War! What Is It Good For?

Absolutely something

Does anyone seriously believe the Israeli Defense Force targeted a Palestinian hospital for destruction? If so, they’ll never believe a Hamas rocket caused the carnage – no matter what evidence Israel provides.

Even if these fingers-in-their-ears naysayers did accept the idea that Hamas killed hundreds of their own people by launching a defective rocket with no set target, they’ll say it’s Israel’s fault.

Hamas wouldn’t have fired the rocket if not for the unconscionable actions of the Gaza strip’s oppressors. Their jailers. The Jews. Who got what they deserved.

It’s hard for peaceable Americans to understand hatred so virulent it condones, indeed celebrates Hamas "fighters” descending on a peaceful rave to hunt down and kill more than 260 unarmed partygoers.

Not to mention the hundreds of men, women and children executed or kidnapped by laughing terrorists. Who the Hell burns babies?

Hamas. So why are people – specifically the media – more concerned about civilian casualties in Gaza than terrorist casualties?

If a Mexican cartel inflicted the same slaughter on Americans living on the U.S. side of the border, and U.S. troops went cartel hunting, I don’t think collateral damage would be the headline story.

And yet I keep hearing the words “proportional response” in discussions of Israel’s response to Hamas’ brutality.

The media repeatedly lists Palestinian and Israeli body counts simultaneously – as if there’s no difference between intentional massacre in a surprise attack and unintended collateral damage in a declared war.

At the same time, reporters lament the fate of “Palestinians who have nothing to do with Hamas.”

Riddle me this: what do you think of the Germans in World War II who “had nothing to do with the Nazis?”

Did they bear any responsibility for the murder of six million Jews? They didn’t turn on the gas in the ovens, but they knew about and supported Hitler’s less-than-friendly approach to “the Jewish question.”

Hamas established a brutal dictatorship. Dissent is disallowed in no uncertain terms. But if you think the average Palestinian in Gaza doesn’t want to wipe Jews off the face of the Earth, well, you’re wrong.

You’re also wrong if you think armies should respond to genocidal aspirations like a policemen: wait until the bad guy commits a crime, then apprehend him with as little force as humanly possible.

Preferably without killing him. Definitely without killing innocent bystanders – even if it means the bad guy gets away.

That’s not how you win a war. You take the fight to the enemy wherever they are. You capture or kill them by whatever means necessary.

Yes, a “good” military adheres to the Geneva Convention and tries not to injure or kill innocent civilians. But all professional military men and women know that no matter how carefully and humanely they deploy lethal force, non-combatants are going to die.

That’s doubly true in a densely populated area. If the enemy embeds men and materials inside or under these areas, double the odds and numbers again.

Blame Israel all you want for civilian casualties in Gaza, but remember that the United States has its own history in that regard.

During World War II, we bombed Dresden to rubble, killing some 25k thousand men, women and children in the process. Then dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, killing an estimated 180k civilians.

The American military justified indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets as an appropriate action in the fight against evil.

We’ve come a long way since then, in no small part due to advances in targeted weapons and intelligence gathering. Which Israel is using to the best of their abilities to avoid civilian casualties.

But evil is still evil. At some point, it must be destroyed. For Israel it’s a matter of survival. For America, too.

History tells us (again and again) that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is that good men do nothing.

Equally, it tells us that killing Jews is a warm-up for atrocities on a larger scale. How many 9/11’s do we need to grasp that reality?

It is in our best interest to support Israel’s war against Hamas, come what may, until the job is done.