Perhaps you have seen a pro-Hamas meme on Facebook or elsewhere on the internet, with two photos comparing ruins in some Ukraine city with ruins in Gaza, the latter being far more extensive, and accompanied by some anti-Israeli question or comment.
Something of that nature (Shalom to Sarah Hoyt) leads David Brooks to ask the following question in the New York Times: What Would You Have Israel Do to Defend Itself?
There seems to be a broad consensus atop
the Democratic Party about the war in Gaza, structured around two
propositions. First, after the attacks of Oct. 7, Israel has the right
to defend itself and defeat Hamas. Second, the way Israel is doing this
is “over the top,” in President Biden’s words. The vast numbers of dead
and starving children are gut wrenching, the devastation is
overwhelming, and it’s hard not to see it all as indiscriminate.
Which
leads to an obvious question: If the current Israeli military approach
is inhumane, what’s the alternative? Is there a better military strategy
Israel can use to defeat Hamas without a civilian blood bath? In recent
weeks, I’ve been talking with security and urban warfare experts and
others studying Israel’s approach to the conflict and scouring foreign
policy and security journals in search of such ideas.
The thorniest reality that comes up is that this war is like few others because the crucial theater is underground. … The current Israeli estimates range from
350 to about 500 miles of tunnels. The tunnel network, according to
Israel, is where Hamas lives, holds hostages, stores weapons, builds
missiles and moves from place to place. By some Israeli estimates,
building these tunnels cost the Gazan people about a billion dollars,
which could have gone to building schools and starting companies.
Hamas
built many of its most important military and strategic facilities
under hospitals, schools and so on. Its server farm, for example, was built under the offices of the U.N. relief agency in Gaza City, according to the Israeli military.
… in this war, Hamas is often underground, the Israelis are often
aboveground, and Hamas seeks to position civilians directly between
them. As Barry Posen, a professor at the security studies program at
M.I.T., has written,
Hamas’s strategy could be “described as ‘human camouflage’ and more
ruthlessly as ‘human ammunition.’” Hamas’s goal is to maximize the
number of Palestinians who die and in that way build international
pressure until Israel is forced to end the war before Hamas is wiped
out. Hamas’s survival depends on support in the court of international
opinion and on making this war as bloody as possible for civilians,
until Israel relents.
… In part because of the tunnels, Israel has caused more destruction in
Gaza than Syria did in Aleppo and more than Russia did in Mariupol,
according to an Associated Press analysis.
… John Spencer is the chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War
Institute at West Point, served two tours in Iraq and has made two
visits to Gaza during the current war to observe operations there. He
told me that Israel has done far more to protect civilians than the
United States did in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Related • To Peacenik Protesters Everywhere (Pro-Palestinian or Other):
The People that Hamas Slaughtered Mercilessly at Israel's Rave — They Are YOU!
• The Genocide Charge Against Israel: What is
the Difference Between War and Genocide in the First Place?
• "You Have Wiped Israel Off the Map!" Clash on French TV As Pro-Palestine Speaker Tries to Gaslight the Fact that Her Palestine Logo Has Made Israel Vanish
• A Gary Varvel cartoon on the current Middle East crisis and the truth about its roots
