Full article https://www.inss.org.il/social_media/numbers/
After only a few days of sympathy on the part of the
international media towards the State of Israel on October 7, the trend
reversed. The international media then began to focus on the Palestinian
victims in the Gaza Strip, while international leaders and public figures began
a campaign of condemnation against Israel to the point of accusing it of
genocide and calling for a ceasefire.
The international media and many in the international
community rely totally on the reports of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in
the Gaza Strip, which is run by Hamas, and is entirely subject to its authority
and supervision. Referring to Hamas as a reliable source, even though it is a
murderous and barbaric terrorist organization, indicates the depth of bias and
hatred toward Israel and strong antisemitic roots.
There is no war in which there is no collateral damage
and injury to unarmed civilians. However, there is no war in modern history in
which the collateral damage is as limited as in this war. What helps reduce it
is Israel's adherence to international law and the laws of armed conflict, as
well as the supreme effort it makes to reduce this damage by issuing early
warnings to the population and urging people to move south, while opening
humanitarian corridors and safe traffic routes.
Hamas’s reliability is questionable and problematic,
not only on the basis of past experience but in general as well. It is thus
necessary to start from the assumption that the numbers of casualties reported
are much higher than the real number. In addition, it is important to emphasize
that a large number of victims are not innocent citizens but Hamas operatives
who work in civilian clothes and assimilate into the population. Their identity
is hidden or disguised even after they have been injured or killed, and they
are included in the number of civilian casualties. Moreover, a not insignificant
percentage of the victims are the result of failed rocket fire by Hamas and
Islamic Jihad, such as the incident at al-Ahli Hospital. There are also
executions of civilians who seek to flee south and are shot by Hamas.
CHILDREN. The numbers reported regarding children who
were harmed are also far-fetched and exaggerated. Here we are dealing with a
distortion related to both the international definitions regarding children (up
to the age of 17 or 18, every young person is considered a child) and the fact
that Hamas trains children for murderous terrorism from preschool age. Hamas
recruits young children in their teens and uses them as terrorists. Many of the
casualties reported as children are active Hamas terrorists.
In addition, many of those unarmed or uninvolved
civilians who were killed as a direct result of IDF activity were killed
because Hamas used them as human shields inside civilian buildings and
infrastructure such as mosques, schools, clinics, and UNWRA facilities, which
were all turned into military installations and rocket launch sites. This
serves to present the victimhood narrative to the international media and the
international community. Hamas not only does not seek to prevent harm to
Palestinian civilians; it also acts with the intention of deliberately
sacrificing its people for propaganda and media efforts.
PROPORTIONALITY. One more word about the distorted
discourse on proportionality, which is rooted in a disturbing ignorance about
the nature of this war and seeks to place responsibility and blame on Israel
for the lack of proportionality. This
discourse ignores the effort Israel makes by using human and material capital
to develop systems that protect its population and save lives, while Hamas robs
its people of international and Israeli aid, and invests all its human and
material capital to develop means of killing and operates them from within the
civilian population while using its population as human shields. When death, a
defining value in the eyes of Hamas and its ilk, succeeds in overshadowing the
value of life as a defining value of sane civilizations, there is
unquestionably cause for concern.
These are precisely the messages that must be presented
firmly to the international media and the international community.
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