Wednesday, February 14, 2024
From Ian:
Gil Troy: Israel's Gaza war is self-defense, no apologies needed
Gil Troy: Israel's Gaza war is self-defense, no apologies needed
Every day, Israel takes unprecedented measures to minimize civilian harm in Gaza. It uses less firepower than is optimal, distributes maps revealing its strategies, warns civilians to flee potential targets, and pauses occasionally so civilians (and Hamasniks in street clothes) can escape. Such self-imposed ethical constraints sacrifice surprise, risking Israeli soldiers’ lives.Jehad al-Saftawi: Hamas Built Tunnels Beneath My Family’s Home in Gaza. Now It Lies in Ruin
“No military has ever implemented any of these practices in war before,” West Point’s urban warfare expert, John Spencer, explained in Newsweek.
“No military in modern history has faced over 30,000 urban defenders in more than seven cities using human shields and hiding in hundreds of miles of underground networks purposely built under civilian sites, while holding hundreds of hostages. The sole reason for civilian deaths in Gaza is Hamas. For Israel’s part, it’s taken more care to prevent them than any other army in human history.”
Apparently, I missed the graduate school lectures describing the times America stopped short of winning to please an ally or provided humanitarian aid during wartime – for the enemy to steal.
When rampaging through the Supernova music festival, Hamas kidnapped 22-year-old Omer Weinkert, who suffers from colitis. Shai, his father, wonders why his own Israeli government supplies 100 trucks’ worth of aid daily to Omer’s captors and the so-called “innocents” who would rip his son to shreds – while Omer suffers.
“If we continue to feed the lion, what’s the reason for it to stop?” Shai asks. “Release the hostages and receive the aid; otherwise, it should stop.”
ONLY HILLARY CLINTON has taken responsibility for America’s role in the Hamas buildup and the American “concept” that Hamas is pragmatic. She admitted that on October 6 there was yet another internationally imposed ceasefire – and Hamas broke it, again. Her honesty acknowledges the impossible choices Israel faces.
During the 2014 Israel-Gaza war, the great peacenik, Amos Oz, asked a skeptic: “What would you do if your neighbor across the street sat down on the balcony, put his little boy on his lap, and started shooting machine-gun fire into your nursery?”
In America, I met many smart, caring people. No one effectively answered Oz’s now updated question, “What else would you have Israel do after October 7?” Nor could they convince me why Israel shouldn’t crush Hamas in Rafah. And no well-meaning peaceniks, who had long demanded Israeli ceasefires, apologies, and concessions, acknowledged their faith in the “concept” that prompted this massacre.
Why aren’t they – and the guilty Palestinians – apologizing?
Meeting masked men is something we are used to in different aspects of Gazan life. We argued. I told him my uncle, who was a member of Hamas and prosecutor in its government, would stop them from building a tunnel. The masked man insisted they would continue as they pleased. He said I should not be afraid and that this would just be a small closed room to remain buried underground. No one can enter or exit. He said that only in the case of an Israeli ground invasion in this area and the displacement of residents would these rooms be used to supply weapons.Seth Mandel: How Hamas’s Western Supporters Sacrifice Palestinians
“We don’t want to live above a stockpile of weapons,” I told him, just before he forced me to leave.
Construction continued, and Um Yazid continued to report to us about late-night activity. Hamza and I visited every few weeks, always finding the same gate, never sure what we could do, or what was really happening behind it. Our uncle assured us we had nothing to fear.
In February 2014, I got married and left my family’s house. The same year, my mother, Hamza, and my two young sisters moved to the newly-finished house. Before they did, Hamza and I dug again and this time found nothing but sand for 3 ft., then a large cement slab. We covered it over, believing Hamas had finally closed off the “room” at our uncle’s insistence.
In the years since, my family or their neighbors heard sounds or movements from time to time. They wondered sometimes if there really were tunnels, if they were active. My family was too afraid to speak about this with anyone, so it was our secret. It felt shameful even though we knew we were deeply opposed to whatever Hamas had done on the other side of that cement slab.
When something goes unspoken for so long, it begins to feel impossible that the truth will ever be known. I always looked forward to a time in the future when my family and others like us would be allowed to speak about these tunnels, about the perilous life Hamas has forced upon Gazans. Now that I am determined to speak openly about it, I don’t know if it even matters.
My family evacuated to the south shortly after Oct. 7. Months after, we received photos of our house and neighborhood, both of which are in ruins. I may never know if the house was destroyed by Israeli strikes or fighting between Hamas and Israel. But the result is the same. Our home, and far too many in our community, were flattened alongside priceless history and memories.
And this is the legacy of Hamas. They began destroying my family home in 2013 when they built tunnels beneath it. They continued to threaten our safety for a decade—we always knew we might have to vacate at a moment’s notice. We always feared violence. Gazans deserve a true Palestinian government, which supports its citizens’ interests, not terrorists carrying out their own plans. Hamas is not fighting Israel. They’re destroying Gaza.
One line in Saftawi’s piece jumped out at me: “Now that I am determined to speak openly about it, I don’t know if it even matters.”
There are a number of ways that can be interpreted, and I won’t speak for Saftawi. But it must be distressing for people like him to see that even as it loses to Israel on the battlefield, Hamas is winning the battle to define what is regarded as “pro-Palestinian” in the West. Saftawi wants peace and self-determination for the Palestinians to be the ultimate goal. American progressive activists, professors, students, and even members of Congress don’t want that for Saftawi’s family. The war on Israel is useful for them. AOC doesn’t have to sacrifice her home; she just has to be willing to sacrifice Saftawi’s, which she’s happy to do. Tenured professors on six-figure salaries and gold-plated health-insurance plans don’t have to worry about the dangers posed by a weapons stockpile under their children’s bedrooms. To them, the forever war against the Jews is highly sustainable.
The most important thing to understand about the “decolonization” lie is that it is incompatible with a Palestinian state and an extended peace in the region. It is a return to making the existence of Israel the problem.
This is not a mere interpretation: Protesters gleefully chant, “We don’t want no two states, we want ’48.” That’s the irony of President Biden taking action against Jewish settlers in the West Bank, with UK Foreign Minister David Cameron now following his lead and doing the same: They are making a distinction that their pro-Palestinian constituents don’t recognize.
Biden and Cameron don’t think a Jew living in Tel Aviv is an obstacle to peace. The anti-Zionist activists scaring them into enacting these sanctions disagree. But Saftawi, a Palestinian from Gaza, sides with Biden and Cameron. It’s his family’s home that’s lying in rubble, and the people supposedly advocating for him want it to stay that way.
