Israel Under Attack

SAM OSTROW

3 years ago

Note: The views shared in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the individual opinions of the other members of The City Voice.

Waking up to the news that Israel was under attack was in and of itself terrifying. But it sadly was nothing new. Israel is under rocket attack fairly often. My family in Israel compares the air raid sirens there to tornado drills here, except they’re not drills in Israel – they are actual rocket attacks. But this attack was different. The reports were coming in quick and the severity of them was escalating. Soon enough it became clear that what Israel was facing was no ordinary attack. It was an infiltration. An infiltration that will forever change the region.

First, some history. Jewish people have faced persecution everywhere we have gone. We have a saying: “They tried to kill us. We survived. Let’s eat.” Throughout history we have had two constants: anti-Semitism, and the goal of returning home to Israel. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Zionist movement was gaining traction. Ashkenazi Jews (Jews that moved to Europe after being expelled from Israel by the Roman Empire) were facing increasingly severe anti-Semitism and, ultimately, faced the horrors of the Holocaust in which six million innocent Jews were killed. In North Africa and the Middle East, Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews (Jews in Israel but mostly in surrounding Arab nations after the violent colonization of Israel by the Romans) also faced horrible anti-Semitism for centuries and yearned for their homeland. After the conclusion of World War II, in 1947 to be exact, the United Nations adopted a resolution to partition the British Mandate of Palestine into two states: the state of Israel and an Arab state. It had been decided that Jewish people deserved a nation-state, and the Arabs in the region deserved their own state as well. The Jews would get the southern region, which was mostly desert, some northern land, and a strip of coastal land. The rest was to be given to an Arab state. The land that Israel was allotted had a majority Jewish population and the Jews accepted it. The Arabs, however, did not. In spite of the Arabs’ rejection of this proposal, Israel declared its independence and the State of Israel was formed. Instantly, five surrounding Arab nations declared war on Israel. The newly formed State of Israel miraculously won this war, gaining land not previously partitioned by the U.N. In wars since then, Israel has gained more land in the region. To suppress attacks from occurring, it controlled land where Palestinians lived. This did not always work as there have been terror spikes throughout Israel’s history. In 2005, it withdrew from what is referred to as the Gaza Strip.

Now for the introduction to the terrorists: Hamas, a terrorist organization as officially recognized by the United States and The European Union, has called for the murder of Jews and the demolition of Israel since their inception. It is also the ruling party in Gaza. A year after Israel pulled out from Gaza, Hamas won a majority of Seats in the Palestinian Authority (PA), in Gaza, and formed a government. This was seen as unacceptable by the current majority which led to a week of fighting, which Hamas won. There hasn’t been a vote for a new legislature in Gaza since 2006, and there hasn’t been a vote for a new president since 2008. Since their inception in 1988, Hamas has been a strong proponent of death and destruction.

Earlier this week, on October 7, 2023, under the cover of indiscriminate rocket fire, Hamas terrorists infiltrated southern Israel. First, they went to a peaceful music concert in the Negev Desert where they murdered 260 innocent civilians and kidnapped many more. Then they went from home to home, burning down houses, shelters, and other residential areas. They shot, stabbed, and abducted innocent people. Then paraded the abducted and corpses through the streets of Gaza. It is not a resistance. It is not a liberation movement. It is terror and evil in its most horrific form. It is anti-Semitism, the likes of which the Jewish population and world hasn’t seen or experienced since the Holocaust. As presented on an Israeli news network, Hamas states in its charter, Article Seven, that “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees…there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him…” Hamas is a terrorist organization founded on the ideals of killing Jews and destroying Israel. At the time of this writing, more than 1,300 Israelis have been murdered in this massacre and at least 3,000 wounded. The amount of people that were abducted is not known but is believed to be between 100 to 200 innocent civilians and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) members. In this act of barbarism, 27 Americans are known to have been killed with 14 reported to be missing.

