Column: Israel has a right to defend itself, but it's the only country not allowed to win
We have repeatedly heard that Israel is “unconsciously disproportionate” in its military action in Gaza. Many are claiming Israel’s “right wing” government is engaged in “genocide” and there has been a case filed against Israel in the Hague by South Africa.
Oxfam International is reporting that "Israel's military is killing Palestinians at an average rate of 250 people a day, which massively exceeds the daily death toll of any other major conflict of recent years." You should consider these as biased and politically charged fabrications.
To see this, consider a thought experiment: Imagine that Mexico attacked Texas in the same way that Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7. Imagine this savage and barbaric attack had the support of 75% of Mexicans. By now there would not be much of Mexico left.
Few in the world would use the word “proportionality” especially in the presence of a Texan. It would not matter what a “world court” said.
There are many places in the world which are violent and oppressed but moral outrage is muted and not especially affected by politics. Turkey’s attacks on the Kurds, China’s on the Uyghurs, everybody’s attacks on Syrians, are examples. There are no protests, no campus outrages and no claims of “genocide.”
Israel is the only country in the world that is not allowed to win. It is the only country where the media and groups like Oxfam completely accept the casualty figures from one side. The numbers you read are from the Gaza Health Ministry, which is politically controlled by Hamas. We do not know how many people have died. Moreover we do not know how many casualties are civilians and how many are Hamas terrorists.
What do we know? We know that Hamas has deliberately located its military activities to maximize civilian casualties. They have arms depots inside of schools and headquarters in hospitals. They have repeatedly stated that they are pursuing a “CNN” strategy where CNN accepts whatever casualties that Hamas claims and CNN headlines assert they are civilians.
We know that on Nov. 16, the Arab World for Research and Development released a carefully executed survey of randomly selected Palestinians. The survey of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank found that 75% supported the “military operation” on Oct. 7; 89% agreed the attacks were in response to the contemporary and historic oppression; 98% said they would never forget or forgive.
Unlike any other country, in conducting its attacks Israel has dropped leaflets and set up websites describing to the Palestinians what they intended to do. This has cost the lives of soldiers. No country in the world would do this to its military. We certainly would not.
Israel has made extraordinary efforts to save the lives of people who are overwhelmingly driven by hate and bigotry. Ask a Palestinian supporter to show you the leaflets that Hamas has dropped to avoid Israeli casualties.
Israel will win this fight and deserves our support. It is the only democracy in the region and the only country that respects a wide range of human rights, far more than any society governed by sharia (Islamic Law) — which is the goal of Hamas. Most importantly, Israel is a country that can forgive, unlike their opponents.
Charles Trzcinka is the James and Virginia Cozad Professor of Finance at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Columnist writes Israel has taken measures to save lives during war
