THE MORAL BATTLEGROUND
Melanie Phillips
Spectator-UK, January 4, 2009
And so now begins the second and most difficult stage. Inside , there is both determination and dread as tens of thousands of
’s conscript army are called to the front. Untold numbers of these soldiers will lose their lives as the result not merely of the genocidal aims of Hamas (and its Iranian puppet-master) but also the indifference and pusillanimity towards Palestinian terror displayed by world governments over the past six decades of Israel’s fight for survival, along with the active encouragement of genocidal Islamists by leftists, Jew-haters, Muslims and useful idiots who were on such thuggish display yesterday in the co-ordinated demonstrations in British and other western cities.
Such people have made no protest at the bombardment of Israeli towns by more than 6000 rockets in the past six years, deliberately targeting innocent civilians. They have made no protest at the way Hamas has used Gazan civilians as human shields, situating its murderous arsenals beneath apartment blocks, in schools and hospitals and mosques in order to maximise the numbers of civilians killed (in order to manipulate all-too pliable western opinion). No, their protest only starts when
finally takes the military action aimed at stopping this genocidal barrage.
The worst thing is the moral inversion, in which the murderous victimisation of innocent Israelis is ignored while their murderers are described as ‘civilians’ when they are finally killed by the Israelis—who are demonstrably taking care to avoid civilian casualties wherever possible.… But the frenzied misrepresentations, double standards and moral inversion fuelling a hysteria in the west which in turn can only incite more genocidal violence are simply depraved. Particularly striking in its malice is the way in which the treatment of wounded Palestinians in Israeli hospitals is ignored—while news of the barbaric behaviour of Hamas in
Gaza
’s hospitals is airbrushed out of the picture.…
Nor will many in
or the west be aware of this: Dozens of Gaza Arabs are being treated in Ashkelon’s
Barzilai
Hospital
at the same time terrorists are bombarding the city. The medical facility, the largest on the southern coast, is in the line of rocket fire, and medical staff often have to stop caring for patients and run for cover during air raid warnings. The 500-bed
Barzilai
Hospital
has close ties with
Gaza
City
’s
Shifa
Hospital
, Barzilai deputy director Dr. Ron Lobel told the Associated Press.…
The moral inversion in the west is so egregious, so monstrous, that the better
is shown to behave the worse the vilification that rains down upon it. What other country in the world would show such restraint in the face of more than 6000 rocket attacks upon its citizens—6000!—that it took seven years before going to war to put a stop to it? What other country would treat individuals—including proven terrorists—from that enemy territory in its own hospitals? What other country would continue to provide essential foodstuffs and other supplies to those enemies who continued to fire rockets at it? What other country, when finally forced to go to war to stop the attacks, would show such concern to avoid the loss of civilian life that it contacts the population in enemy territory—even households containing identified terrorists—to warn them to flee from the imminent bombardment? And what other country would, for showing such unparalleled moral scrupulousness, be vilified and libelled as
is?
’s behaviour is moral, legal and proportionate. This conflict is revealing just who is on the side of morality, decency and sanity and who is not.…
Farid Ghadry, President of the Reform Party of Syria, has written: We Arabs must be the ones to stop Hamas and Hizbullah, rather than support their demonic and twisted logic of resisting development, enlightenment, and progress of the region.… [W]hile we abhor violence of all kind, ’s campaign against Hamas must continue to the bitter end not only for the sake of peace but also to help Arabs realize they have a choice: Destroy like Gaza or develop like
Dubai.
…
Alas, many in the west don’t stand with Farid Ghadry. They stand instead with Hamas. Whatever platitudes they mouthe, it is clear that they really don’t want
to survive at all. The moral dividing line in this battle is very clear. Those who stand with
are on the side of morality, justice, and civilisation. Those in the media and public life who denounce
for having the temerity to defend its people are the fellow-travellers of barbarism. Having done so much to embolden and strengthen Hamas and
, who are playing them for suckers, they are continuing to stoke the fires of irrational hatred and genocidal hysteria. As Israeli soldiers die, along with the Palestinian victims of Hamas whether as ‘collaborators’ or human shields, their blood will be on these hypocritical western hands.
ENDGAME IN
GAZA
Charles Krauthammer
Washington
Post, January 9, 2009
’s leaders have purposely obscured their war aims in
Gaza
. But there are only two possible endgames: (A) a Lebanon-like cessation of hostilities to be supervised by international observers, or (B) the disintegration of Hamas rule in
Gaza
. Under tremendous international pressure—including from an increasingly wobbly U.S. State Department—the government of Ehud Olmert has begun hinting that it is receptive to a French-Egyptian cease-fire plan, essentially acquiescing to Endgame A.
That would be a terrible mistake. It would fail on its own terms. It would have the same elements as the phony peace in
: an international force that abjures any meaningful use of force, an arms embargo under which arms will most assuredly flood in, and a cessation of hostilities until the terrorist side is rearmed and ready to initiate the next round of hostilities. The U.N.-mandated disarmament of Hezbollah in
is a well-known farce.… Such a deal would buy
maybe a couple of years. After which, Round Two—with Hamas rockets by then killing civilians in Tel Aviv, making Ben-Gurion airport unusable and reaching Israel’s nuclear reactor in Dimona. Which is why the only acceptable outcome of this war, both for
and for the civilized world, is Endgame B: the disintegration of Hamas rule. It is already underway.
This is not about killing every last Hamas gunman. Not possible, not necessary. Regimes rule not by physically overpowering every person in their domain but by getting the majority to accept their authority. That is what sustains Hamas, and that is what is now under massive assault.… Demonstrably unable to protect their own people, [Hamas’ leaders] beg for outside help, receiving in return nothing but words from their Arab and Iranian brothers. And who in fact is providing the corridors for humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians?
…
At such moments, regimes are extremely vulnerable to forfeiting what the Chinese call the mandate of heaven, the sense of legitimacy that undergirds all forms of governance. The fall of Hamas rule in Gaza is within reach, but only if
does not cave in to pressure to stop now.…
The disintegration of Hamas rule in Gaza would be a devastating blow to Palestinian rejectionists, who since the Hamas takeover of
Gaza
have been the ascendant “strong horse” in Palestinian politics. It would be a devastating blow to as patron of radical Islamist movements throughout the region, particularly after the defeat and marginalization of ’s Sadrist client in
. It would encourage the moderate Arab states to continue their U.S.-allied confrontation of
and its proxies. And it would demonstrate ’s irreplaceable strategic value to the in curbing and containing
’s regional ambitions.
