[Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs] Prime Minister Olmert told the Cabinet Sunday: "With the typical moral acrobatics," the terrorist organizations, led by Hamas, "and their supporters are trying to turn the attacker into the attacked and vice-versa. The undeniable truth is that for eight years, hundreds of thousands of residents of the State of Israel, who live in the south, were the unceasing targets of brutal, deliberate and planned rocket fire that was intentionally designed to hit civilians, including children and their parents." "Now, as a result of unavoidable self-defense actions during which - to our regret - civilians were also hit, they are trying to turn what happened on its face and stick IDF soldiers and commanders - and not those who initiated the terrorism and turned it into a way of life against the residents of the State of Israel for many years - with the responsibility for this. The State of Israel did everything in order to avoid hitting civilians. I do not know of any military that is more moral, fair and sensitive to civilians' lives than the IDF." In many instances "IDF soldiers and their commanders refrained from carrying out actions or diverted bombs lest innocents among the enemy be hit. This was also done when terrorists that threatened our soldiers were intentionally shooting at them from among civilian population concentrations and were using them as human shields against an Israeli response. This has been the policy of Hamas and the other terrorist organizations over the years - to fight to the last drop of Gaza civilians' blood."
2009-01-26 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive