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Dear Letter to the Editor:
I do not share Bruce Ticker’s hope that Pres. Biden will be re-elected. Nor do I agree that the Trump presidency was a disaster. (“Column: A United Jewish Appeal to moderate Israel Critics is a Must” Boulder Jewish News April 4, 2024
When Pres. Trump was running things, America was energy independent. This kept gas prices low in the US and also lowered the price of oil worldwide. That made some oil-rich Arab countries realize that they needed to diversify their economies and, thus, gave them an incentive to work with Israel. Combined with sanctions on Iran, Trump drove the chief state sponsor of terrorism to the brink of bankruptcy, meaning that Iran could not fund its proxies to attack the little Satan (Israel) or the Great Satan (America). The Abraham Accords have made little progress since Biden took office. Hezbollah and Hamas have resumed firing missiles at Israeli population centers while the Houthis have attacked American soldiers and are interrupting international shipping through the Red Sea.
While Biden initially gave strong support to Israel’s efforts to ensure that Hamas would not succeed in fulfilling its vow to inflict multiple October 7’s on Israel’s people, his constant calls for Israel to be more careful about avoiding civilian casualties and his acceptance of the casualty figures produced by Hamas’ Ministry of Health have contributed to the bad press Israel has been receiving from the media worldwide and from the mouths of “pro-Palestinian” demonstrators (who are more correctly characterized as being “anti-Israel;” the demonstrators never seem to protest Hamas’ mistreatment of the people living under its administration).
The Ministry of Health acknowledges that its figures do not distinguish between civilian deaths and deaths of combatants. It is standard for the figures to be accompanied by a statement that two-thirds of the dead are women and children, implying that Israel has been indiscriminately bombing Gaza. There are many reasons to doubt this narrative.
Statisticians have analyzed the casualty reports and have found them to be unreliable fabrications.
There is also no reason to accept the claim that all women or children killed during the war are innocent bystanders. Hamas runs summer camps where children are given weapons and trained to use them. The terrorists are also known to use women and children as decoys and lookouts. Israeli troops have reported being approached by women wearing explosive vests under their modest clothing.
Hamas Summer Camps Teach Children To Use Weapons | MEMRI
Hamas is using suicide bombers – IDF soldier – The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)
So, Hamas is not obeying the International Rules of War and Israel is determined to win a decisive victory over Hamas. Yet, Israel has taken extraordinary measures to avoid civilian casualties. Both John Spencer, a professor at West Point’s Modern War Institute, and Col. Richard Kemp, former commander of the British Expeditionary Forces in Afghanistan, have praised Israel for managing to have killed fewer than two civilians for each combatant killed in the current war against Hamas; they note that a ratio of nine civilian deaths for each combatant killed is more typical in the kind of urban fighting that is occurring in the densely populated enclave. The sad fact is that Hamas’ hiding weapons and munitions in homes, hospitals, mosques, and tunnels built under residential buildings guarantees that Israel’s exemplary efforts to avoid killing civilians simply cannot be 100% effective.
Hamas’ past use of civilian vehicles to transport fighters and weapons may have played a part in the tragic killing of seven people who were delivering food to Gaza for the World Central Kitchen. WATCH: Hamas uses ambulances to transport terrorists, weapons – IDF – Defense News – The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com) Yet, Israel took full blame for the incident and disciplined the officers who made the decision to fire on the convoy. A question for Israel’s critics: When will Hamas be held to account for its mistreatment of the Palestinians?
Toby F. Block
Atlanta, GA
