Before it gets lost in the surfeit of media “reporting” about Israelis starving Gazan children….
…you might want to read Jake Wallis Simons’ excellent commentary, titled “It’s time for the whole truth on the UN’s declaration of famine in Gaza”.
Here is how it begins (but do yourself a favor and don’t stop here, read the entire piece):
As I write, Israeli troops are mobilising to conquer Gaza City. In response, the United Nations has declared that the Strip has succumbed to famine, a claim that has been denied by Israel but amplified unquestioningly by the media. There you have it: attack and counterattack.
Such is the asymmetry of this war. When it comes to military might, the IDF is unstoppable. As Benjamin Netanyahu pointed out on a podcast this week, Hamas would have been defeated without a single Israeli casualty if Jerusalem hadn’t striven to limit civilian deaths.
The jihadis have lost hundreds of their tunnels and tens of thousands of men, including several generations of leadership. But this is not the war they are fighting.
No, Hamas is fighting for your sympathy. Embracing death and misery, both real and exaggerated, for the sake of propaganda, they keep the hostages for bait and use gullible ideologues in NGOs and the media to conjure international pressure on the enemy. Sooner or later, Israel will buckle. All they have to do is
hold out.
This is the sad truth of Gaza. Since no one expects hamas to do a thing on behalf of anyone or anything but itself, the only demands being made are on Israel. And if Israel capitulates, then hamas – which, again, doesn’t do a thing for anyone or anything but itself – will survive, restrengthen and, as soon as possible, attack Israel again.
Israel is trying to end this cycle. Which, of course, has resulted in the opprobrium of most of the world…and which has, as usual (no surprise after 58 centuries) filtered down to individual Jews, Israeli and non-Israeli, as well.
Please, please, read the rest of Mr. Simons’ commentary (here is the link again). And see what Israel is up against; what it has to ongoingly deal with.
