Israel’s Offensive In Gaza

The recent attacks by Israel in the Gaza strip have received much media coverage and stirred a lot of international figures into action. However, what we saw on television were not "just the facts" but loads of context dropping and countless hi-clarity pictures which told us the stories of endless Gaza residents who were in dire need of the basic necessities of life. With lightning speed (if not clarity), the civilized world has decided to blame Israel for all the casualties that are being inflicted in the Gaza strip. It is indeed sad that the mainstream media has decided to voluntarily blind itself to facts and principles. They have been condemned Israel – a country that upholds the individual rights of its citizens – and glorified rightless people living under a notorious government in Palestine.


Here are a few facts about the crisis that one clearly needs to analyze before one pronounces his judgment upon the issue.Hamas had contested in the elections in Gaza and won with an overwhelming majority of the two-thirds of the seats it contested. Hamas is also a terrorist organization whose central belief, in their own words is "nothing is loftier or deeper in nationalism than waging Jihad against the enemy and confronting him when he sets foot on the land of the Muslims." When will this Jihad end? The Hamas Charter quotes Hasan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood: "Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors."

The civilized world's claim that a ceasefire should be negotiated has been tried previously. Given Hamas's direction, it should come of no surprise that Hamas was more than willing to break the ceasefire. Hamas had fired about 215 rockets during the six month "ceasefire" period -- aimed solely to kill civilians.

Hamas has also publicy declared that it WILL use the ceasefire only to recoup. In other words, there is no such thing as ending the aggression per se.



Given such a mess, I don't know how can anybody blame Israel for defending their civilians lives. They didn't ask for this either but what can any nation that upholds individual rights do when such fanatics -- Nazis or Islamists -- attack them with such moral certainty and rectitude? In my experience, people usually agree that a sovereign state has the right to protect the lives of its civilians but what usually seems out of place is the killing of innocent civilians (although they in fact did elected Hamas), in the hands of evil Israeli's. Lets take a step back and then answer some of these questions.


Should Israel be permitted to kill innocent civilians?

If somebody had to be blamed for the killing of civilians in Gaza -- it, without question, should be Hamas and the residents of Gaza themselves --who brought this onto themselves by electing a fanatical group. Hamas has always, as a rule tried to attack innocent civilians in Israel. What of Israel's children and civilians? Don't they qualify as civilians too? Even worse ,the Hamas has used kids as human shields and killed 40 out of its own citizens for aiding Israel. They have a long-standing habit of storing and launching its weapons from mosques and other civilian areas. It boasts about hiding its operatives in places like hospitals. Israel on the other hand, phones people and drops leaflets to warn civilians of the coming attacks -- at the cost of element of surprise. Isn't it a little fanatical to blame Israel for all the killings of civilians -- on both sides of the border?

All this said, I don't think any civilian of any aggressor country can claim a right to live. What if, for instance, Israel thought it were a better strategic position and chose to drop an atom bomb or something? Would that render Israel immoral? I wouldn't think so. A government, elected or not, is an agent of its citizens in the international sphere -- whether anyone likes it or not. This is why one should have read his books or watched TV and found out exactly what his government deserves. What else is the point of the political process? If it were a problem in their own country, we could simply say, "Let them suffer in their own misery." But when the people's agent harms a civilized country -- its people cant say --"We claim no responsibility for the terror attack by our agent on your land." It is senseless.

Aren't there more Palestinian casualties -- that is not proportionate damage!

Israel's casualties are much lesser than compared to the Palestinians simply because Israel considers it important to care about its citizens life -- which is the government's job in the first place. Hence, they have warning systems and bunkers for their citizens protection. On the other hand, Palestinians store weapons in civilian areas, use civilians as human shields and kill their own citizens for helping the Israeli army. Does it come as a surprise that the number of civilian casualties differ in such great number!!?

It is important for the media and the civilized to understand who is the thug here. Hamas is the thug because it is the true, authentic representative of Islam and is acting solely on the teachings of the Koran and other religious edicts. As historian John Lewis highlighted recently at FacingJihad, the threat of Islamic totalitarianism is against every country that upholds the individual rights of its citizens. It is these individual rights that the Islamists seek to destroy. If we wish to put up a fights againsts the Islamists, the civilized world should support Israel in an unqualified manner to keep us from reverting back to the Dark Ages -- to a time where honor killing is commonplace and where the good becomes the exception instead of the rule.