Friday The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed titled The Moral Chasm Between Israel and Hamas (Google search terms) by James T. Conway, the retired 34th commandant of the Marine Corps. To illustrate his thesis that “Israel’s military exists to protect its civilian population and seeks to avoid harming noncombatants, while its adversary cynically uses Palestinian civilians as human shields while deliberately targeting Israeli civilians,” Conway recounts a couple of recent episodes:
Israel, fearing just such tunnel-building, has long tried to limit imports of concrete to Gaza for anything but humanitarian projects, yet somehow thousands of tons of the material have been diverted for terror use rather than building hospitals or housing for Palestinians. Since the beginning of ground operations into Gaza, the IDF has uncovered approximately 30 similar tunnels leading into Israel, in addition to the more than two dozen discovered prior to Operation Protective Edge. Hamas operatives have been intercepted emerging from such tunnels in Israel carrying tranquilizers and handcuffs, apparently hoping to replicate the successful 2006 kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, for whom Israel exchanged 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in 2011.
Beyond targeting Israeli civilians with kidnappings and with the indiscriminate firing of rockets, Hamas shows a callous disregard for the lives of the Palestinians it ostensibly represents. Earlier this month Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri appeared on Al-Aqsa TV and encouraged Gaza residents to act as human shields. They appear to have heeded the call: Israeli Defense Forces combat video has shown Palestinians rushing to rooftops after receiving warnings from Israel—via phone calls, text messages, and unarmed “knock-knock” small projectiles striking a targeted building—that a missile attack is imminent.
“It is essential for the IDF to be as vigilant in shaping the information environment as it is in intercepting rockets from Gaza,” Conway concludes.
Israeli officials are aware of this need, as Ambassador Ron Dermer scolded CNN host Erin Burnett yesterday for the media’s failure to acknowledge “the responsibility of Hamas for using schools as weapons depots and caches for Hamas,” resulting in collateral damage.
An editorial in The Washington Post last week contrasted Hamas’ tactic of “perpetuating the killing of its own people in Israeli counterattacks” with Israel’s use of “sophisticated technology, including targeted text messages and dummy warning missiles to minimize civilian casualties.”
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