How well Hamas has (falsely) painted Israel the villain
Hamas is using the remains of dead hostages to continue its torture of Israeli families. In their warped logic, this is a plus, a pressure point, a means of leverage. It is also Israel’s best way to show the world who they are dealing with. But the world refuses to listen.
Golda Meir reputedly said words to the effect of: “I can never forgive the Arabs for forcing us to kill their children.” This brought her ridicule and contempt. Another former prime minister, Ehud Barak, called Israel a villa in the jungle.
But today Hamas is giving more examples of what they meant. Hamas has a problem with Palestinians in Gaza: Too many people hate Hamas for the death and devastation they brought upon the Gaza Strip. Hamas accuses some of being collaborators with Israel. So what does Hamas do? Establish re-education camps like the Chinese? Establish Truth and Reconciliation Commissions as in South Africa and Rwanda? Form a government coalition of disparate views as in Israel?
No. They shoot their people in the head and break their bones. They film themselves murdering men and dropping concrete blocks on their arms and legs. These images they proudly distribute, to scare their own people into submission. Persuading people through discussion or example is not what works in the sands of Gaza. Hamas believes the only thing that persuades their people is violence, raw displays of power and intimidation. Easier and quicker to beat people into submission than to persuade them.
The lesson for Israel is, and for long has been, that the platitude is apt: 99 times out of 100 violence is not the answer. But when it is, it is the only answer.
That is the sad truth that the Jews who built and defended Israel learned the hard way. Their villa is under attack and the only defense is to accept that violence is the only effective response.
In doing so, Israel has lost an alarming amount of international support. Jews everywhere, regardless of their views, are equated with killing and beatings. Roles are reversed.
In the eyes of many, citizens and governments, Israel has become Hamas, while Hamas’ violence against its own people is mostly ignored. So are the plaintive cries of Gazan Palestinians who call for liberation from Hamas thugs.
Never has the axiom been truer: Jews killing Arabs is news, Arabs killing Arabs is not.
Pity the Palestinians of Gaza. While the United Nations blames Israel, and Israelis and Palestinians blame each other, and Jews and Hamas-supporters around the world argue about who killed whom first, Hamas is killing and terrorizing its own people — all while prosecuting an extraordinarily successful campaign to show that Israel is the villain, an easy target in a world that in every generation has found a reason to hate the Jews.
