Gaza: "Killing Children is Wrong"

 

By Mike Cohen

"We hold these truths to be self-evident" says the American Declaration of Independence and, indeed, what could be more obvious than the above statement? But is there anything "right," for example, about a child born with mental or physical handicaps? "Ah," you will doubtless counter, "One (the child) is often unavoidable, unless you can detect it and believe in abortions, whereas the other (Gaza operation) is the direct result of a human action."

In an ideal world there would be no suffering for innocents, but, alas, our world is not an ideal world. "Wrong," in my opinion, does not mean "unjustifiable." This is not mere sophistry but is at the heart of the present Gaza conflict. I chose the killing of a child as being the worst aspect of the ongoing war.

The suffering of so many civilians as a result of the Israeli attack is appalling and has had a devastating effect on Israel's image. No amount of counter argument and statistics will diminish the shock on the part of the neutral observer -- let alone anti-Israel and/or anti Semitic onlookers. How is, then, that I, as someone who loves children – as a father and grandfather, could have the temerity to justify such things? To be fair, I have no doubt that if I were to see the bodies at close hand, I would be deeply disturbed. Woe to anyone who could remain indifferent to such sights!

Nevertheless, as an Israeli, I am convinced that we had no reasonable alternative, and if you will bear with me, I'll try to explain.

Yesterday the U.N. Security Council voted almost unanimously for a resolution which in our opinion was one-sided. How many of those countries which voted for the resolution would have tolerated eight years of rocket attacks on their civilians from a neighboring country?

Imagine a sustained missile attack over eight years launched from the Mexican side of the border on San Diego, for example, or from Scotland on Carlisle. Yes, it's hard to imagine. That's why all the spectators find it so easy to take the moral high ground, express their horror and try to organize humanitarian aid --because it is not their innocent men, women and children who have been living under the threat of a mortar or Qassam that can destroy their lives if they can't get themselves and their children to the relative safety within 15-60 seconds, depending on where they live.

Let's be less imaginative: how many tears were shed after the Allies bombed German cities and killed hundreds of thousands of civilians as a result of the Nazi raids on Britain? They didn't cry then and I doubt if they feel remorse today. The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. The Hamas deliberately fire from urban centres to draw fire on their own towns to fuel the propaganda fire against Israel. They are good at it ! We have the choice of doing nothing or trying to stop them by force, while trying to minimize damage and death to non-combatants. We sometimes phone people's houses to warn them to evacuate before attacking a block of flats from which they are launching missiles, for example. We have no quarrel with the people of Gaza and have our own interest in avoiding harm done to them. A recent visitor to friends of mine in Israel asked innocently, "But can't you resolve these problems without bloodshed?" If only we could ! When we cause the deaths of innocents it is regrettable and no one I know rejoices at their deaths. On the other side of the border are those who deliberately set out to cause maximum suffering of military and civilians alike. It is their publicly declared aim to exterminate us --as is that of the President of Iran. How can you negotiate that?

Finally the question of proportionality. There is a clear disproportion in the number of deaths on both sides. This is not for lack of motivation, but because -- till now, their missiles are very basic, though Iran is doing its best to supply them with longer-range weapons. We cannot afford to exchange life for life; this is not our approach; we do not promise seventy virgins if you sacrifice yourself for Allah. We recently bombed the home of a Hamas leader, who preached that kind of hatred and who sent his own son on a suicide mission. With him died, I think, all of his family.

We believe in life. If only all that money poured into Gaza had been used constructively instead of arms purchases, the standard of living would have risen. For years thousands of workers would cross every day to work in Israel. I can remember some who worked in our home. It was a symbiotic relationship. We needed workers; they needed work. What went wrong? They started sending in suicide bombers, so we closed the border.

The old adage about truth being the first casualty in war is as true as ever. I have given you our side of the story, and it is natural for the outsider to treat it as such. There is always another side. It is not black and white, but I believe
that it is far whiter this side of the border. But all these arguments count for little against the evidence of one's eyes when looking at the war footage.

Nevertheless when people threaten to exterminate us, history has taught us to take the future threat seriously. That's why we're in Gaza.

Years ago we spoke to friends who live in a small English village about the threat of Moslem fundamentalists. "Not our Moslems!" was her reply. That was before 9/11 and the London bombers. It's true the overwhelming majority of Moslems are not terrorists, but the overwhelming majority of terrorists are also Moslems. Today it's us -- and tomorrow …?

Mike Cohen - Mike and Marianne Cohen live in Ra'anana. Mike Cohen is a veteran of the Yom Kippur war.

Original content is Copyright by the author 2009.