FREE THE PALESTINIANS FROM HAMAS (Bernard Henri Lévy)
I am not a military expert and I will abstain from judging if the Israeli bombings of Gaza could have been better aimed and less intensive.
Of course I am moved by the images of dead Palestinian children.
But faced with the madness that overtakes certain media groups when dealing with Israel, I would like to recall certain facts.
1-No other world government, no other country apart from the State of Israel,reviled and hated, would accept so much abuse of its cities over the years.
2- If the Qamas of Hamas, and now its Grad missiles have killed so few, it does not mean that they are homemade or inoffensive;it means that the Israelis protect themselves, they live in hidden basements and refuges: it is a nightmare existence with the noise of the sirens and the explosions. I know about it, I have been in Sderot.
3-The fact that the Israeli abuse takes so many victims does not mean, as the protesters shouted at the end of the week, that Israel is dedicated to a deliberate massacre. It means instead that those who control Gaza have an inverse policy and expose their population: it is the ancient tactic of the "human shield". They set up their command centres and their arms reserves in the basements of hospitals, schools and mosques. It is efficient but disgusting.
4-The Palestinians shoot at cities, that is at civilians (which is called "war crime") while the Israelis aim at military targets and cause civil damages (which are called "collateral damages").
5-It must be remembered that there is something that the French press does not mention and which has never been seen in any war: during the air attacks, the Tsahal units phoned the Gaza inhabitants who lived near a military target to tell them to leave. (The English press says that 100,000 calls were made).
6-As for the blockade on a starving population, this is also not exact:the humanitarian convoys were never allowed to pass through Kerem Shalom until the start of the land attacks and Israeli hospitals continue to receive and treat wounded Palestinians.
We hope that the fighting will stop very soon and that the commentators will come back to reality. They will discover that the worst enemies of the Palestinians are those extremists who never wanted peace or a State and always used the population as an instrument and a hostage. Not only the Israelis but also the Palestinians will have to be freed from the sad influence of Hamas so that peace can exist.