Israelis united in war against Hamas

NY Times:

To Israel’s critics abroad, the picture could not be clearer: Israel’s war in Gaza is a wildly disproportionate response to the rockets of Hamas, causing untold human suffering and bombing an already isolated and impoverished population into the Stone Age, and it must be stopped.

Yet here in Israel very few, at least among the Jewish population, see it that way.

Since Israeli warplanes opened the assault on Gaza 18 days ago, about 900 Palestinians have been reported killed, many of them civilians. Red Cross workers were denied access to scores of dead and wounded Gazans, and a civilian crowd near a United Nations school was hit, with at least 40 people killed.

But voices of dissent in this country have been rare. And while tens of thousands have poured into the streets of world capitals demonstrating against the Israeli military operation, antiwar rallies here have struggled to draw 1,000 participants. The Peace Now organization has received many messages from supporters telling it to stay out of the streets on this one.

As the editorial page of The Jerusalem Post put it on Monday, the world must be wondering, do Israelis really believe that everybody is wrong and they alone are right?

The answer is yes.

“It is very frustrating for us not to be understood,” remarked Yoel Esteron, editor of a daily business newspaper called Calcalist. “Almost 100 percent of Israelis feel that the world is hypocritical. Where was the world when our cities were rocketed for eight years and our soldier was kidnapped? Why should we care about the world’s view now?”

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Despite the suggestion by the NY Times, Israel has strong support in the US particularly among Republicans. There has also been more understanding of Israel's positions by Middle Eastern governments than by people listening tot he preachers of hate in the mosques and the media.

Most of the disapproval in the rest of the world comes from those who have fallen for the Hamas victim offensive pushed by many in the media. While Israel has been better in the media battle space, it is playing against a stacked deck much of the time.

But there have been several in the media such as Ralph Peters who have appropriately put the blame for all the deaths on Hamas. Hamas revels in death and Palestinian noncombatant deaths are prized second only to Israel noncombatant death. Israel needs to get the point across about the Hamas death cult and not let them get away with acting like they are some charitable organization.