And now for something completely different . . .
What Do You Expect? They Are Crazy. But You . . . Are Civilized.
Imagine a team sport with established rules. Say, basketball, with its prohibitions against carrying the ball, excessive physical contact, and goaltending. Or football (soccer), with its restrictions against touching the ball with one’s hand or hovering by the goal while the ball is still on the other side of the field. Or hockey, with its icing, high-sticking and slashing rules. Or football (football) with its line of scrimmage, restrictions on holding, and strict time limitations.
Then imagine that leagues are formed to engage in these competitions. All the teams agree to be bound by the same rules in order to promote fairness and competition.
Then imagine a team of newcomers that refuses to play by those rules. Perhaps they were raised in a culture which placed winning above all other considerations. Perhaps they view the rules as limitations on their independence. Perhaps they object to being bound by the same rules that govern others, believing themselves to be uniquely privileged or entitled. Perhaps they just revile and detest the other teams and their rules. Or maybe they are just crazy.
Then imagine the actual contests, in which one team is allowed to do whatever it wants and the other team is bound by the rules. They run with the basketball, carrying crowbars to ward off anyone who would impede them. They physically assault players on the other team. In critical games they bring, and use, firearms. Their flagrant fouls are frequently crippling, and occasionally fatal.
When you protest to the officials, they explain that you agreed to be bound by the rules, that the leagues have certain expectations as to your behavior, and that lapses by others do not excuse your deviation from accepted standards. And when you point out the deviant behavior of the other side, it is explained to you that they operate by their own rules, that perhaps they have a different culture, that they believe themselves to have been mistreated and oppressed in the past, that they are uncivilized, or uneducated, or unruly, or maybe they are just plain crazy.
So what do you expect from them? Shut up and play.
The foregoing scenario is so ludicrous that one could not imagine it existing in the real world. And yet, it is the terrifying reality in which Israel exists every day.
Hamas violated an existing ceasefire on October 7. Hamas perpetrated brutal and barbaric crimes against civilians. For years, Hamas has been shooting thousands of rockets into civilian neighborhoods. Hamas engaged in kidnapping and hostage-taking. Hamas embedded itself in hospitals, schools, and United Nations facilities. Hamas uses human shields. Hamas holds hostages in residential neighborhoods. Hamas fighters send children to ferry ammunition from place to place and utilizes Red Crescent ambulances to transport troops.
Where is the outrage? What is Israel supposed to do in these circumstances? It does not have the option of refusing to play with the miscreants. It cannot adopt a policy of forbearance any time its barbaric enemy commits another atrocity. Should it submit to a regime in which the war is lost simply because the other side is willing to kidnap women and children? Should it grant amnesty and safe passage to murderers and terrorists simply because they have learned that they are safe if they hide behind women and children? Should it abandon the hostages because rescuing them will inevitably result in civilian casualties?
In a just world, Israel would not be criticized for employing such measures as it deems necessary to protect itself against the uncivilized wretches and villains who act as though they believe that they can transgress any boundary of decency with impunity. In a just world, Western democracies would be flocking to join a coalition against this incarnate evil, because all Western democracies and culture are targeted by it for destruction. In a just world, Israel would be lionized, not criticized and reviled, for standing up, on behalf of all that is right and good, against the barbarians.
Israel conforms to a standard of civilized behavior far beyond that which would be demonstrated by any other similarly situated state. We know what happened in Fallujah, and in Afghanistan, and in Syria. We know what happened in Dresden. We know that more than 10,000 civilians died in Mosul and 20,000 in Normandy. We know what happens in wars.
And so does everyone pointing fingers at Israel.
Israel is fighting a war for its own survival, but it is also fighting a war on behalf of decency and law against chaos and anarchy. In that effort, Israel should be encouraged, supported, and assisted.
Because if it is not stopped, that team of terrorists, murderers, rapists, kidnappers, thugs and scumbags that does not observe any rules is heading your way. It may already be there.