Sergeant Major Ben Kerido shares real time, first person updates from the front lines of Gaza during Operation Swords of Iron.
Half-destroyed buildings lay strewn throughout a sea of dusty sand. Israel Defence Force soldiers — both active and reserve duty — held strategic positions throughout the Gaza Strip. The usual booming of heavy IDF bombardment had subsided in wake of the cease fire.
On the front lines, the combat soldiers had mixed feelings. On the one hand, we celebrated the return of each and every hostage safely back to Israel (or their country of origin, since Hamas indiscriminately took immigrant workers hostage as well). On the other hand, the entire IDF — particularly the combat soldiers — was a rabid beast lusting to be unleashed to mercilessly destroy our terrorist enemies in a manner never before seen in history. We hoped that at least Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government understood that the Moslem Arab world only respected power and strength.
As primitive as it may seem, Moslem Arab culture and society generally defaulted to the strongest player in the room, no matter what. Concepts like democracy, the value of human life, and other western principles were largely meaningless to them. And so all dealings with the Moslem Arab world — military, political, or otherwise — therefore required an overt coupling with tangible strength and power to be effective.
One of the myths of this conflict is that the Gaza population is helplessly neutral and haplessly caught in the middle, powerless to resist Hamas. Similarly, various “humanitarian aid” and “charity” organizations falsely claim to be innocent in all matters relating to the conflict, and that they have no interest besides assisting unaffiliated civilians.
That is patently false on both accounts.
Mosab Hassan Yousef, also known as “The Son of Hamas,” has stated anecdotally that 99% of Gaza whole heartedly supports Hamas and their barbaric violence. And even Palestinian Arab media polls indicate that at least 70-80% of Palestinian Arabs approve of terrorist actions (even if they redefine it as “violent freedom fighter operations”.)
In that context the “civilian” population of Gaza (and often also in the Yehudah v Shomron region) openly applaud and even participate in these terrorist activities. These so-called civilians spy and provide reconnaissance, give supplies, offer transportation, and volunteer to serve as human shields for Hamas. And yet somehow they think that they can claim protected neutrality if any military action is taken against them or if they suffer unintentional collateral damage.
Even worse, many of the alleged “humanitarian aid workers” are notoriously involved. In fact, a recent report indicated that both UNRWA school teachers and Gazan doctors were actively hiding hostages on behalf of Hamas in their schools, hospitals, and even private homes — all full of children.
It may be a concept that is foreign to western minds, but the Arabs of Gaza are engaged in something called total warfare. That means everyone from the armed Hamas militant to the seemingly innocuous civilian and even “neutral” aid worker is actively and intentionally waging war against the Zionist enemy.
The population of Gaza figuratively wants to have their cake and eat it, too.
This is our unfortunate reality that the anti-Israel news is fully aware of, but is always sure to keep their audiences ignorant of.
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