Actual casualties
The casualty figures put out by Hamas during the recent war in Gaza were based on guesses and propaganda. The IDF have now released, without fanfare, their actual final casualty Report for the war (reported by IBA News and the Jerusalem Post). Here they are: 580 terrorist gunmen killed, 173 men of unknown origin and 288 civilians (women and children) killed. In the extensive Report individuals have been identified by their PA identification number as well as the circumstances of their deaths. The total of ca. 1,200 is less than previously reported deaths. Note that some of the women were suicide bombers, not actually civilians and 8 of those identified as medics by Hamas were in fact found to be gunmen, for example Anas Naim, who was the nephew of the Hamas Health Minister. By contrast, Hamas claimed 1,338 dead and of these only 58 were Hamas gunmen and ca. 500 were children. This was completely untrue and it is amazing that after all the falsifications and deceptions on the Palestinian side that the western press reported these numbers without any checking or confirmation whatsoever (of course the Muslim world would believe this without any basis anyway). In comparison 10 IDF soldiers were killed, 6 by friendly fire and 3 Israeli civilians.
One disconcerting aspect of this Report is the question, why did it take a month of detailed research before the IDF could release any official statistics on casualties? We thought they had learnt some lessons from the Second Lebanaon War and all previous wars. It is well known that the Palestinians stage the deaths of children and others. For example, they reported that the IDF had shelled a UN school where 42 people were sheltering and all were killed, including women and children. It turned out that no UN school was shelled, that in this case terrorists were firing mortars from outside the school and in retaliatory IDF fire 12 of them were killed. Yet the UN and the press lambasted the IDF for this event, but the IDF response was too little, too late. In the age of instant computer communication, when the press is eager for information and will print any lies that Hamas feeds them, why did the IDF Press office not even try to refute the many falsifications until a month after the war? This is Israeli PR at its very slowest!
Certainly it is tragic that any children are killed in war. But, after waiting years, surely the people of Gaza must have known that they could not get away with bombarding Israel with rockets every day forever. There were so many warnings that we became embarrassed by the lack of credibility. When the number reached 80 a day and two kindergartens were hit by rockets, fortunately with no children in them because they were in underground shelters, then finally the IDF was given the order to react. It is not our fault that the Hamas Government in charge of Gaza made no provision to safeguard their own children, on the contrary they used them as human shields, as other reports have shown (see the IDF web site for videos and more information). And the IDF made 250,000 telephone calls to individuals in Gaza to warn them of impending attacks as well as dropping ca. 1 million leaflets warning people to avoid Hamas sites and leaders.
To those who say, "but every child is precious and we must protest every child's death," I say where were you recently when the following report (from Al Jazeera) appeared world-wide on Feb 2:
Deaths as Sri Lanka hospital bombed
At least 13 people have been killed after a hospital in northern Sri Lanka was hit in three artillery attacks, United Nations officials have said.
Staff were struggling to retrieve bodies after the children's ward of the Puthukkudiriruppu hospital in Mullaittivu district was struck at about midnight, Gordon Weiss, a UN spokesman, said on Monday.
In the end, it was concluded that 35 children were killed in this attack. But where were you, where were your protests or demonstrations against the Sri Lankan military that caused this disaster or the Sri Lankan Government? Of course, there was silence, you didn't protest, no-one did, it's not worthwhile, they were only Tamil children in Sri Lanka. Only if they are Palestinian children and the protagonist is Israel is it worth protesting and demonstrating. Not only does this so clearly demonstrate that the basis of these biased attacks on Israel is anti-Semitism (whether conscious or not), but during the war in Gaza, a fully justified and just war, the number of violent anti-Semitic incidents in Britain hit a new high of 250 in the month after the war started, according to the Community Trust, the security force that the Jewish Community in Britain has to have for protection. No wonder aliyah to Israel from Britain is increasing.
If the level of coverage of children's deaths in the Gaza and Sri Lankan conflicts were the same and if Jews in Britain were not attacked because of the justified actions of the Israel military, then maybe we would have reached a new, ideal world. But, until then we'll do what is necessary for our survival, without consideration for hypocritical moral preaching from the west. After all, where were the protests and demonstrations when 1.5 million Jewish children were being deliberately slaughtered by Germans in Europe during WWII.
One disconcerting aspect of this Report is the question, why did it take a month of detailed research before the IDF could release any official statistics on casualties? We thought they had learnt some lessons from the Second Lebanaon War and all previous wars. It is well known that the Palestinians stage the deaths of children and others. For example, they reported that the IDF had shelled a UN school where 42 people were sheltering and all were killed, including women and children. It turned out that no UN school was shelled, that in this case terrorists were firing mortars from outside the school and in retaliatory IDF fire 12 of them were killed. Yet the UN and the press lambasted the IDF for this event, but the IDF response was too little, too late. In the age of instant computer communication, when the press is eager for information and will print any lies that Hamas feeds them, why did the IDF Press office not even try to refute the many falsifications until a month after the war? This is Israeli PR at its very slowest!
Certainly it is tragic that any children are killed in war. But, after waiting years, surely the people of Gaza must have known that they could not get away with bombarding Israel with rockets every day forever. There were so many warnings that we became embarrassed by the lack of credibility. When the number reached 80 a day and two kindergartens were hit by rockets, fortunately with no children in them because they were in underground shelters, then finally the IDF was given the order to react. It is not our fault that the Hamas Government in charge of Gaza made no provision to safeguard their own children, on the contrary they used them as human shields, as other reports have shown (see the IDF web site for videos and more information). And the IDF made 250,000 telephone calls to individuals in Gaza to warn them of impending attacks as well as dropping ca. 1 million leaflets warning people to avoid Hamas sites and leaders.
To those who say, "but every child is precious and we must protest every child's death," I say where were you recently when the following report (from Al Jazeera) appeared world-wide on Feb 2:
Deaths as Sri Lanka hospital bombed
At least 13 people have been killed after a hospital in northern Sri Lanka was hit in three artillery attacks, United Nations officials have said.
Staff were struggling to retrieve bodies after the children's ward of the Puthukkudiriruppu hospital in Mullaittivu district was struck at about midnight, Gordon Weiss, a UN spokesman, said on Monday.
In the end, it was concluded that 35 children were killed in this attack. But where were you, where were your protests or demonstrations against the Sri Lankan military that caused this disaster or the Sri Lankan Government? Of course, there was silence, you didn't protest, no-one did, it's not worthwhile, they were only Tamil children in Sri Lanka. Only if they are Palestinian children and the protagonist is Israel is it worth protesting and demonstrating. Not only does this so clearly demonstrate that the basis of these biased attacks on Israel is anti-Semitism (whether conscious or not), but during the war in Gaza, a fully justified and just war, the number of violent anti-Semitic incidents in Britain hit a new high of 250 in the month after the war started, according to the Community Trust, the security force that the Jewish Community in Britain has to have for protection. No wonder aliyah to Israel from Britain is increasing.
If the level of coverage of children's deaths in the Gaza and Sri Lankan conflicts were the same and if Jews in Britain were not attacked because of the justified actions of the Israel military, then maybe we would have reached a new, ideal world. But, until then we'll do what is necessary for our survival, without consideration for hypocritical moral preaching from the west. After all, where were the protests and demonstrations when 1.5 million Jewish children were being deliberately slaughtered by Germans in Europe during WWII.
posted by Jack Cohen at 1:46 PM
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