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ISRAELIS KILL A TERRORIST—TERRORISTS RESPOND BY KILLING CIVILIANS:
GANEI TAL, Gaza Strip (Reuters) – Israel’s killing of a Palestinian militant commander drew a deadly rocket barrage on a Jewish settlement in Gaza on Tuesday, the latest in a string of flareups since a ceasefire was declared in February.
It’s not a mystery. This is how it works. Israel targets killers; the killers respond by murdering more civilians.
The targeted murder of civilians cannot be excused by any argument.
And after a while it just gets silly. For war to be conducted according to terms that are intended to lessen the terrible damage, both sides have to agree to the same terms. For example, the Geneva Conventions don’t apply to an army that violates them.
If the other side is murdering your civilians, you have to admit that you are in a war and you have no recourse but to bomb some of their cities.
Israel is to be commended for not responding in this manner for so long, but they tried that and it didn’t work—the terrorists continue killing civilians, and the world does not demand that the terrorists stop doing so. In fact, it is Israel’s de facto acceptance of the terrorist killing of its civilians, that most justifies the terrorists’ actions in the eyes of the world. If Israel itself accepts such actions without responding in kind, why should anyone else object?
Of course, Israel may fear that doing so would lead to a full-scale war with many Arab nations. And this fear by Israel is sensed by the terrorists and is a further incentive for them to continue.
That’s the real “cycle of violence.” Israel accepts the killing of civilians without responding in kind, which leads to more killing of civilians.
Israel should stop pussyfooting around and respond in kind to these attacks. That’s how these things have been conducted throughout history. Israel’s forbearance to do so, in the name of being noble, only leads to additional terrorist attacks.
