Comment & Debate
“Defending Israel’s Operations in Gaza”. Aisha – The number of Palestinians casualties is much higher. Isn’t that proof of Israeli wrongdoing?
The reason that Israel suffers less casualties is because it has a superior army, and has spent millions of dollars on civil defense infrastructure (neighborhood bomb shelters, reinforced concrete playgrounds for children, etc.).
Also, Israeli hospitals are well-equipped to handle the wounded. Not just Jews, but Gazans, too! In Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital, “dozens of Gaza Arabs are being treated… at the same time terrorists are bombarding the city.” (“Israeli Hospital Cares for Sick and Injured Gaza Arabs,” by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, Israel National News, December 29, 2008)
By contrast, in the Gaza hospitals, “armed Hamas militants in civilian clothes roamed the halls” where they shot and killed other Palestinians. (“No Early End Seen to ‘All-Out War’ on Hamas in Gaza,” by Ethan Bronner and Taghreed El-Khodary, New York Times, December 29, 2008)
Shockingly, Hamas is not even allowing wounded Palestinians access to medical treatment. “We are waiting for the wounded Palestinians to cross. They are not being allowed to cross,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters. Asked who was to blame, he said: “Ask the party in control on the ground in Gaza.” (“Egypt: Hamas denying Gaza wounded treatment in Egypt,” by Alaa Shahine, Reuters, December 28, 2008)
It is absurd to assign the “moral high-ground” to he who suffers the most causalities. By this yardstick, during World War Two the Axis forces would be considered the “victims” against the Allied “aggressors.”