Who are The Truly Innocent Civilians in Gaza?
Whoever they are, they will welcome an Israeli victory and occupation
Every hour of every day, we’re inundated with news reports from Gaza about “innocent” civilians in harm's way of the Israeli bombardment and ground invasion: injured and killed “innocent” Gaza civilians; the lack of water, electricity, cellphone and internet service for “innocent” civilians; the need for humanitarian aid to “innocent” civilians; free passage to Egypt for “innocent” civilians, etc. The images are harrowing, and the immediate emotional response for many is one of horror—followed by a gut reaction to blame Israel for the suffering.
Western leaders overwhelmingly emphasize that sparing “innocent” civilians is a moral imperative, putting pressure on Israel to delay or abstain from shock-and-awe advances that could shorten the war. All the while, the same Western leaders conveniently downplay the fact that Hamas could prevent additional suffering among “innocent” civilians at a moment’s notice by surrendering unconditionally, and downplay that part of Hamas tactics is to put “innocent” civilians in harm’s way by locating its military installations in hospitals, mosques and residential high risers. This meme sadly captures it perfectly:
To counter this “PR challenge,” Israel goes out of its way to not cause unnecessary casualties among “innocent” civilians by giving them time to move south, giving advance warnings about attacks, etc., at significantly increased risk to its own soldiers as Hamas gets time to consolidate and regroup.
So, who are the “innocent” civilians in Gaza that must be spared? In my last article, I argued they aren’t as many as we think, and those who are truly innocent would benefit from and—in the case of adults and mature adolescents—welcome an Israeli victory and ensuing occupation. This unfortunately seems to be a minority view, so let’s take a closer look at my claims to see if I can win over some to side of the inconvenient truth.
There aren’t as many truly innocent civilians as we think
In 2006 Hamas came to power in Gaza by winning an absolute majority—74 out of 132 seats—in an election monitored and judged as fair by international observers. The runner-up, Fatah, won 45 seats, another 9 went to miscellaneous minor parties, and 4 to independents. With the possible exception of Third Way and the independents (whom I haven’t been able to find any information about), all the parties were more or less advocates of the eradication of the state of Israel ”from the river to the sea.” Like Germans voting the Nazi party into power in the 1930’s, and Japanese slavishly obeying their emperor until the surrender in 1945, Gazans who voted for any of these contenders in the 2006 election—over 90% of the votes with a voter turnout of about 75%— have disqualified themselves as “innocent” civilians. An exit poll claimed that 79.5% expressed support for a peace agreement with Israel, and post-election interviews supposedly found that two-thirds of Palestinians thought Hamas should change its policy of rejecting Israel’s right to exist. But this doesn’t take away from the fact that they voted for Hamas or an equally bad alternative.
What about young children? They are indeed truly innocent victims of war, but they are also unfortunate subjects of their culpable parents. The parents are responsible for bringing them into a world ruled by Hamas and the children may tragically end as collateral damage. War is brutal, and the killing of children one of its most horrible results. But again, the responsibility rests squarely with Hamas, not Israel—see meme above.
Gaza adolescents represent a gray zone. Some are truly innocent, but many have been indoctrinated by Hamas to hate Israel and Jews. Like the Hitler Youth who became cannon fodder in the last months of WWII, “Hamas Youth” aiding the war effort, militarily or otherwise, can perhaps claim ignorance, but they cannot profess innocence.
All in all, this leaves us with a much lower number of truly innocent civilians than what the media, NGOs and many politicians would like us to believe. Which brings us to the next point.
Those who are truly innocent will welcome an Israeli victory and subsequent occupation
Truly innocent Gaza civilians—yes, of course they exist—will welcome and support an Israeli invasion and hopefully future occupation, as it will liberate them from the tyranny of Hamas and increase their potential for living a happy, productive life in a peaceful Gaza or elsewhere. These are individuals with a Western mindset who value, at least implicitly, reason, science, the protection of individual rights, limited government, the rule of law, and free markets. They want nothing other than to be left alone to prosper to the best of their ability, living a life in peace with their neighbors. As Israel advances, some will hopefully come forward and offer Israeli troops active support in rooting out Hamas, similar to what resistance movements did for the Allies in WWII, and what South Vietnamese and many Iraqis and Afghans did for the U.S. in Vietnam, Iraq and and Afghanistan (though with the U.S. disgracefully reneging on its promise to protect them after withdrawing). They understand that the horror of the current war is their least bad option on the path to freedom, and are willing to accept the risks and temporary suffering that come with it.
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I’m normally not a fan of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC), but on this issue he’s right. When asked if there’s a threshold for him or if there should be one where the US government would say “Let’s hold off for a second in terms of civilian casualties,” he answered:
No. If somebody asked us after world war two, ‘Is there a limit what would you do to make sure that Japan and Germany don’t conquer the world? Is there any limit what Israel should do to the people who are trying to slaughter the Jews?’
The answer is no. There is no limit.
Israel is in a war it didn’t start and didn’t want, but once in it, the purpose is to win as quickly and with as few casualties to your own side as possible. Hamas is a representative of evil, lethal, totalitarian Islamic fundamentalism at odds with every rational Western value that the truly innocent civilians strive for. Support for Islamic fundamentalism is a cancer that is already spreading beyond the Middle East as evidenced by the outpouring of support for Hamas and hatred of Jews both in Europe and North America. Israel has an opportunity to eradicate this cancer in its part of the world by annihilating Hamas, and hopefully Hezbollah (in Lebanon), Islamic State (in Syria) and terrorist cells on the West Bank. Any humanitarian pause (the new, politically correct term for ceasefire, it seems) will only serve to prolong the conflict and increase the plight of Gaza civilians, innocent or not.
In addition to removing the immediate threat, winning this war would send a signal to Iran—the main provider of both ideological inspiration for and financial and military support of Islamic fundamentalists throughout the Middle East—that there’s no way in hell it’ll succeed with its Jewish final solution 2.0. Therefore, Western countries should unequivocally support Israel in its effort to win the war without being distracted by the fate of civilians, just as the Allies were not overly concerned about their fate during the carpet bombings of Germany and Japan in WWII. If we fail and Israel is left wing clipped, Iran will be emboldened, the Islamic fundamentalist cancer will continue to metastasize, and many more truly innocent civilians perish in the Middle East—and possibly here at home.
For a deeper discussion on the death of innocents in war, see here.
For more on Iran’s role in this war and in spreading Islamic totalitarian fundamentalism, see here.
Did Israel steal Palestinian lands? Answer here.
I love the visual with the baby carriages. And thanks for pointing out that they could end the war today by surrendering.