Setting the Record Straight on Hamas and Israel

I realize that I am preaching to the choir today, but I think this bears repeating until the rest of the world begins to understand and accept the truth. Unfortunately, the lies have become so repetitious and pervasive, they are more accepted as fact than the truth.

There is no justification for what Hamas did on this planet. Civilized humans do not torture family members in front of themselves for fun or spite. Normal people do not burn infants and elderly people alive for any reason including revenge. Society does not condone targeting civilians and the very act is not called “war,” it’s called “terror and murder.”

There is no doubt that the people of Gaza have been oppressed for the past two decades. It is clear to anyone with intimate knowledge of the situation that the majority of the oppression has come from Hamas, the Gazan’s own leadership they elected; and the majority (not all) of the Gazans recognize this. If you do not have intimate knowledge and you just listen to propaganda, spin and lies, you do not know what the truth is no matter how loud you yell. Yes, from time to time Israel has exacted a toll on the civilians in Gaza. In every single instance, the only time a civilian is killed is in an attempt to root out Hamas, stop Hamas and protect Israeli citizens. The point of any Israeli incursion is never to purposefully inflict harm on a civilian, and while civilian casualties do occur from time to time, I reiterate, it is never the intent.

On the other hand, Hamas ensures its own civilian deaths by using Gazans as human shields. They store their munitions under hospitals, mosques, and schools. When Israel warns the population to leave before a strike, Hamas not only demands that the civilians stay, they shoot their own citizens when they try to leave. This is documented and this has occurred consistently through the decades. To make it more humiliating, when Hamas kills their citizens by accident, they blame it on Israel. What never gets any press is when Israel provides (free) water, electricity, roads, and buildings to Gaza. And in fact, Hamas often destroys these structures or turns off these utilities for the sole purpose of antagonizing its citizens and again blames Israel.

Israel has killed Palestinian civilians in an attempt to destroy the murderous, terrorist group called Hamas. Hamas kills Israeli civilians and its own population to prove a point, to pretend it’s Israel, to protect themselves, and to antagonize Israel. To paraphrase a rabbi I read recently, butchering children does not lead to liberation. Massacring young people at a concert is not justice. This is simply evil and vile, and it furthers no cause.

America, Europe and all the democracies of the world can never sit by and allow the murder of children, the burning of people alive, the torture of children and the elderly on social media, the use of innocent civilians as human shields to become an acceptable practice, to show grievance, exact revenge or further a cause, ever.

Every citizen on the planet should take note that only dictatorships, tyrants, and terrorists use this tactic.

Michael Morris is the owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times.