When the Luftwaffe carried out the blitz on London, it was a war crime. When the Americans and British bombed Tokyo, Dresden, Hamburg, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, hundreds of thousands of innocent people were killed. But it was not a crime. This was a necessity in order to defeat the Nazi axis of evil.
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When the U.S. launched the war on terror, bombing Fallujah, Mosul and Raqqa among others to defeat al Qaeda or ISIS, hundreds of thousands were killed. This was not a war crime. It was a necessity, even though there was no existential threat to the West.
When Hamas leaders repeatedly declare their intent to exterminate the Jews and take over the world, and embark on a campaign to murder innocents, Israel is forced to defeat Hamas. Innocents are being killed. It's as sad in Gaza as it was in Dresden or Mosul.
The axis of evil has announced in advance that as soon as Israel holds her fire, it will renew its effort to destroy the Jewish state. This is exactly what Razi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, declared: "October 7 was only the first time. There will be a second and third and fourth time."
So it is not only Israel's right to defeat Hamas. It is her duty. Just as it was a supreme moral obligation to defeat the Nazis, a demand for a cease-fire is tantamount to supporting the resumption of Hamas' extermination efforts.
Ben-Dror Yemini Photo: Avigail UziAnyone who would have proposed a cease-fire with Germany without the complete surrender of the Nazis would have been considered insane. Today he is considered a human rights fighter.
A reminder: Israel demands a cease-fire in return for the release of the hostages and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip. Hamas prefers bloodshed. Not Israel.
But anyway, this is not the demand of the pro-Hamas demonstrators. They are on the side of the axis of evil and annihilation. And it's a shame.