Ten Israeli civilians were killed without warning last week when terrorist forces hiding out in the Gaza Strip poured thousands of armed rockets into densely-occupied areas of Israel. This was an unprovoked military attack on a civilian population that simply wants to go about the everyday business of living.
Responsible for this atrocity is the Iranian-sponsored terrorist group Hamas. The objective of this group, so they claim, is to assert Palestinian rights. Their real purpose is to murder Jews and destroy the State of Israel.
The fighting erupted when Hamas falsely accused Israel of assaulting Muslim worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israeli police intervened to prevent violence after weeks of rising Israeli-Palestinian tensions on the Temple Mount.
Hamas used the occasion as its feeble justification for firing missiles at Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv. Israel responded by striking at Hamas positions in Gaza. The most cogent argument in defense of Israeli counter-attacks is that the U.S. would do the same thing if New York and Chicago were targeted by enemy missiles.
Instead of backing Israel's attempt to defend itself, President Biden has repudiated the pro-Israel stance of his predecessor. Press Secretary Jen Psaki would not commit to helping Israel replenish its supply of Iron Dome anti-rocket missiles. Biden prefers to give aid and comfort to sponsors of terror like Iran instead of loyal allies like Israel.
Australian news anchor Rowan Dean says Biden has proved himself to be a "dangerous hardcore leftist" whose emerging anti-Semitic ideology should be "shunned and avoided at all costs."
Calling Israel's defensive response "transnational white identity terrorism," members of the "squad" — Reps. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — are pressuring the Biden administration to condition U.S. aid to Israel.
"We must take a hard look at nearly $4 billion a year in military aid to Israel," agreed Sen. Bernie Sanders. "It is illegal to support human rights violations."
Sorry Bernie, it is called self-defense. The human rights violation occurred when Hamas targeted civilian populations.
Republicans are pushing for increased U.S. security assistance and support for Israel's right to defend itself. "We should focus on supporting Israel," said a group of Republicans in Congress, "rather than hearing about 'transnational white identity terrorism,' a non-urgent topic developed by the woke, socialist agenda of your party."
This sensible reaction fell on deaf ears in the White House.
The media has joined the Democrats in adopting a hostile attitude toward Israeli self-defense, intentionally depicting Palestinians as innocent victims.
A CNN anchor tried to defend the Palestinians, charging Israel with using excessive force. That is ridiculous when you consider that the Palestinians, not Israel, started it.
During an interview with former Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, CNN anchor Becky Anderson argued that Israel violated international law by targeting civilian sites in Gaza.
"Perhaps you suggest that we just lay back, let them shoot rockets at us, not shoot back, because they are hiding the rockets behind women and children," Bennett replied. "Would you do that, Becky? If your family was under fire, would you suggest that your government not defend you because they are hiding the guns and rockets behind civilians? Any country is expected to defend its citizens, and you, Becky, should not be speaking about us. It's them, it's Hamas, it's deplorable what they're doing, using their own people as human shields."
Many journalists have expressed outrage that the 12-story Al-Jalaa building housing the Gaza headquarters and the Associated Press, BBC, and Al Jazeera, was targeted during retaliatory Israeli airstrikes. The Foreign Press Association said the strike on the media offices "raises deeply worrying questions about Israel's willingness to interfere with the freedom of the press to operate."
Al Jazeera Jerusalem bureau chief Walid al-Omari said that Israel was acting "not only to sow destruction and killing, but also to silence those who broadcast it." Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez, normally a strong supporter of Israel, evidently fell for the media's version of events by criticizing the Israeli military attack on the building.
The accusations against Israel were refuted by talk show host Mark Levin, who argued that the media services had to be aware that Hamas was using the building as an intelligence and operations center.
Aaron Klein, senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, agreed with Levin.
"It is Hamas that must be condemned for housing its terrorist infrastructure in the same complex as the international media," Klein said. "This is far from the first time that Hamas has used journalists as human shields."
Klein accused Hamas of using the building "for waging a terror war on Israeli civilians and was only targeted after the Israel Defense Forces warned civilians at the site and waited enough time for them to evacuate.
Hamas provides no such warning when it daily commits the double war crimes of firing rockets indiscriminately into Israeli cities and launching those rockets from Palestinian civilian zones."
Our mainstream media refuse to applaud Israel's policy of issuing warnings before intended airstrikes. The AP was able to evacuate its journalists only because the IDF alerted every single person inside that the building was about to be targeted by an airstrike.
Sadly, Israel's humane policy gave Hamas additional time to continue firing rockets at population centers. No other army in the world would exercise such restraint, yet Israel is regularly accused of deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians.
Even the Palestinian press has acknowledged that buildings are evacuated before they are hit. Palestinian Media Watch director Itamar Marcus said that "Israel's care for civilians is unique, especially in the history of warfare against terror organizations that use civilians as human shields. Moreover, the international community's questioning of Israel about civilian casualties exposes its great hypocrisy."
Palestinians claim at least 145 people have been killed since they began the conflict, including 41 children. Israel has reported 10 dead, including two children.
"The party that bears the guilt for this confrontation is not us," said Prime Minister Netanyahu, "it's those attacking us." Netanyahu said Israel's air and artillery barrage killed dozens of Hamas militants and destroyed hundreds of Hamas sites including missile launchers and a vast tunnel network.
Will there be an end to the fighting? "The moment they give up their desire to annihilate the Jewish people and the Jewish land," said Naftali Bennett, "there will be peace."
Ed Brodow is a conservative political commentator, negotiation expert, and author of eight books including Tyranny of the Minority: How the Left is Destroying America. He is a former US Marine officer, Fortune 500 sales executive, and Hollywood movie actor.