I will not burden you with the firsthand descriptions by witnesses of the horrors that were committed by the terrorists. You can turn on any news network and hear them. However, I will inform you on some of the horrors themselves: the burning of children alive, raping young women next to the bodies of their murdered friends, and the decapitation of children and of soldiers. Hamas threw grenades into shelters full of innocents, and launched rocket propelled grenades into houses. Hamas slaughtered innocent civilians and shot them at point blank range in their beds, in their shelters, in their own homes. What Hamas did is extremely difficult to comprehend, but one must know what was done to fully grasp the severity of the issue.

Israel will strike back. It has every right to defend itself and make sure that nothing like this ever, ever, happens again. There will be attempts at justifying the terrorism and calling out Israel for being on the same level as Hamas. This cannot be tolerated. People will say that Israel is using “collective punishment” to respond to Hamas’s crimes. People will claim that Israel is excessive in its defense of its people. But, this simply cannot be tolerated. These claims are false. Israel, under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, has the right to the international law of self-defense, as it practices military necessity, distinction, and proportionality.

Look at the principle of distinction: “The parties to the conflict must at all times distinguish between civilians and combatants. Attacks may only be directed against combatants. Attacks must not be directed against civilians.” Israel has followed this principle correctly. As Michael Schmitt says, “There are no reliable reports that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have intentionally targeted civilians.” Let’s not forget who has targeted civilians. Hamas has. Even if Hamas was the representation of a state, it would be subject to severe international law violations for its targeting of civilians. Israel is not evil, it is selective in its targets and does everything in its power to save innocent lives while protecting its own.

Let’s not forget who has targeted civilians. Hamas has. Even if Hamas was the representation of a state, it would be subject to severe international law violations for its targeting of civilians. Israel is not evil, it is selective in its targets and does everything in its power to save innocent lives while protecting its own.

As for military necessity: “The “principle of military necessity” permits measures which are actually necessary to accomplish a legitimate military purpose and are not otherwise prohibited by international humanitarian law.” In the immediate response to the terrorist attack, the state of Israel declared war on Hamas and launched “Operation Swords of Iron”. Its purpose is to clear Israel of terrorists, make sure Hezbollah does not attempt an attack on the Northern part of Israel, and eradicate Hamas.

Lastly, proportionality: There will be civilian deaths in Gaza. Hamas uses innocent Palestinians as human shields. Evil. This makes it extremely difficult for the IDF to do its job without causing civilian casualties. An expert in warfare has called the IDF the “most moral army in the history of warfare.” They do more than any other military to avoid civilian casualties, no easy feat in Gaza. The principle of proportionality is as follows, “The principle of proportionality prohibits attacks against military objectives which are “expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.” In layman’s terms, proportionality permits the risk of collateral damage that is necessary to achieve the goal of the military operation. Israel can strike, has struck, and will strike military targets in Gaza. Eradicating these terrorists comes at a price, and that is sadly the loss of innocent lives. This loss of innocent lives is squarely blamed on Hamas and their use of Palestinians (and now Israeli hostages) as human shields. Hamas started this war and they will be the end of it. Israel will defend itself and it has the right to do so. In the meantime, hopefully countries will be able to work together to provide a safe passageway for innocent Palestinians who have been living under Hamas’ rule.

For those that claim Hamas’s actions are an act of self-defense or resistance, this is simply not true. The right to self-defense is limited to states and, as Hamas will not negotiate with Israel for a Palestinian state (thus not being a state), it has no right to self-defense. Non-states only have the right to “resist” against unlawful violence. As previously shown, Israel does not exhibit unlawful violence as it is no longer in control of Gaza and hasn’t been for nearly two decades. It only responds to terrorist attacks and takes action to prevent them. Therefore Hamas’s actions must be considered for what they are. Terrorist attacks.

This is a war between good and evil. Evil will not prevail. As an American Jew all I ask of you is to please, please, stand with us and the state of Israel during this difficult time. Am yisrael chai, the people of Israel live.

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