LTRP Note: The following is posted for informational and research purposes.
By Victor Davis Hanson
Hoover Institute, Stanford University historian
“Occupied Gaza.” Prior to October 7, there were roughly two million Arab citizens of Israel but no Jewish citizens in Gaza. Gazans in 2006 voted in Hamas to rule them. It summarily executed its Palestinian Authority rivals. Hamas cancelled all future scheduled elections. It established a dictatorship and diverted hundreds of billions of dollars in international aid to build a vast underground labyrinth of military installations.
So Gaza has been occupied by Hamas, not Israel, for two decades.
“Collateral Damage.” Hamas began the war by deliberately targeting civilians. It massacred them on October 7 when it invaded Israel during a time of peace and holidays. It sent more than 7,000 rockets into Israeli cities for the sole purpose of killing noncombatants. It has no vocabulary for the collateral damage of Israeli civilians, since it believes any Jewish death under any circumstances is cause for celebration. Click here to continue reading.
Related Article:
Israel—A Burdensome Stone to the Nations and the Apple of God’s Eye by Mike Oppenheimer
(image from istockphoto.com; used with permission)
Hamas’ actions against Israel on October 7th were deliberately orchestrated. They knew that Israel could obliterate them, that Israel would come at them with all they had. So they came at Israel like a fellow brings a knife to a gun fight. Then they cry about it on Al Jazeera Media, CNN, MSNBC, etc. etc. The timing was perfect. Israeli retaliation came during Ramadan, and world opinion was deliberately planned to be turned against the victim, Israel. Terrorists are getting smarter and smarter at deception and deflection, but they are still the aggressor terrorists that they have always been.
“There will be peace in Jerusalem when Palestinian mothers love their children more than they hate the Jews.” – Golda Meir, former Prime Minister of Israel.