Something unexpected is happening around the world in reaction to Israel’s invasion of Gaza, the Palestinian territory controlled by the Hamas terrorist group.
There’s plenty of reflexive Israel-bashing, to be sure. But even in nations where glib, ludicrous comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany have been common, there’s an understanding that the carnage unfolding in Gaza is a result Hamas deliberately triggered by firing 2,000 rockets and mortars in recent weeks into Israel. For example, the national parliament in India — a nation that’s been a ferocious critic of Israel for decades — rejected on Monday a measure condemning Israel for “indiscriminate” brutality.
Why? Certainly because of comments made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“What [is Hamas] trying to achieve by sending rockets?” he asked last week with genuine bafflement. “We are the losing side, and every minute there are more and more unnecessary deaths. ... I don’t like trading in Palestinian blood.”
Probably because of the utter cynicism of Hamas telling Palestinians not to leave areas where Israel has warned residents that it will attack because of weapons hidden in and under mosques, hospitals, schools and civilian homes.
But there’s also the larger historical context: In 2005, Israel surrendered control of Gaza and bulldozed 25 Israeli settlements with 9,000 residents as a good-faith step toward a two-state solution — a major concession welcomed widely in the U.S. and Europe.
But instead of a good-faith response, this led to Hamas being voted narrowly into power in 2006. It then seized complete control in 2007 and proceeded to militarize Gaza more than ever. Predictably, the local government collapsed as its resources were devoted to preparations for war.
Who now supplies food, water and electricity to Gaza? Israel — the nation that so many are eager to claim is bent on the annihilation of Gaza — does more to help its residents than Hamas.
On Monday, the U-T Editorial Board met with David Siegel, Israel’s consul general in Los Angeles, to discuss Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu’s desire for a “sustainable quiet” in a demilitarized Gaza. An edited transcript of the interview will appear on the opinion pages later this week.
The goal of Israel’s present operations in Gaza isn’t reoccupation, Siegel said, but the establishment of “peace and security through deterrence.” That is only possible with the seizure of all of Hamas’ remaining mortars and rockets and the eradication of “at least 18 attack tunnels” discovered under Gaza leading into Israel.
This is completely reasonable and defensible.
Yes, we understand the instinctive sympathy that many have for underdogs. We understand the visceral reaction that people have to video of bloodshed in a seemingly lopsided conflict.
But there’s not a government on Earth that wouldn’t have responded in similar fashion to 2,000 missiles being rained on its territory. For these reasons and many more, we hope Israel gets the “sustainable quiet” it seeks — and that Hamas’ decision to incite warfare badly backfires on the terror group.