Whose Fault Is It If Palestinian Civilians Are Killed? The Palestinians…
Perhaps you’ve heard about the latest batch of Palestinian civilians who may or may not have not been accidentally killed by Israeli soldiers:
“Both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz indicated Sunday that Friday’s blast on a Gaza Strip beach that killed seven civilians may have been caused by the Palestinians, and not by the IDF.
Peretz told the weekly cabinet meeting that he had established an investigative committee headed by a major-general, which is to present its findings on Tuesday.
Peretz said the panel’s preliminary findings showed that the Ghalia family was not killed by a shell fired by the IDF ground forces or the IAF. Peretz said that one of six artillery shells fired by the IDF was unaccounted for, but that there was a gap between when the shells were fired and the time the Palestinians said the shells landed.
Peretz told the ministers that some 40 Kassam rockets were fired at Sderot and nearby communities over the weekend, and that Nati Angel – the Sderot man seriously wounded by a Kassam Sunday morning at a school near the city – was a “personal friend.” Peretz lives in Sderot, where he used to be mayor.”
Every civilian death in a war may be tragic, but not all civilian deaths are morally equivalent.
Although some liberals may disagree, most Americans see a great distinction between deliberately murdering civilians and accidentally killing them during combat. That’s usually the fault line where most discussions of civilian deaths begin and end in these days and times.
However, civilians have been targeted deliberately, and morally, in other circumstances as well. In WW2 for example, we had little compassion for German or Japanese civilians who were killed by Allied troops. In the view of the allies, these Axis civilians supported their governments which had launched assaults against innocent civilians and started a war, and so why should anyone weep at their passing? Back then, if the enemy’s civilians got killed during the course of the war, it was just assumed, correctly, that they brought it on themselves.
Which brings us to Palestinian civilians. Why should anyone weep at their passing? If they get killed during the course of the war their people insist on continuing with Israel, it can be assumed, correctly, that they have brought it on themselves. That’s especially true because the Palestinians work so hard to blur the lines between civilians and combatants.
Consider that:
— The Palestinian terrorists wear no uniforms.
— They terrorists try to blend in with the civilian population.
— The terrorists often launch attacks from areas full of Palestinian civilians in hopes that it will discourage an Israeli counter-attack.
— Palestinian terrorists often store weapons and have “safe houses” in areas full of civilians.
— Palestinians also use women, children, and ambulances in order to carry out or aid terrorist attacks.
— Palestinian terrorists regularly and deliberately launch attacks at Israeli civilians.
What’s the reaction of the Palestinian people to groups like Hamas that use these tactics? They love Hamas, support their attacks on Israel, and have a government, that was voted in by the people, that is made up of people who support terrorism from top to bottom.
Since that’s the case, what makes Palestinian civilians more deserving of mercy than Japanese or German civilians during WW2? In my opinion, very little.
That’s what makes the world’s reaction to the fighting between the Israelis and Palestinians so ironic. Despite the frequent condemnation of the Israelis, the only reason the Palestinians haven’t all been killed or forced off of their land at gunpoint is that the Israelis have chosen not to do to the Palestinians what the Palestinians would immediately do if the situation were reversed. Therein lies the irony. The greatest weapon the Palestinians have isn’t their suicide bombers or their rockets, it’s the fact that the Israelis are a fundamentally more decent, compassionate, and civilized group of people than the Pals.
Does that mean the Israelis should abandon their beliefs and start slaughtering Palestinian civilians left and right? No, but it does mean that if any Palestinian civilians get killed, sad as it may be, they bear far more responsibility for it than the Israelis.