There is time to analyze the security failures that allowed the terrible Palestinian terrorist attack in the south of Israel, and since we are talking about a democracy where political plurality and freedom of expression are respected, criticism will rain on the government. Benjamin Netanyahu said it with inevitable anger. And yet, the fact that the attack carried out by Hamas fighters was devastating, with more than a hundred Israelis dead, most of them civilians killed in cold blood; a thousand wounded and captives taken, is nothing but a terrible chapter in the continued aggression of terrorism against the people of Israel.
There is no justification for the indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets, the random killing of innocent bystanders, or, of course, the systematic failure to honor the ceasefire agreements by Hamas. But, of course, in territories like Gaza, where the Palestinian Islamist group dominates, or in the tortured lands of southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah reigns, no one can hold accountable leaders that the term “people” is synonymous with, as in “shield” or “ma.
And so, when the Israeli military operations to find and destroy the terrorist infrastructure of Hamas, its weapons depot, infiltration tunnels, command and communication centers, are all hidden in the Palestinian civilian population, their schools, religious centers, and even hospitals, causing the inevitable chaos. With the poison of dead and wounded civilians, those who are really responsible for the massacre will show the corpses of children and women while accusing the Tel Aviv government of terrible “genocidal.”
A government, by the way, has the obligation to protect its population and, where it helps, like any executive that comes from democratic legitimacy, the inalienable right to protect its borders and people. In this sense, we can only congratulate ourselves for the quick and strong reaction of the free world, with the usual exceptions, in condemning the terrorist attack and supporting the Israeli government in such terrible moments. But if the West wants peace and democracy to come to these punished lands, it must act according to its principles.
Because the entity of the terrorist operation on Saturday, beyond the problematic anniversary, confirms what is already known: that Hamas receives weapons, training, and financing from Islamist countries that are in everyone’s mind and that intend to weaken Israel, too, the damage of Western democracy. Therefore, greater commitment by Israelis and action against the promoters of terrorism are needed. At least, it will save some Palestinian lives, now only hostages.
