If I Could...
Live From the War in Israel Day 25
It needs some work, and a lot of money, but If I could I would run ads in major newspapers around the world. It would be addressed to the newspaper and this is what it would say.
Why are you helping Hamas and promoting anti-Semitism?
Hamas's horrific and barbaric attack on Israel was calculated to achieve three objectives:
1. Inflict horror on the Israeli civilian population.
2. Prove that Israel is not invincible.
3. Be in a position, by kidnapping women and babies and holding them hostage, to force Israel to release all terrorist prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Hamas accomplished the first two with their barbarism on October 7th. You are facilitating the third.
As you know and have pointed out, Hamas has put the Gazan people in danger and is hiding their infrastructure, weapons, and supplies in the midst of the civilian population. As you also know, the entire plan was that Israel would respond, many Gazans would be killed, and public opinion will force Israel to stop and accept a ceasefire . That way, Hamas would accomplish it goals and stay intact.
You are helping because:
1. Every story about Gazan casualties fails to mention that Hamas, which is providing the numbers, does not include how many of those are their fighters that have been killed.
2. You never mention that as many as 25% of their rockets misfire and that those rockets kill Gazans as well.
3. You never mention that the Hamas number includes 471 people they claim were killed in the hospital blast, which they blame on Israel. A claim that you know is not true.
4. Every story implies that since the number of casualties looks to be very high, Israel at worst is targeting civilians and at best doesn't care. Every story mentions that half the population of Gaza are children. Israel knows this. So does Hamas.
Israel’s goal is to defeat Hamas. Israel is completely aware that the more Gazan children that die, the more pressure the world will apply for them to stop and leave Hamas intact. Why would they not try their hardest to minimize civilian casualties. It defies all logic. The thought that Israel might be trying their best, given an impossible circumstance, is never mentioned
All of this paints the picture of Israel being a country of revenge-hungry, bloodthirsty people. This helps Hamas. It also promotes anti-Semitism. The reporting that Israel attacked a hospital, which again, would go completely against Israel’s interest, has led to protests around the world. It is on the basis of this story, which was eventually retracted, that vicious threats and hate crimes are being perpetrated all over the world. It was nothing less than a modern-day blood libel. What do you think the impression you are giving the world when you are repeating over and over that Israel will not discuss a cease fire with out an explanation.
The continued reporting of Gazan casualties, devoid of all nuance, where only the numbers matter, completely without any explanation, is anti-Semitic and promotes anti-Semitism. Of course, the situation in Gaza should be reported on, but every report should say that it is Hamas who puts and continues to put the lives of Gazans in danger by stealing sorely needed supplies and operating from beneath hospitals, mosques, schools, etc. This is not only an Israeli claim; it is also what the USA and other Western countries are saying as well. Of course, every civilian life is important but doesn’t context matter? As cold as it may sound, isn’t the number of fighters killed important or the amount of their own people they are killing? If you want to say that what Israel is doing might be a war crime, isn’t the ratio of fighters and Gazans that Hamas has killed to women and children important. Does intent matter? We know what Hamas intended on October 7th, they filmed it. Do you really that is what Israel is doing as well?
I understand that it is hard to see past dead children and that is what Hamas is counting on.
You are helping fuel antisemitism around the world. You are helping Hamas to reach their well-planned aims. They were counting on you, and you obliged.
I should point out that I'm a progressive secular American Jew who thinks Netanyahu has always been a fraud and a disaster.
It's very much a communications battle and has been for decades. Very puzzled that Israel doesn't seem to have an effective PR strategy and program. All these issues you raise may be self-evident and intuitive inside Israel, but they're not that way outside.
A few additional thoughts on yr last 2 posts:
If I could, I'd replace "antisemitic" w/ "anti-Jewish." "Antisemitic" has lost its visceral punch and is often dismissed as reflexive and a deflection. It's also imprecise. Hamas, Hezbollah, PIJ, etc., don't refer to "semites." They go right to "Jew" and use it as a slur. It's direct, coarse, and unabashed.
An effective communications campaign could underscore and dispel the notion, which I think is common in the West, that Hamas, Hezbollah, etc., are fighting to establish progressive, forward-thinking, freedom-lovong societies. It's beyond ironic that young, progressive Americans, who have done so much to advance equity, diversity, inclusion, LGBTQIA rights, feminism, social justice, freedom not to conform or be labeled--that these progressive people are making common cause with reactionary, right-wing, religiously fundamentalist nihilists.
Take a look at how women are treated in Iran, Hamas's main sponsor. Try supporting trans right as human rights in Gaza. But write your will first. The only "trans" they know are "transgressors," anfmd they're not fans.
It's right there in the first paragraph of Hamas's 1988 charter, which also says Israel "will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it," and that the Hamas "movement is a universal one." That's not a 2-state solution.
Hamas It's an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood, which assassinated Egyptian Pres. Anwar Sadat for ... making peace with Israel. They're not interested in a 2-state solution.
Here's a link to the charter:
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp
It's worth a read.
Before you call for a 2-state solution and chant for liberating Palestine from the river to the sea, look at a map and at the charter.
Last point: Re Jews who call for cease fire and denounce Israel, etc., Hamas does not view you as allies. They view you as easy marks, a classic caricature of the naive American liberal. Don't think they'll embrace you because you're a secular Jew opposed to Israel's current gov or to longstanding US policy. You're an infidel. And you're next on the list.
By the way, we still have an account to settle with Hezbollah for murdering 241 US Marines asleep while on a peacekeeping mission.
Apologies for the rambling. I feel better, though!