Truth is Always the First Casualty of War

News out of Gaza in recent days has announced two things:

500 deaths outside a Gaza hospital and that it was caused  

by an Israeli strike. The source of this news item was Hamas's

propaganda campaign, trying very hard to make the Israeli

forces look like bloodthirsty beasts, and much of the inter-

national media, with its widespread anti-Israel bias,

unquestioningly took Hamas at its word. Thus, truth is always

the first casualty of war, as one side begins to fight on a 

second front --- the battle to persuade people as to who 

are the good guys and who are the villains; the latter always

try to dress up as sheep while covering their wolfish tendencies.

Surprisingly (to say the least), President Biden said in a speech

during his recent visit to Israel that proof emerged that the 

cause of the attack was a Palestinian rocket, not an Israeli

one. In so doing he kept the focus on Hamas's egregious 

violations of the laws of war, which have of late been used 

to hamstring Israel and its capability to defend itself and to

gain support from western nations. The BBC said --- on air

--- that the Israelis "said they are investigating, but it is hard 

to see what else this could be, really, given the size of the 

explosion, other than an Israeli airstrike, or several airstrikes."

Really? Do you Beeb boobs believe that the Palestinians would

never, ever, fire at a hospital, trying to take out doctors, nurses,

children, and patients while the Israelis would do it in a 

heartbeat?

Headlines have since shifted, but now political lefties around

the world are holding protests asking Israel to initiate a cease-

fire. Hamas would like it a lot if Israel were to do this, of course.

Meanwhile, a White House National Security Council spokesman

averred that "(Our) current assessment, based on analysis of 

overhead imagery, intercepts and open source information,

is that Israel is not responsible for the explosion at the hospital

in Gaza." An intercept of a call between Hamas members 

along with Israeli drone film bolster the already accumulated 

evidence. 

So what actually happened? Either of two things: Possibility one,

the Palestinians launched a rocket which malfunctioned and never

got near its intended (Israeli) target; Possibility two: the Palestinians

deliberately struck the area just outside one of their hospitals and

tried to pin the blame on Israeli forces. The hospital still stands,

but the parking lot outside the hospital had been hit, with lots of 

evidence of fire damage but not the impact crater one usually sees

with Israeli air strikes. 

Now, regarding the rules of warfare which civilized nations developed 

through the centuries, there are two iron-clad rules right off: One,

you can't target civilians. Two, incidental casualties must be balanced

against the aims of war; in other words, proportionality is to be 

sustained. This is acknowledging that in any war some innocent 

bystanders, if you will, are going to get killed, but these deaths must

be related to the goals of self-defense. While zero casualties is, sadly,

an impossible goal, the more realistic goal is then to minimize these

deaths with the count consistent with defeating the enemy.

Hamas and their allies blow it on Rule One; every rocket attack they 

made and continue to make on Israel is a war crime according to this

rule. But journos in the West, government officials in many western 

nations and politicians in and out of office hold Israel to casualty 

totals extremely close to zero while turning a blind eye to the totals

piled up by the Palestinians, and are quick to believe all accounts of 

alleged Israeli atrocities while excusing actual Palestinian atrocities,

blithely lying that they are just defending themselves, or that they 

are getting justice for their own having been killed by the Israelis.

Note: The Israelis DO NOT (emphasis The Peasant's) bomb hospitals,

schools, orphanages, or shoot at civilian women and children.

The Palestinians hide behind children to avoid being shot at, especially

children taken hostage. 

Israel is now getting much deserved support from the United States,

with President Biden seeming to start to understand the truth behind

how the war in Israel is being waged by the Israelis, fighting valiantly

to defend their land and their people. Let's hope that this is the pivotal

point in the war, and that Israel is on the road to victory. And let's 

hope that the rest of the West, especially our allies, are starting to have

this understanding as well.

MEM