There is a tendency among those who wage war for a just cause to relish the destruction and bloodshed that accompanies the waging of that war.

I recently observed a handful of prominent conservative commentators making comments that could well be described as bloodthirsty and inhumane. These commentators posted videos of Israel launching missile strikes at the Gaza city of Rafah as the nation continues to wage its war against Hamas following the terrorist organization’s attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.

But accompanying these videos were comments celebrating the destruction. These comments ranged from saying that the millions of people who live in Rafah deserved what they were getting to urging the Israeli military to kill as many people as possible. I have refrained from naming these commentators because I do not believe them to be malicious people, but I think the mentality that motivates these kinds of words is worth discussing.

Israel has every right and indeed a duty to root out Hamas from Gaza. The incursion into Rafah is a necessary part of this campaign. But as just and necessary as this operation is, support for this cause cannot be so blind that it loses sight of the fact that war, all war, is a tragedy that should not be celebrated or gloated over.

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Dehumanizing your enemy has always been a major part of warfare. It is a psychological tactic that makes killing them easier. The GIs who fought in World War II had all sorts of derogatory nicknames for the Japanese and Germans they battled on the islands of the Pacific and the forests of Europe.

But as much as that derogatory rhetoric makes the killing of enemies easier, it is still a tragic reality that should not be celebrated. A strong moral compass is what separates a just war from an unjust one. Rather than celebrate the deaths of people in Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza, those who support the just war against Hamas should lament the tragedy that this war is and pray for its swift and merciful end.