TCC Analysis • January 1, 2024
By Art Harman, Senior Vice President – Policy · January 1, 2024
by
Karen Ben-Moyal
in Current Affairs / Breaking News Posted on
10/15/2023 05:00 PM
Today marks the ninth day since the Palestinian organization known as Hamas, a U.S. State Department-designated foreign terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip, has launched a brutal attack across the Israeli-Gaza border, killing more than 1,300 Israelis and foreigners, and wounding at least 3,300 other Jewish, Christian, and Arab Israeli civilians. Sadly, the severe amount of terror attacks committed by Hamas’s so-called “Palestinian militants” against the State of Israel over the past week has resulted in the loss of at least 29 U.S. citizens, but the Israeli and American Ministries of Foreign Affairs says these numbers are expected to continue to grow as Israeli and American soldiers and volunteers continue to work together to save as many victims that may still be alive, although negotiating with anti-American terrorists whose sole mission in life is to kill Jews seems pretty impossible. According to the Knesset’s most recent report, Palestinian assailants have announced that they are still withholding at least 150 Israeli hostages alive, raping women prisoners and using others for possible leverage opportunities. The Israeli government later notified the families of 120 of these victims who were still missing but have now been confirmed to have been abducted by Hamas “soldiers.”
The first surprise attack on Israel came almost 10 days ago, near the Israeli border at a music festival in the middle of Israel’s breathtaking Negev Desert, as it is well-known for its beautiful Oases, hospitable Bedouin travelers, and incredible geographical landscapes. What should have been a joyous experience for anyone attending the concert, which happened to be an event celebrating life, music, and peace, suddenly turned into a tragic, horrific nightmare. As of last Monday, Israeli officials reported the death toll from this terrorist attack that prompted Israel to defend itself, and marked the beginning of this ongoing Israeli-Palestinian war at around 260. That is, 260 people were massacred while attending a music festival in the middle of a desert. The Hamas terrorizers surrounded the perimeters of the festival’s exits which created a circular barrier around the area where the majority of concert go-ers were standing. When the Palestinian attackers pulled up in a large convoy of vans, they took aim with their fire weapons and home-made pipe bombs, at as many innocent people trapped within the walls of their stampede as was possible for them. Since the event was attended by mostly teenagers and young adults—all audience civilians had to have been confused and terrified. Not to mention—totally unarmed and defenseless. In the attacks on Israeli civilians that followed this one in the hours and days ahead, all Palestinian fighters who joined Hamas in their death missions chose to operate using this same cowardly strategy—targeting only the most vulnerable and helpless victims, of course. Within the first few days of their murder schemes, the Palestinian organizers were able to successfully kidnap and torture the elderly, rape women hostages, behead Jewish and Israeli children while forcing their parents to watch before killing them afterwards, and wiping out entire families—and mercilessly burning the newborn babies and infants that may have been sleeping in the households they ransacked. They also chose to murder inhabitants living on the outskirts of cities in Kibbutzim, or Israeli communal villages— Hamas took out an entire Kibbutz before dragging their hostages back across the border, where they have since threatened to execute them in retaliation for planned Israeli bombing campaigns. Members of Hamas have been circulating propoganda all over the internet, staging ridiculous videos that show off their fighters playing with kidnapped Jewish children in an apparent attempt to alter the narrative about its treatment of captives—after already releasing all of the footage of the laughter and joy they had filming the torture and heinous slaughtering of innocent peoples. The scenes of these and other brutal attacks have spread widely across X, vividly capturing the cost they believe should be paid for living as a Jewish human being.
Following these gruesome Palestinian attacks over the past week, “progressive” Democrats representatives in the United States—known for their pro-Palestine views—made statements which did not directly address Hamas’ culpability for the attacks, referred to attackers as “Hamas militants,” and called for an end to “Israeli military occupation and apartheid.” Article 7 of The Hamas Covenant—the organization’s charter—specifically calls for genocide against Jews: “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.'” Retrospectively, Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel last Thursday and also expressed such sentiments: “No country can or would tolerate the slaughter of its citizens – or simply return to the conditions that allowed it to take place. Israel has the right – indeed, the obligation – to defend itself and to ensure that this never happens again,” Blinken said at a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “As the Prime Minister and I discussed, how Israel does this matters. We democracies distinguish ourselves from terrorists by striving for a different standard, even when it’s difficult, and holding ourselves to account when we fall short.” Blinken added, “Our humanity – the value that we place on human life and human dignity – that’s what makes us who we are. And we count them among our greatest strengths, that’s why it’s so important to take every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians.”
However, the military defense strategists of the IDF do not need any threatening pep-talks from any politician or statesman when it comes to defending their homeland, especially not on how to ethically or morally manage any counter-attack, as Israel’s military is named after what their strategic values in battle signify—the men and women who fight against Israel’s attackers are highly trained to defend—as Israel’s literal Defense Force. Thus, as per protocol, the IDF has already taken careful and timely steps to limit civilian casualties as it begins airstrikes on Hamas targets in Gaza. Before launching any counter-invasion or operation to defend itself, Israel has historically warned Gaza civilians to evacuate, sometimes neighborhood by neighborhood, using flyers dropped by air and loudspeaker trucks, before it strikes an area. In addition, the United States and Israel have engaged in talks with Egypt in efforts to create evacuation corridors for Gaza civilians trapped in the strip as it is bombarded by the Israeli Defense Forces. However, the Egyptian Security Forces told Reuters on Thursday that it rejected the idea of evacuation corridors in order to protect “the right of Palestinians to hold on to their cause and their land,” though the country did express its willingness to help provide humanitarian aid. “As part of achieving a just and lasting peace, we must do our part to stop this violence and trauma by ending U.S. government support for Israeli military occupation and apartheid,” Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO)—one of the “outspoken” progressive members of the U.S. House—wrote in a statement posted to X. Fellow progressive and self-proclaimed “Squad” member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) released a similar statement, saying: “As long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue.” Tlaib, who has a Palestinian flag outside her office door, was reportedly chased by a news reporter down a hallway in the Capitol this week, asking whether she condones Hamas’ murder of children. Despite being asked the question repeatedly, Tlaib, who refused to acknowledge the question. Neither Bush nor Tlaib’s officers staffers responded to requests for comment about whether they would define the attacks against Israel as terrorism. On the contrary, both of these elected Democratic influencers who’ve been elected to represent their districts’ key constituent-supporters appear to continue to blatantly blame Israel’s actions for the Hamas attacks against it.
Photo Credit Masoud Shahrestani
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