If any American still needs to be convinced of the righteousness of Israel’s military campaign against Hamas, then the juxtaposition of the Israel Defense Force’s rescue of four civilian hostages held by Hamas with the chaotic anti-Israel riots surrounding the White House should make the moral choice clear.
Just before noon local time in Gaza Saturday, the IDF infiltrated two apartment buildings in Nuseirat, neutralized the Hamas fighters inside, extracted the hostages, and then fought their way to a nearby beach where they boarded helicopters for Israel.
One IDF special forces officer was killed during the raid, while there were more than 100 Gazan casualties, many of whom fired weapons and threw rocks at the Israelis as they made their way to the beach for extraction.
The four hostages freed — Noa Argamani, Almog Meir, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv — all had been at the Nova music festival on Oct 7 when they were brutally kidnapped by Hamas. The home in which they were being held belonged to a Gazan journalist who also served as the spokesperson for the Hamas Ministry of Labor.
Hamas claims that 274 Gazans died in the operation, but there is no reason to believe this total. As has been clearly documented before, Hamas constantly inflates the number of casualties to elicit sympathy. The IDF confirmed that more than 100 Gazans, both armed Hamas fighters and civilians throwing rocks, were harmed in the extraction, and these losses are unfortunate.
The moral blame for those casualties, however, does not fall on the IDF, but on Hamas. It is Hamas who chose to kidnap these civilians, and it is Hamas who chose to hide these hostages in a refugee camp, and it is Hamas who is refusing to return the remaining hostages in exchange for a ceasefire. Hamas has the power to end the killing in Gaza tomorrow. All it must do is return the hostages. It is Hamas’ decision not to return the hostages that is causing death.
The Gazan’s love of death was reflected more than 9,000 miles away that same day as thousands of anti-Israel protesters literally surrounded the White House carrying a giant red banner that they intended as a symbol for the red line President Joe Biden said he would not let Israel cross.
“I no longer believe any of the words that Joe Biden says,” one protester said. “This red line in his rhetoric is rubbish … It shows his hypocrisy and his cowardice.”
Other protesters chanted, “Hezbollah, Hezbollah, kill another Zionist now,” while carrying a banner that read, “Jihad of victory or martyrdom.” The protesters set off multiple flares that left a cloud of smoke over the White House. All five statues of American Revolution war heroes in Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House, were desecrated and defaced. An American flag was burned, and a mask representing the bloody, severed head of Biden was raised above the crowd to cheers.
But despite all the wanton destruction, and video showing protesters pelting Park Police with bottles while calling them fascists, not a single arrest was made.
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Biden was not in Washington while the anti-Israel protesters displayed his plastic head outside the White House gates. He was in France attending a state dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron, where he once again called on Hamas to accept a ceasefire. “We won’t stop working until all the hostages come home and a ceasefire is reached,” he said.
Biden has done as much as he can to slow Israel’s efforts to eliminate Hamas in Gaza. He has instead focused on trying to trade the continued existence of Hamas for peace. At some point, he may finally realize Hamas has no interest in a lasting peace with Israel.