Netanyahu is playing right into the hands of all the Israel haters — and right into the hands of the terrorists themselves.
They kill innocent Israelis forcing Israel to respond.
When Israel shoots the terrorists and follows up with arrests and other measures, the terrorists can protest Israeli aggression.
It’s a ‘twofer’, or two for one: dead Israelis and international outrage against Israel. It’s a cycle we all know well.
But why is Netanyahu stoking the fire of Palestinian victimization?
Of course, Israel must respond to attacks against its civilians. But razing the houses where the terrorists lived? Where others lived — all of whom must be presumed innocent of aiding and abetting since no trial, no arrest has taken place.
Destroying these houses is, in a term the anti-Israel folk have coined, “collective punishment,” and I’m not one to usually adopt their lingo.
I don’t believe for a second this tactic will serve as a deterrent to any existing terrorist; on the contrary, destroying people’s homes is an ideal recruitment tool for future terrorists.
It’s punishment, pure and simple, but it’s conviction by association. There’s no evidence being presented that the people inhabiting these homes have helped the terrorist in question (demolitions have been ordered in at least four cases). There are no charges being filed, no cases going to court.
Of course there will be charges filed and cases heard, but they will be the suits of these families — and the international community — for the wrongful destruction of property, the forced evacuation of civilians.
And the pictures of displaced people standing on where their home once stood are the ideal material for all those individuals and groups — Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the UN etc. & etc. — who are out to demonize and delegitimize Israel.
Doesn’t Netanyahu get this?
Israel always boasts that it is “the only democracy in the Middle East,” and it has the right to do so. Unlike many of its neighbors, Israel has a rule of law, which is currently being pursued in the case of IDF soldier, Almog Shiloni, who was murdered on Nov. 10. His assailant, Nur al-Din Abu Hashiyeh, was indicted on murder charges on Monday, Nov. 24.
This is the path Israel should pursue.
The decision to destroy the homes of terrorists is not Israel’s finest hour. And it’s such decisions that make it difficult for Israel to claim it is the most moral army in the world.
The Israelites have the right to self-determination. They are the people who live there, not I. They will evaluate the results of their demolition policy, not I. I support Israel.
I think as Israel supporters we do have a right to express an opinion about Israeli policy — I’m not saying we should decide the policy, or even influence it, not at all, that’s up to the people who live there! But as supporters we’re also held to task about Israel’s actions (whether fairly or not) so I think our opinions do matter.