(Commentary) Peter Wehner - During his press conference Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked: "Do you feel your actions, Israel's actions, were proportionate?" Netanyahu pointed out that Israel has gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid civilian casualties while Hamas has gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure civilian casualties. Netanyahu then posed a question to the journalist. What would you do in a similar situation, in which your nation was being attacked by 3,500 rockets and your territory was being infiltrated by terrorist death squads? The BBC reported on Feb. 14, 1945: "British and U.S. bombers have dropped hundreds of thousands of explosives on the German city of Dresden....Last night, 800 RAF Bomber Command planes let loose 650,000 incendiaries and 8,000 lb. of high explosives and hundreds of 4,000 lb. bombs in two waves of attack. They faced very little anti-aircraft fire." According to History.com, the Allied firebombing raids killed as many as 135,000 people. My point isn't to condemn Great Britain (or the U.S.). My point is that in war, terrible things happen and innocent people die. By historical standards Israel has conducted itself in its conflict with Hamas with remarkable care and decency. I'm not sure there are many parallels to it. The way Israel has handled itself in this conflict is a model for other nations to follow.
2014-08-08 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive