Changes

It’s a strategy that’s perfectly aligned with how a terror organization thinks. The Daily Telegraph, however, doesn’t understand the difference between a democracy and a terror organization. It doesn’t look at how Hamas deliberately positions civilians, especially women and children, to be killed by attacking Israelis. It doesn’t ask why Hamas won’t let civilians leave targets after Israel notifies those civilians to evacuate because a strike is coming at them. It cares only about one thing: Palestinian children have been killed by Israel-the-democracy...

It’s a strategy that’s perfectly aligned with how a terror organization thinks. The Daily Telegraph, however, doesn’t understand the difference between a democracy and a terror organization. It doesn’t look at how Hamas deliberately positions civilians, especially women and children, to be killed by attacking Israelis. It doesn’t ask why Hamas won’t let civilians leave targets after Israel notifies those civilians to evacuate because a strike is coming at them. It cares only about one thing: Palestinian children have been killed by Israel-the-democracy...

</blockquote></ref><ref>Chaim Shacham, [https://www.sun-sentinel.com/florida-jewish-journal/opinion/fl-jjps-shacham-0813-20140811-story.html Civilian deaths — tragedy for Israel — victory for Hamas], The ''Jewish Journal''. Aug 11, 2014.<blockquote>

</blockquote></ref><ref>Chaim Shacham, [https://amp.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article1977452.html This is a fight Israel did not seek], ''Miami Herald'', July 28, 2014.<blockquote>

It's called the "Dead Baby" tactic. This repugnant Hamas formula is frightfully simple: Manufacture civilian deaths, and blame it on Israel. Thus, Hamas hopes that Israel can be humiliated in the eyes of an impressionable but none too discerning world, weakened in the international arena, and intimidated in its attempts to defend itself.

It’s called the “dead baby” tactic and here’s how it works: Hamas carries out outrageous attacks against Israel’s civilian population. In turn, Israel must — like any responsible government — protect its citizens by trying to remove the threat. Hamas, in turn, hides behind its civilian population, hoping that these innocent human shields will bear the brunt of Israel’s effort to defend itself. Last, the inevitable civilian casualties would be spun from outrage and sympathy into renewed political power for Hamas.

Understanding that such an abhorrent strategy even exists is so beyond the pale of humanity, and so difficult to grasp in civilized societies, that the Hamas plan indeed works, and Israel is forced to defend itself from the preposterous, and demeaningly repeat what should be obvious. We do not target civilians.</blockquote></ref><ref>

Recognizing this diabolical Hamas strategy, yet maintaining its moral standards, Israel has endeavored to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza as much as humanly possible — while still effectively countering Hamas attempts to murder Israeli citizens. To this end, Israel has done what no nation has ever done in order to protect civilians — on both sides:

 

In short, Israel has employed its arsenal to protect civilians, while Hamas has employed its civilians to protect its arsenal.

The population of Gaza is not Israel’s enemy, and it is Israel’s fervent hope that the current efforts to establish a ceasefire will be successful. Moreover, throughout this tragic ordeal, Israel has not lost sight of its ultimate goal, that of living in peace with its neighbors.</blockquote></ref><ref>Amanda Berman, Director of Legal Affairs, [https://www.sajbd.org/media/the-truth-and-untruth-of-the-matter-amanda-berman-director-of-legal-affairs-the-lawfare-project-writes-for-the-star The Truth and UNtruth of the Matter], The ''Lawfare Project''. July 1, 2015.

<blockquote>It would be counterproductive for the Palestinian leadership to invest in civilian protection when its stated goal is to increase and leverage the civilian death toll in Gaza to improperly influence the international narrative against Israel. Those who truly value the lives of Palestinian civilians mustvociferously condemn the “dead baby strategy”. In continuing to rely on Hamas’s hyper-inflated civilian casualty statistics to castigate Israel – as the UN Commission did – the international community is sanctioning this strategy and is therefore complicit in the deaths of innocents.

From a legal perspective, the often-referenced proportionality argument fails to support the accusation that Israel committed war crimes. It is Hamas, not Israel, which persistently violates the proportionality principle by intentionally waging indiscriminate attacks on civilian population centers.</blockquote></ref><ref>

[http://www.jij.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/JIJ-Fact-Sheet-1-Hamas-EN-A4-ver-12.pdf Why HAMAS is Bad for Palestinians], Jerusalem Institute of Justice,

[http://www.jij.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/JIJ-Fact-Sheet-1-Hamas-EN-A4-ver-12.pdf Why HAMAS is Bad for Palestinians], Jerusalem Institute of Justice,

May, 2017.

May, 2017.