"While I was en route to Doha, dozens more civilians, including children, have been killed in Israeli military strikes in the Shijaiyah neighborhood in Gaza. I condemn this atrocious action.”
So spoke U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday in Doha, Qatar. There’s no surprise here since the U.N. has long been hostile toward Israel. It’s just one more way for the U.N., as represented by Ban, to side with the Palestinians.
Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiya called the killings a massacre and told Ban that Israel must not be allowed to choose when to wage a war and when to stop. "We condemn all the atrocities perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinian people, the last of which was al-Shejaia massacre today," al-Attiya said. "The majority of the victims were women and children."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the Israeli offensive an "unbearable" situation and said, "The U.N. security council has failed to protect Palestinians and I call on the council to hold an emergency meeting today to protect Palestinians... what Israel did today is crime against humanity."
Meanwhile President Obama appeared to be backing off his strong support for Israel’s actions. In a telephone call on Sunday, Obama told Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that he has serious concerns about the “increasing Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza.” That sure sounds like he’s having second thoughts about Israel’s efforts in trying to stop the rocket attacks on Israeli civilians.
And Secretary of State John Kerry is also upset over Palestinian casualties. Not knowing his mike was turned on while appearing Sunday on Fox’s Chris Wallace news show, Kerry sarcastically mocked Israel’s ground offensive by telling an aide in a cellphone conversation, "It’s a helluva pinpoint operation. It’s a helluva pinpoint operation." Apparently Kerry is beginning to turn a blind eye to the rocket launchers and rocket supplies that Hamas has placed in the midst of Gaza’s civilians. Either that, or Kerry is ignorant of the fact there will be civilian casualties in urban warfare.
Atrocious? I’ll tell you what’s atrocious. The firing of thousands of rockets by Hamas and Islamic Jihad from Gaza at Israeli civilians, that’s atrocious. The firing of those rockets from the grounds of Palestinian homes, schools, hospitals and Mosques, that’s atrocious. Hamas telling Palestinians to stay in place after Israel warned them to evacuate their neighborhoods, that’s atrocious. And the use of human shields by Hamas - now that is really atrocious.
What do Ban, Abbas and al-Attiya expect of Israel? It sounds as if they expect Israel to just ignore the thousands of rockets that have been raining down on Israel and falling as far north as Tel Aviv and Haifa. And would Ban, Abbas and al-Attiya have denounced the Israeli civilian casualties that would have occurred except for the success of the Iron Dome defensive missile system? You can bet your life they would not have called that atrocious.
Israel finds itself in a no-win situation. If it caves in to international pressure by prematurely ending its attacks on Gaza, not only will Hamas and Islamic Jihad continue to have the capability of firing rockets at Israel, but the Muslim world will see it as a great victory for Hamas. If it continues with its Gaza campaign, the whole world will brand Israel’s military and civilian leaders as bloodthirsty war criminals and judge the Jewish state guilty of committing genocide against the Palestinian people.
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