the greenhouses built there by the Israeli settlers whom the Israeli government had removed. The new government of Gaza could have tried to establish a decent society, and fostered economic development; instead, it brutally crushed any dissidents in Gaza, and created a dysfunctional, miserable society. Sewer pipe was repurposed for rockets to fire into Israel. Military facilities were located in hospitals, making them legitimate targets for the IDF. After years of rocket attacks on Israel, Hamas followed up with the invasion, and orgy of rape and slaughter, on October 7, 2023. Israel reacted to this act of war, and war crime.
I do not place much trust in the United Nations — for one thing, UNRWA was in bed with Hamas. Israel isn’t perfect, but the IDF has tried to minimize civilian casualties among the Palestinians, and in at least some cases, lived up to its standard of “purity of arms”; in other cases, perhaps not.
Palestinian babies and other innocent civilians have my sympathy, but let us remember that it is not a war crime,and is not genocide,to kill civilians while waging war. It is a war crime to deliberately target and kill civilians when not seeking to achieve a military objective — which perfectly describe October 7. Hamas could have spared its people by surrendering and freeing its hostages, but has chosen not to do so. German and Japanese civilians killed or mutilated by Allied bombing in World War Two also have my retroactive sympathy, at least the ones who were not adults gung-ho for Hitler, but in an important sense, their suffering was the responsibility of Hitler and the Japanese militarists. Similarly, I consider Hamas culpable for the suffering of the Gazans. Israel was willing to live in peace with Gaza, even a Gaza ruled by Hamas, but Hamas chose otherwise.
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I do not place much trust in the United Nations — for one thing, UNRWA was in bed with Hamas. Israel isn’t perfect, but the IDF has tried to minimize civilian casualties among the Palestinians, and in at least some cases, lived up to its standard of “purity of arms”; in other cases, perhaps not.
Palestinian babies and other innocent civilians have my sympathy, but let us remember that it is not a war crime,and is not genocide,to kill civilians while waging war. It is a war crime to deliberately target and kill civilians when not seeking to achieve a military objective — which perfectly describe October 7. Hamas could have spared its people by surrendering and freeing its hostages, but has chosen not to do so. German and Japanese civilians killed or mutilated by Allied bombing in World War Two also have my retroactive sympathy, at least the ones who were not adults gung-ho for Hitler, but in an important sense, their suffering was the responsibility of Hitler and the Japanese militarists. Similarly, I consider Hamas culpable for the suffering of the Gazans. Israel was willing to live in peace with Gaza, even a Gaza ruled by Hamas, but Hamas chose otherwise.