What if the terrorists had exhibited a measure of self-restraint? For the sake of argument let’s say by causing no physical harm to civilians at all. No kidnapping, no murder, no decapitation. What if they had limited themselves to their overrunning of the army bases, doing battle only with uniformed soldiers, taking military captives back to Gaza, maybe sticking around to ambush Israeli military first responders. If that had been the case, there would have been no justification for calling them terrorists. They would have proven that they are a military force to be reckoned with, they would have had hundreds of captive soldiers for bargaining the release of their prisoners in Israel, and more importantly, they would have guaranteed—guaranteed—that the communities that they entered and left would never regain the vitality that they had until then (that may be the end result in any case).
What would Israel have done in such a case? What could it have done? Some pinpoint bombing to try to restore injured pride, possibly. Maybe a commando raid or two to kidnap Hamas operatives. Then nothing. Israeli liberals would be the first to demand that any Israeli reaction would need to be “proportional.” Hamas would have won a great victory. But that is not who Hamas and the Palestinians are. These people have presented themselves to the world to be judged. It is a moral imperative to judge them, and to judge them morally. This is something that the moral relativism that has infected the West has prevented from being done until now. What relativism you may ask? Remember 9/11. Of all the sound bites from that horrible event which one has had the most persistence? It is a simple answer. “Islam is a religion of Peace.” Talk about self-hobbling. It is not. Just ask the Islamists if you are interested. They do not hesitate to tell you, and never have.
has been reporting on a significant movement in Indonesia for Islamic reform, and that can only be applauded, but the Muslims in my back yard are not peaceful, and they do not pretend to be peaceful. For too long, we have refused to take them at their word.Israel’s justification for its righteous furor is based on horrendous atrocities uploaded to social media by the perpetrators themselves, and so cannot be denied or “spinned,” and on the fact that civilians were kidnapped and are being held without Red Cross oversight. This is clearly the case, and it is a sad testimony to the morally twisted reality in which we live. It is only because the demented animals who overran our communities were so proud of their blood-lust that they live-streamed it for all the world to see, that Israel feels justified in destroying Hamas. Consider:
If there had been only the old-time type of media coverage (Israeli TV on the one side, CNN, BBC, Al-Jazeera on the other), who would have won the war for public opinion? This is a rhetorical question. Israel has not won the battle for public opinion since the 6-day war, and even that was short-lived. In this case, the atrocities would have been contested successfully. How could that be? Because even now, with almost endless self-incriminating videos, Hamas is denying them. It is almost laughable, as if they are saying: “Who are you going to believe? Us or your lying eyes watching the videos and pictures that we just uploaded?” Until now, Israeli leadership has been incapable of reaching a moral judgement regarding Hamas and its supporters (virtually the entire Palestinian population). Today, that leadership seems on the verge of making that judgement, which is, that Hamas is a death cult and as such is pure evil that must be eradicated.
The nation of Israel is awakened. Hamas has sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.