JONATHAN S. TOBIN (JNS.org 28-12-24)
The effort to discredit and delegitimize Israel is a project that never allows the facts to get in the way of a fictitious “genocide” narrative. That’s something that is made clear not so much by efforts by the Jewish state’s defenders as it is by that of its critics like The New York Times. But even if the worst smears of Israel are debunked by those who seek to brand its soldiers and leaders as war criminals, don’t expect that to change many minds.
This was amply demonstrated by a major investigative piece published this week by the Times that required the efforts of seven of its reporters who claim to have interviewed “100 soldiers and officials in Israel, dozens of victims of the strikes in Gaza, and experts on the rules of armed conflict.” While the headline promised scandalous findings that might bolster the bogus claim that the Israel Defense Forces were indeed carrying out illegal or even criminal strikes on Palestinian Arabs in Gaza. But the entire article could be summed up in a single sentence. After Hamas terrorists and other Palestinians attacked the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023, the IDF responded with greater force and under slightly looser rules of engagement against its foes than it had before that event.
That’s it.
All of the effort and reporting that went into the feature did nothing more than establish the following painfully obvious fact. Once Hamas launched the current war by breaching the border between Gaza and Israel—and engaging in an orgy of murder, torture, rape, kidnapping and wanton destruction—Israel’s military adopted different and more aggressive tactics than it had before its foes ended the ceasefire that existed on Oct. 6, 2023.
Those differences amounted to loosening the rules of engagement that would allow strikes on Hamas leaders that might not have been allowed during a period of relative quiet. That meant that attacks on enemies responsible for not just starting a war but the barbaric crimes of Oct. 7 were permitted, even if up to 20 civilians were present. That allowed the IDF to take out these criminals in their own homes, as opposed to previously when they could only be targeted if they were out in the open with few people around them.
Inevitably, that has led to higher civilian casualties. Then again, if Hamas operatives didn’t want civilians to be endangered, they would avoid using them as human shields. The terrorist group admits to actively seeking not just to hide among and behind non-combatants but to increase the number of those killed and wounded for propaganda and public relations purposes. And, as the Times
