Scoreboards of death

Editorial

Israel and Zionists have a tough PR battle and we don't always do a good job. When talk of "disproportionality" arises, it is hard to convey the truth in ways that do not exhibit the very sort of inhumanity of which Israel is accused.

While the vast proportion of dead Palestinians are Hamas terrorists, this in itself is not a fact that should make anyone jump for joy. Dead human beings, terrorists or not, are dead human beings and, though their deaths may be the ultimate consequence of their life choices, there is no joy to be gained in such numbers.

According to at least one estimate, about 80 per cent of the Palestinian dead were Hamas terrorists, suggesting that Israel's efforts to behave in the most humanitarian manner possible under intolerable circumstances has been as successful as one could imagine. Though we will never be able to determine the categories into which each lost life falls, all of these people died not because of Israel's actions, but because of those of Hamas, who broke the truce and deliberately place their terrorist infrastructures in residential areas, turning the Palestinian people into human shields.

This week, as they have in countless previous instances, Israel broadcast and dropped from planes warnings for residents to flee in advance of Israel Defence Forces actions to eliminate terrorist bases. Historically – and we can expect to see the same again in the current conflict – the IDF takes such precaution to avert the loss of innocent lives that they put the lives of their own soldiers at elevated risk in order to reduce the chance of innocent Palestinian deaths.

Ignoring such details, the world rewards Hamas in response to the losses of life, siding with the "underdog" that suffers the most deaths. If it weren't for the hundreds of dead innocents, Hamas's strategy would be flawless. As a PR approach, it is doing wonders.

Meanwhile, as "disproportionality" is the accusation thrown at Israel, "selective humanitarianism" is a term that defines Israel's critics around the world. People who call themselves peace activists condemn only Israel, not the terrorists upon whose shoulders the blame for every one of these deaths justly lies.

Israel's "disproportionate" response is, in fact, exceedingly restrained. Israel could end this conflict with Hamas once and for all, but it is the humanitarian nature of Israeli culture and Jewish tradition that places Jewish soldiers (and civilians) in harm's way for fear of harming innocent Palestinians.

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