It took the establishment media, “international community” and pro-Hamas groups mere hours to twist the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) remarkable, daring rescue of four hostages from two Gaza apartments into more condemnations for “massacring innocent civilians.”
Probably few would be surprised to see an account that began: “IDF kills hundreds of Palestinians while helping Israeli deadbeats leave Gaza hotels without paying for eight months of food and lodging.”
Some media actually came close to this. A Washington Post headline read, “More than 200 Palestinians killed in Israeli hostage raid in Gaza.” The BBC demanded to know, Why didn’t the Israelis warn Gazans about the rescue beforehand? (Perhaps so Hama wouldn’t murder the hostages and ambush the rescuers?)
The systemic, systematic anti-Israel bias is intolerable.
Last October 7, after decades of murdering Israeli civilians, thousands of Hamas terrorists invaded Israel. They shot, beheaded, incinerated and butchered 1,200 parents, children and music fans; injured and maimed 6,000 others. A father and son and other barbarians raped, mutilated and slaughtered scores of women; and kidnapped 252 babies, children, adults and elderly.
(Photos and videos document the atrocities: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here)
Gazans working in Israel mapped targets for the slaughter. Several thousand Gaza men, women and children accompanied the butchers. Some joined the killing and kidnapping spree; others looted and burned Israeli homes. Many helped haul Israeli, Thai, American and other “hostages” into the 300-mile labyrinth of Hamas tunnels, where hostages were beaten, abused, starved, denied vital medicines, even raped. Many died or were murdered, their bodies stuffed in tunnel crevices or dumped outside.
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Gaza teachers, journalists, doctors and families affiliated with or active members of Hamas hid hostages in their in apartments. Hamas now says it doesn’t know how many are still alive; Israel says maybe 50.
(Meanwhile, Iran-backed Hezbollah fired 20,000 missiles into northern Israel since 10/7, killing or maiming people, destroying homes, burning forests and crops, and driving 100,000 people from the area.)
Thousands of Gazans cheered their returning “warrior heroes,” spat on hostages and corpses hauled on or dragged behind trucks and motorcycles. The vast majority of Gazans still support Hamas and the 10/7 massacre. Gazans know about the tunnels and entry shafts, the stashes of weapons, munitions and rockets in homes, schools, mosques and hospitals. They know who is in Hamas, even though its terrorists almost always wear civilian clothing to blend in with the populace. Hamas is integral to Gazan life.
Hamas built underground military installations throughout Gaza. Its combatants hide under, among and behind civilians. They’ve turned virtually all of Gaza into military fortresses and thus legitimate, necessary targets – ensuring civilian casualties, no matter how hard Israel tries to avoid them.
Indeed, Hamas relies on human shields and wants civilian casualties as central components of its war strategy. It makes martyrdom a holy action in its charter and public statements and views civilian casualties as “necessary sacrifices” that help put Israelis “right where we want them.” Families believe martyring their children honors the Koran.
These are war crimes. They underscore Hamas’s genocidal intent. They make claims about “innocent civilians” increasingly specious.
Hamas has promised more 10/7 massacres until Israel and its people are completely eradicated. Israel is surrounded by groups and countries united in wanting a second Holocaust that eliminates the world’s only Jewish nation.
Hamas’s October butchery began a new war of annihilation that Israel didn’t want but was forced to pursue until all hostages are returned and Hamas is no longer a viable threat to the Jewish state’s and people’s existence. The June 8 hostage rescue was integral to winning this war.
In scenes right out of Fauda (Arabic for chaos), Israeli commandos disguised as displaced Gazans infiltrated Nuseirat’s dangerous streets, hoping to spirit the four hostages out without alerting anyone or starting a bloody urban battle.
The commandos and other soldiers quickly rescued Noa Argamani, killed the terrorists guarding her, and rushed her to a waiting helicopter. But when the second team entered the apartment where a physician-Hamas activist and his pro-Hamas journalist son were “caring for” three male hostages, the IDF forces were surprised by 30 terrorists.
Chaos erupted as the terrorists blasted the Israelis with machine guns, grenades and RPGs. The commandos fought back, incredibly saving the hostages and neutralizing every Hamas fighter in the apartment.
However, the bedlam brought dozens of Hamas fighters pouring out of tunnels and alleys. They were met by Israeli troops, tanks, and naval and air power that had been on standby in case of such fauda. When the fighting ended, the IDF had killed or wounded over 100 Hamas terrorists and armed “civilians” ... and extracted the three hostages to another helicopter.
The Gaza/Hamas Health Ministry claimed the Israelis had killed 274 Palestinians, mostly women and children (of course). The false, inflated death tolls spread like the wildfires ignited by Hezbollah in northern Israel; like Hamas’s ongoing lies about civilian casualties at el-Ahli Hospital and elsewhere.
Israel says the casualties were almost all combatants. But there would have been no combatant or caught-in-crossfire civilian deaths if Hamas hadn’t taken hostages in the first place. If the terrorists hadn’t kept hostages in crowded neighborhoods, or had already released them. If Hamas had followed President Biden’s advice: Take the loss and let the commandos rescue the hostages.
The constant implication is that Israel deliberately kills civilians – or could easily avoid doing so: World Central Kitchen aid workers killed because of an awful error; civilians killed in buildings from which Hamas is shooting at IDF soldiers or firing rockets into Israeli communities; civilians dead in an airstrike – because shrapnel struck an illegal Hamas munitions warehouse in a nearby refugee camp.
Fortress Gaza is urban warfare at its worst – amid the constant fog of war. Civilians get caught in sudden battles or horrible errors are made, just as happened with tens of thousands of civilians dying in Mosul ... Biden’s Air Force killing an entire family mistaken for terrorists ... former NFL player Pat Tilman killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan ... three escaped Israeli hostages killed by IDF soldiers ... multiple IDF casualties in Gaza from friendly fire or accidents. Many more, far worse disasters during World War II.
It’s terrible. But it’s not deliberate or totally avoidable. And President Biden’s refusal to send Israel precision-guided munitions means non-precision weapons get used, causing more civilian casualties.
A primary myth fueling Israeli-Palestinian conflicts (and pro-Hamas support) is that Israelis colonized and occupied these lands. In fact, Israelites/Jews arrived around 1576 BC – 3,600 years ago. They’ve been there ever since, in large or small numbers, in what is now the only tract of primarily non-Muslim territory from Morocco to Afghanistan.
Arab armies didn’t conquer and colonize Jerusalem until 636, two thousand years after Moses.
Visions of peace could become reality if Palestinians recognized this history – and emphasized building their own prosperous communities, instead of dwelling on what happened in 1916-1918, 1948 and 1967.
Paul Driessen has visited Israel multiple times, including the sites of the October 7 massacres. He has written many articles on energy, environmental, human rights and Israel issues.
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