{"id":14829,"date":"2014-07-20T19:36:04","date_gmt":"2014-07-20T17:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=14829"},"modified":"2014-07-20T19:40:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-20T17:40:00","slug":"palestinian-civilians-props-in-a-public-relations-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=14829","title":{"rendered":"Palestinian civilians props in a public relations war"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I pointed out<\/a> on November 23, 2012, \u201cHamas hides among unwitting civilians, who have no way of controlling its activities. This fact does not give Israel the right to kill innocent non-combatants, not even unintentionally. Besides, murder is not \u2018unintentional\u2019 when you know it is inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ilana\"<\/a>Still, from the fact that the Palestinian side sustains more casualties\u2014it does not necessarily follow that they are the innocent party in the dispute. It\u2019s not Israel\u2019s fault, moreover, that its population is well-protected by rocket-repelling technology, mandatory bomb shelters and that Israelis benefit from an all-round, well-organized emergency response. Who among us would tolerate living with a constant barrage of bombs from our neighbors? If Gaza, which was ceded by Israel<\/a> to the dogs of war (Hamas), has nothing by way of safety infrastructure, it is because its leaders invest in terrorism instead of in trade.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, and as National Post\u2019s Lorne Gunter astutely observed many years ago, \u201cIf Palestinians stopped their attacks today, tomorrow there would be no Israeli attacks.\u201d But if Israel stopped unilaterally, Palestinians would be at it again in no time.<\/p>\n

\"Into<\/a><\/p>\n

The latest developments, via DEBKAfile<\/em>: \u201cIsrael air, sea and artillery pounded the Gaza Strip Thursday night, July 17, as IDF ground forces embarked on a ground attack, just announced by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Debkafile<\/em> reports a softening-up operation to prepare for the entry of armored and infantry units. The IDF calls on the half million Gazans of southern towns of Khan Younes and Rafah to leave their homes for their own safety. Israelis living close to the Gaza border were advised to stay in bomb shelters.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the Telegraph\u2019s telling<\/a>, \u201cIsrael\u2019s leaders are grimly aware of the risks they are taking by sending troops to fight in the crowded alleys of Gaza. Now that their forces are embroiled in this urban maze, they will lose much of their technological advantage against Hamas gunmen. One Israeli soldier was duly killed within hours of the invasion starting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, believes that a ground operation is the only way to stop the rocket attacks. Meanwhile, Mr Masri made clear that the Hamas viewed it as a chance to inflict casualties on its enemy. \u201cThe Zionist army is very surprised by what the resistance possesses,\u201d he said. \u201cThe resistance attacked tanks and Humvees with missiles and went behind enemy lines to conduct intelligence operations.\u201d
\nBut Israel is now fighting Hamas by land, sea and air. Two jet fighters soared overhead like silver arrowheads yesterday, scattering decoy flares across a cloudless summer sky.
\nSa\u2019ar Class missile boats from the Israeli navy have grown bold enough to pound their targets from close to the shore, although Hamas struck back with a missile that fell just short of its target, sending up a plume of white water.
\nIsraeli commanders are trying to strangle Hamas from all directions. But the only certainty is that Gaza\u2019s hospitals become more crowded by the day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I tend to agree with Hamas that \u201cIsrael\u2019s ground offensive is \u2018foolish\u2019 and will have \u2018dreadful consequences.\u2019\u201d<\/a> Since the Hamasniks consider their population no more than props in a public relations war, Palestinian casualties affect them not at all.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2014 by Ilana Mercer<\/em><\/p>\n

[followbutton username=’IlanaMercer’ count=’true’ lang=’en’ theme=’light’]<\/p>\n

Like Ilana Mercer’s Facebook page<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Read Ilana in German on Junge Freiheit<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israeli commanders are trying to strangle Hamas from all directions. But the only certainty is that Gaza\u2019s hospitals become more crowded by the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2957,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,80],"tags":[2195,286,9508,178],"class_list":["post-14829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-ilana-mercer","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-gaza","tag-ground-offensive","tag-israel"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2957"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14829"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14832,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14829\/revisions\/14832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}