Israel has refrained from launching the long expected ground operation for another day. Hamas tried to provoke the IDF last night by sending a terrorist squad in boats to attack the coastal village of Zikim. But the Israeli Navy and Air Force found them, and killed all 10 before they could reach the civilian residents.
The bigger news came from the diplomatic (and media) front. The UN secretary-general made some stupid remarks while trying to present an “even-handed” approach to the problem. I was personally put off by the attempt to equate Israeli efforts to limit civilian casualties with the intentional murder and torture of civilians that the Hamas invaders executed. Much of the media, and a lot of ‘diplomats’ wring their hands over possible Israeli “war crimes”. But nobody seems to feel a necessity to mention that firing rockets at cities is even worse. The UN employs a lot of Gazans to run UNRWA installations there. Hamas benefits from this because the bill is footed by the international community. Hamas has always been good at getting other people to handle routine things like medical and educational needs while they concentrated on investing in their ‘military’ wing. Those international funds were also used to construct the luxurious homes of Hamas leaders in Gaza (some of which have been destroyed by the Israeli Air Force). Bottom line; the Palestinian civilians in Gaza have long been suffering from a corrupt regime that callously calls for international aid to alleviate a condition that they, themselves, have created.
You all need to be reminded that Hamas exercises complete control over all media reports coming from Gaza. Even stories from the Red Cross or the UN are vetted by them. Casualty figures from the Gaza health ministry might be unreliable, and video footage from inside hospitals has been staged in the past. This war does not appear to be any different. People participating in pro-Palestine demonstrations may have pure motivations, but they are being cynically exploited by Hamas as what the Communists used to call “useful idiots”.
Wetherhorn 