Civilian casualties in Gaza are painful and immoral even if they are supporters of Hamas and considered fair game by some after they celebrated the murder of men and women at the Nova festival on October 7, and mutilated their bodies that were taken to the Strip and would most likely have lynched any live Israeli woman had they been able to.
But Israel is not Hamas. It does not set out to hurt innocent bystanders. Whenever civilians are harmed, Israel is slammed in the world press before any investigation into the incident, even begins.
Hamas has a method. It positions its command posts among civilian women and children. The terrorists know that the IDF is targeting their number so using the civilians as human shields is the most effective way to cause Israel harm.
If the IDF refrains from attacking the Hamas centers, the terrorists would be spared but if civilians are hurt, Hamas still wins on the international stage.
Either way, Hamas has been inflating the number of civilian casualties and media outlets, that should know better, rely on their figures. Most reporters covering the war opt to ignore Hamas crimes as slamming Israel has become the norm.
On Saturday, Israel targeted a Hamas command center inside a mosque located in a school compound in Gaza. Hamas said displaced civilians were sheltering there but that is a lie. Israel did not target a school or a mosque. The attack was on Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists and the fact that the command center was inside a mosque or school cannot protect it from attack.
Troops operating in the area, found tunnel shafts and weapons in nearly every building there and many of the terrorists who committed the massacre on October 7, came from those same buildings.
The Geneva Convention article 28 states clearly "The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations."
In article 52 the convention says: "In case of doubt whether an object which is normally dedicated to civilian purposes, such as a place of worship, a house or other dwelling or a school, is being used to make an effective contribution to military action, it shall be presumed not to be so used."
But even a diligent search of the coverage of the war, would not yield a discussion of the international law unless it could be used to accuse Israel of war crimes and genocide.
During the Second World War, working-class neighborhoods in Dresden were bombed to maximize civilian casualties, because many there were employed in Germany's weapons manufacturing. In Hamburg, some 60% of the city's buildings were destroyed.
But decision-makers must consider if every attack is justified and advisable or if the damage in the international arena, is greater than any advantage gained
More recently during the war in Iraq, the coalition's assault on Araka and Mosul had similar results and their targets were not terror commands or weapons depots. The debate over the justification of bombings in the distant or nearer past is not over. But that did not stop British Foreign Secretary David Lammy from condemning Israel nor did it give Western media, pause before taking part in the Hamas propaganda, despite Israel's demonstrative efforts, much more than the British ever took, to mitigate civilian casualties.
But decision-makers in Israel must ask themselves if every attack is justified and advisable or if the damage to Israel in the international arena, is greater than any advantage gained. After more than 10 months of war, Israel's standing internationally is at its lowest ever. More Western nations have been considering an arms embargo, some have already decided to suspend weapons sales. Israel is fighting the war in the field but also in the international front. Claims that it targets civilians, even if they are propaganda and lies, decide policy.
But the world shuts its eyes to the danger it faces from the global Jihadists that Israel is fighting. These are the same terrorists who plotted to attack the Taylor Swift concerts in Austria and had already carried out attacks in nearly every European capital.
Israel deserves the world's support, not its condemnation. Turning a blind eye to the dangers of murderous threats has already cost the world millions of lives. It must not happen again.