By Bruce S. Ticker
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — They lied, they strangled child hostages Ariel and Kfir Bibas and they revived a wave of fury.
“No reason not to blow the s—hole to pieces now,” writes Lorraine on Facebook.
“We’re with you, Israel. Rain hell on those savages,” adds Paul, also on Facebook. “There is no other way. The only ones who don’t represent a threat are the dead ones.”
David writes: “I only hope that every pally man woman and child are destroyed. Don’t let those beasts breed or bring their kids up to hate Jews. Sterilize Gaza and resolve the problem for good.”
“Israel shouldn’t live under the perpetual risk of attack from the pretend people.”
So, what should we do about it? Follow the ghastly recommendations of those quoted above?
Horror seized the Jewish community and what exists of the civilized world when an Israeli military commander reported that terrorists strangled to death two young brothers and replaced the body of their mother with an unknown woman. The bodies of Shiri Bibas, 32, her sons Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 10 months, and Oded Lifshitz, 83, were expected to be returned to Israel on Thursday, but Shiri Bibas’ body was missing from her coffin and the cause of death for her sons differed from what Hamas claimed.
“Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered by terrorists in cold blood,” Israel Defense Forces Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said, according to The New York Post. “Contrary to Hamas’ lies, Ariel and Kfir were not killed in an airstrike. They killed them with their bare hands. Afterwards, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities.”
The children were killed in November 2023, a month after Hamas’ massacre of 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, after they and their mother were kidnapped from their home in Nir Oz, in southern Israel. Shiri’s body was subsequently returned. Hagari explained, “This assessment is based on both forensic findings from the identification process and intelligence that supports these findings.”
The nightmare visited upon the Bibas family ignited such an emotional explosion that many Jews and other supporters of Israel are urging the destruction of Gaza as it is the only way to eliminate Hamas. In this vein, they emphasize that all Palestinians are either part of Hamas or at least seek the end of Israel.
This basic principle is clear: Israel cannot tolerate any threat to its existence or stability and must do whatever is necessary to resist it. Israel has the right to attack Gaza with no limits if it is needed to protect Israel. For carrying this out in the context of a military strategy, the government owes no apology to anyone no matter how catastrophic.
Hamas must take full responsibility. They arranged the conditions.
Critics of Israel rarely mention that Hamas attacked Israel and set up its own people as human shields. Israel was dutybound to weaken Hamas even if it meant jeopardizing the lives of large numbers of Palestinians. They were forced to choose between killing Arab civilians or paving the way for Hamas to kill Israeli civilians.
There are other factors to consider. Israel’s bombing and ground raids could well have killed hostages that it hoped to free. Israel should have likewise pondered the moral question of whether to imperil Palestinian civilians when they deemed it unwarranted.
I also do not believe that all Arabs want Israel destroyed. Many certainly do, but this does not mean that all or even a majority share this goal. How can anyone figure out how many are for or against Israel? Does presumption of Arabs’ hostile attitudes justify indiscriminate killing? Polling might support the idea of broad hatred to Israel, and I regard polls as sometimes helpful, sometimes unreliable.
I have yet to fully understand the reasons for Israel’s heavy-handed response. Was the scale of the bombardments necessary? What were Israel’s leaders thinking? I can take some educated guesses, and I know I could be wrong. Also, I do not necessarily concur with their purposes. Israel’s two possible justifications:
–They were pressuring Hamas and other terrorist groups to give up. Striking a limited number of military targets was not enough to compel terrorists to surrender. Israel’s massive siege was viewed as critical to achieving what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dubbed “total victory.”
–Nearly 1,200 miles east, Iranian ayatollahs are witnessing the wasteland that has become of Gaza and they are likely wondering what Tehran will resemble if they tangle with Israel.
In this vein, a Hamas leader admitted to a New York Times reporter that he would not have supported the invasion of southern Israel had he been able to predict Gaza’s current condition – destruction of much of its terrain, thousands of Gazan deaths and displacement of almost two million Palestinians.
“If it was expected that what happened would happen, there wouldn’t have been Oct. 7,” Mousa Abu Marzouk said in a Times story published on Tuesday.
What can any of us expect? Just what did Abu Marzouk expect?
*
Bruce S. Ticker is a Philadelphia-based columnist.