[National Post-Canada] Editorial - On Sunday, Palestinians in Gaza were celebrating the victory of their "human shields" in thwarting an air strike against the home of wanted terrorist Wail Barud. But the tactic may have backfired from a propaganda perspective. It is clear the Palestinians themselves do not believe their own propaganda about Israel's alleged thirst for blood. Otherwise, they never would have been able to recruit all those human shields. And if Israel really were as sadistic as its critics claim, it wouldn't have called off Sunday's bombing run. Just imagine if the shoe was on the other foot, and hundreds of Israeli "human shields" positioned themselves in an unguarded cafe in the West Bank. Palestinian suicide bombers would be stepping over each other in an effort to attack the target. "Human shields" work only when your enemy fights like a human. A second irony is that it is men like Barud who are at the root of Palestinian misery - for if they were not firing rockets at Israel from Gaza, and smuggling in weapons from Egypt, there would be no need for Israeli counterterrorist operations in Gaza. If Palestinians were more rational about where their society's interests lie, they would go to Barud's house not to offer protection, but to arrest him so that others in the area could live in peace.
2006-11-21 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive