Posted on 02/15/2024 8:41:40 PM PST by Uncle Miltie
Every civilian death is a tragedy. Another country, struck by the type and immensity of the atrocities committed against Israel, would likely have responded with vastly greater force and inflicted far greater numbers of civilian casualties. But Israel is the Jewish State, not only in the way we conduct our daily lives but in the moral manner in which we defend ourselves.
Even when the enemy is using its own population as a human shield, Israel must do its utmost to reduce the damage to civilians. This is not only a strategic interest for Israel – civilian casualties help substantiate the charges of war crimes and genocide that could result in boycotts and sanctions – but also a moral imperative.
For that reason, the IDF takes unprecedented measures to warn civilians of impending actions and to evacuate them from combat zones. It’s why, despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Israel has maintained the lowest combatant-to-civilian casualty rate in modern warfare – as Hamas’s own statistics show.
How, then, can the Biden administration accuse Israel of ״indiscriminately bombing” Gaza, of reacting “over the top” to the events of October 7th, and of dehumanizing the Palestinians? The oft-leveled charge that “too many Palestinians have been killed” implies that a smaller number would have been acceptable to the White House. The history of our previous rounds of fighting with Hamas, each of which produced similar claims of “too many Palestinians killed,” suggests that no such number exists.
President Biden and his staff continue to uphold Israel’s right to self-defense, to supply us with vital forms of ammunition, and to resist mounting calls for a permanent ceasefire. Yet, the accusations they level at Israel do far more than insult our soldiers. They fundamentally endanger our security.
By asserting that Israel is violating international humanitarian law, our American ally is bolstering those who accuse us of committing war crimes and perpetrating genocide. The next time Israel faces these charges in an international court, statements by the president, the secretary of state and other administration officials will be adduced as exhibit A for the prosecution.
That evidence, moreover, would be demonstrably false. Israel’s efforts to reduce civilian casualties, often at the expense of our own soldiers’ safety, are well documented. “Despite the unique challenges Israel faces in its war against Hamas,” the internationally recognized urban warfare expert John Spencer recently wrote in Newsweek, “it has implemented more measures to prevent civilian casualties than any other military in history.”
Such unprecedented steps include the use of precision and small-diameter bombs, warning civilian populations through dropped leaflets, text messages, phone calls and even military maps indicating intended combat zones, and designated four-hour pauses on multiple days for civilian evacuations. Though Hamas obstructs and sometimes even shoots civilians fleeing the fighting, countless civilian lives have been saved by Israel’s restraint.
Far from being indiscriminate, each air strike in Gaza must be approved by IDF intelligence and legal officers to assure the minimal impact on civilians. Mistakes tragically happen, especially in densely built-up environments where terrorists in civilian clothes routinely mix with the local inhabitants. Such incidents are scrupulously investigated and the appropriate lessons drawn.
The administration’s charges not only ignore these extraordinary efforts, they fly in the face of their results.
Though Hamas is well-known to grossly inflate its casualty figures, even that of the 28,000 civilian deaths cited by the “Gaza Health Ministry” actually proves Israel’s case. The 28,000 includes the nearly 12,000 terrorists killed by the IDF. Deducting that number as well as the civilian casualties caused by the thirty percent of Hamas rockets that fall short within the Gaza Strip, and the total will be roughly 13,000 civilian fatalities. That is a ratio of nearly one combatant death for every civilian.
According to The New York Times, the Boston Globe, and the Watson Institute of Brown University, in America’s wars in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the ratio was four civilians killed for every combatant. The record for NATO’s 1999 intervention in Serbia was similarly four-to-one.
Apart from the unprecedented challenges confronting Israeli forces in Gaza, their success in reducing civilian casualties is also unmatched.
That success, however, is nothing to be celebrated. On the contrary. Israel’s goal for its terrorist-to-civilian fatality ratio should always be one-to-zero. Outrage at the civilian casualties, meanwhile, must be directed at those who cynically and barbarously engineer them. Hamas’s goal is to delegitimize Israel and brand us as war criminals. That is precisely the objective served by accusations of “over the top” reactions, indiscriminate bombing, and dehumanization.
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I didn't make any such charge. Don't hang it on me Israel. Hang it on the administration of the befudled 'ol guy who lacks the mental capacity to be held responsible for what he says and does.
I had no idea actually. No wonder leftists are decrying this. You were only supposed to express outrage and maybe drop some bombs to make a crater in the desert. You were not supposed to show that this problem has a solution and this is what it looks like. Sovling the problem wasn't what anyone wanted.
Just astonishing. After what happened, our limp wristed government wants things to be handled delicately.
This simply goes to demonstrate how many wild-eyed moslems are here in America now. It was amazing to see how many Palestinian terrorists came out to protest here in America.
When it comes to Gaza, define civilian.....
Kinda, kinda not. If you were a German in 1943, and you voted Hitler in back in ‘33 and you still support him, and you broke windows on Krystalnacht. And you proudly work at the Messerschmitt plant. And maybe you turned in a neighbor or two... don’t expect me to get all upset when a B-24 dumps a load on you.
That’s how I see Gaza. Almost every civilian supported Hamas. Think those tunnels build themselves? The hostages all tell stories of civilian abuse. Think they didn’t know the attack was building up? Think they didn’t support Hamas over 90%.
No... not all civilian deaths are tragic.
https://youtu.be/S06nIz4scvI?t=55
Anyone who runs is a terrorist. Anyone who stands still is a well-disciplined terrorist!
A few weeks ago I heard an author on the radio say that Israel risks its own soldiers lives in being careful to minimize collateral casualties. He said a Russian invasion and slaughter of Muslims wa an example of the more successful and efficient way to do it, disregarding the extra deaths.
I have seen several times that the so called civilians in Gaza not onl voted for Hamas but are the eyes and ears of the PLO, Hezbollah and Hamas and will kill Jews when they won’t get in too much danger themselves. Not innocent weeping types shown in the leftist news scenes.
This is an election year and the guy in the White House wants to stay there.
Trump would not give Israel this kind of grief dare I say the name Trump I think I’ll say it again Trump in the White House would be friendlier to Israel in the end.
Our current crew is the White House hasn’t the slightest
grasp of what war is all about.
Israel was attacked. How they deal with it is more than
fine with me.
I agree.
They were TOLD to leave!
It's a 2 day walk to Egypt from anywhere in GAZA
Zechariah 12:3 NIV
On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her,
I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations.
All who try to move it will injure themselves.
When, oh Lord??
Unless they are Supporters, sons daughters, fathers, mothers, etc of Raping Murdering Savages. Then it's just good sense.
There’s an easy answer for Hamas: unconditional surrender.
Or death.
"Though Hamas is well-known to grossly inflate its casualty figures, even that of the 28,000 civilian deaths cited by the “Gaza Health Ministry” actually proves Israel’s case. The 28,000 includes the nearly 12,000 terrorists killed by the IDF.Deducting that number as well as the civilian casualties caused by the thirty percent of Hamas rockets that fall short within the Gaza Strip, and the total will be roughly 13,000 civilian fatalities. That is a ratio of nearly one combatant death for every civilian.
According to The New York Times, the Boston Globe, and the Watson Institute of Brown University, in America’s wars in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the ratio was four civilians killed for every combatant. The record for NATO’s 1999 intervention in Serbia was similarly four-to-one."
Sounds like Israel is failing to get the job done.
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