The Hamas organization, which rules the Palestinian Arab enclave of Gaza, took a leaf out of what might be called the Book of Historical Treachery. It launched an attack on Israel on Simchat Torah, which is widely and joyfully celebrated at the conclusion of Sukkot and, in effect, puts a bookend on the period of High Holidays that begins with Rosh Ha-shana less than a month earlier.
The fighting began, according to reports, with an all-out attack on southern Israel in the early hours of the Sabbath and bombardments as far north as Tel Aviv. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated early that Israel was on full war footing, with the call up of reservists and air strikes commencing against Hamas positions.
As the Sabbath ended and the second day of Simcha Torah began, Israel reported losses of at least 200 civilians and soldiers, and an undetermined number of hostages taken behind the terrorists lines. Estimates of casualties in Gaza as Israeli air and artillery struck at the aggressors were in the same range or higher.
This, presumably, implies — but does it really? — immediate readiness to supply Israel with whatever munitions it requests, if any.
Hamas thinks: Hit them when they are praying, or gathering in families, or thinking about God’s commandments, which among others include prohibitions against mayhem and murder.
As they did during Yom Kippur 50 years ago, the bad guys struck when their targets least expected it.
Just a note: calling one side the bad guys may seem biased when, at The American Spectator, we always go by the fair-and-accurate-just-the-news rule of old-time pre-partisan media. But let’s not kid ourselves.
During WW II, our media, led by such men and women as Ernie Pyle, Joe Liebling, Maggie Higgins, would not have thought twice about speaking of “our side” or “our troops” and leaving no doubt who was the instrument of the Lord’s terrible swift sword.
Fair and accurate, always; but when there is a war on and it is between our civilization and its enemies, you do not restrain your moral angle of vision.
Indeed, back in 1981, when Israel’s army attacked the PLO, precursor of Hamas, in Lebanon, The American Spectator, using my and the late, great Tom Bethell’s pens, noted in our reports that, sadly, much of the U.S. and Western media dropping hints, when they were not saying it explicitly, that Israel was the aggressor.
This is not to take any credit, only to recall that the reporting then — already! — had taken a marked turn from the major media’s coverage of the Six-Day War of ’67 and the Yom Kippur War, ’73. It was an after-effect of the way our media began to take an adversarial stance against official positions, well beyond skeptical, after the Vietnam war and the Watergate affair.
Broadly speaking, the major media coverage of foreign affairs in recent years has stayed on an even keel, at least by comparison with U.S. domestic political affairs. It will be interesting therefore to watch for fairness and accuracy in the reporting on the current assault on Israel and its seven million Jews. (There are close to two million Muslims who hold full Israeli citizenship, with some restrictions on serving in sensitive defense jobs.) Hamas, for its part, makes no distinction between “eradicating” the state of Israel and “killing the Jews.” This is clear from its own published statements as well as those of their sponsors and supporters in Iran. (ref.: Memri)
The fighting began, according to reports, with an all-out attack on southern Israel in the early hours of the Sabbath and bombardments as far north as Tel Aviv. This prompted immediate responses by premier Benjamin Netenyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that Israel was on full war footing, with the call up of reservists and air strikes against Hamas positions.
American allies lost no time expressing support for Israel:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “India stands in solidarity with Israel.”
Volodomyr Zelensky (Ukraine): “Israel has an indisputable right to defend itself.”
Antonio Tajani (foreign minister): Italy condemns the attacks on Israel “with utmost firmness.”
Emmanuel Macron (president): France in “full solidarity” with Israel.
Olof Scholz (chancellor): “Germany condemns these attacks by Hamas and stands beside Israel.”
Ursula von der Leyen (European Union): “Israel has the right to defend itself against such heinous attacks.”
The White House: “the United States unequivocally condemns the unprovoked attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians.”
This, presumably, implies — but does it really? — immediate readiness to supply Israel with whatever munitions it requests, if any. Which in turn suggests that the U.S. government might stop throwing the peoples’ money away while engaging in vanity projects and power games, and get serious about national security, which includes threats to our allies.
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