Hamas’ catastrophe
The killing by Israel Defense Forces Monday of more than 50 Palestinians who set fires, tried to detonate bombs and shoot soldiers, and sought to breach the Jewish state’s security fence was a terrible human tragedy. It was a tragedy created by the Hamas terrorists in Gaza and their enablers in the Palestinian Authority, who feed their people the poison that Israel can and must be destroyed.
Who tell them that, should they lose their lives while endangering or ending the lives of Israelis, they will be rewarded with a place in paradise.
Who pay the families of so-called martyrs who kill innocent Jews as much as $3,500 a month.
And who continue to encourage, in waves of riots leading up to what they call the Nakba (“the Catastrophe” of the establishment of Israel), violent reaction from Israel. For Hamas, the more bloodshed, the better.
The rejectionists insist that Israel and America brought the violence on by opening a U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. But the recognition of Israel’s capital by its closest ally is patent pretext.
For Hamas, the initial and enduring sin is that little supposed blot on the map where Jews are allowed to live, protected by law and governing their own affairs. Even after a 2017 revision, Hamas’ charter calls for the “complete liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.” It continues: “The resistance to occupation, by all means and methods, is a legitimate right guaranteed by divine laws, customs and international laws.”
What transpired Monday, culminating weeks of rolling riots, was no Gandhi-inspired protest; it was part of “The Great March of Return,” an attempt to spark a long-term violent uprising — and, if possible, to enable terrorists to infiltrate Israel. Hamas made this much clear.
As planned, some 50,000 Palestinians from Gaza flooded the border in 12 different locations. Three men tried to plant explosives at a fence. In two separate incidents, troops opened fire on gunmen who tried to shoot them. In another incident, Israeli aircraft struck a Hamas military training facility after gunmen attacked Israeli troops.
We do not know the context of every death. We do know that, for humanitarian and political reasons, Israel does not want to kill. It responded first with leaflets warning against a breach of its security fence, then with less-than-lethal weapons.
Soldiers resorted to deadly force because their country was under assault by Hamas, which welcomes death.