David Young – My thoughts on what’s happening here in Israel
Several of my non-Israeli and/or English friends have asked me if the Israeli army is exaggerating their current ground operation in Gaza. According to the Hamas/Dash Ministry of Health, over 18,000 Gazans have been killed since Oct. 7. This number does not say whether it includes the hundreds of terrorists who have been killed fighting the Israeli army (IDF).
To understand the above statistics, I think the following should be taken into account. On Saturday, Oct 7 about 2,500 Hamas terrorists and hangers-on (many of whom had undergone serious training for this invasion for months) invaded Israel in the south. This was instigated by Hams and was not a reaction to any specific Israeli action. It was the result of Hamas seeing Israel as a weakened society, riven by internal dissent over the country’s judicial system and other problems and therefore they saw this as the best time to attack the wicked Zionist enemy.
To do so, the Hamas forces smashed the border fence and swarmed in on foot, by car and by motor-bike and, according to a long thought-out detailed plan, they swept through the kibbutzim and other settlements and small towns along the Gaza-Israel border. In doing so, they murdered 1,400 Israelis including mainly civilians. Of this terrible number many were raped and tortured before being killed. In addition to this ancient Viking-style pillage, they burned and destroyed several settlements and kidnapped, i.e. literally carrying off in cars and motorbikes about 240 people back into Gaza to be displayed as trophies of war. This is not wicked Israeli propaganda. Hamas took selfies etc. to show how victorious they were (like the Nazis did in WW2.)
Following some very long complicated international negotiations, about 100 of these hostages have been returned (mainly women and children and a few foreign laborers) while the remaining 140 languish in Gaza as future bargaining chips. They are probably being incarcerated in deep underground tunnels or in smashed-up buildings. According to some released hostages, the conditions are sub-human, with little food and drink being given to them.
Israel is a small country both in geographic size and population. Everybody knows someone either directly or through work etc. of someone who was murdered or imprisoned. Israel was established in 1948 as a refuge so that no Jew would be murdered/ humiliated here as had been done to them during the 12-year Nazi Holocaust. This Hitlerite period is a major part of the Israeli national psyche and is never far from the surface. Therefore, when 1,400 Israelis are butchered, mutilated, and decapitated (see Hamas films) then the country has no option but to rise up against these ISIS-style murderers. It is hard for me to say, but these Hamas attackers were even worse, if that is possible than the Nazis. Their reaction was not military, tactical, or conquering. It was utterly bestial. Its aim was to inflict as much pain and suffering as possible.
Why has Israel reacted and gone into Gaza so heavily? This is no regular battlefield with the two sides facing off against each other like in a footie match. It is urban warfare in an extremely densely built-up area. Virtually every building, be it a block of flats, a hospital, a school or a kindergarten has been fortified and contains huge amounts of rockets, bombs, and ammunition of all sorts, (recorded on Israeli & Hamas films). Each of these buildings is heavily defended by terrorists who feel that they have nothing to lose. This results in the Israeli army having to move slowly, building by building, in order to clear out this desperate and deadly enemy while the IDF do their utmost to keep their own casualty figures as low as possible. The only Hamas soldiers (and they have been training for this for years) who survive are those who surrender. Happily, more and more are doing so, but this war is not yet over, not by a long chalk.
And just to show how extreme and selfish the Hamas/Dash leadership etc. are, they are hijacking the UN relief food convoys and taking the food, water & gas for themselves and not redistributing it to the poor Gazans who need it if they are to survive. In the same way, the tunnels and subterranean shelters were built by the Hamas leadership for their own protection and not for the rest of the population. (Admitted on TV by a top Hamas chief in a BBC interview.)
Bottom line: Israel has no alternative but to get rid of Hamas. This slow house-to-house fighting is the only way the IDF will be able to remove this evil force from the face of the earth. ISRAEL IS NOT COMMITTING GENOCIDE! If Hamas surrenders now, then Israel will be happy to stop fighting immediately. What happens after this is anyone’s guess. But whatever happens, it will have to be without Hamas in any shape or form. Both Israel and the Arabs will have to do a lot of thinking after this war if we are to live in some sort of peace and harmony.
David L. Young
Jerusalem, Israel
