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Hamas' Strategy of Human Sacrifice

(Free Press) Douglas J. Feith - After Israeli military commanders told Palestinians living in Gaza to evacuate to the south, since Israel plans to destroy Hamas assets there, Hamas leaders demanded that the people stay in place. Why? Because Hamas has adopted a war strategy to maximize civilian deaths on its own side. This is so strange and evil that it should appall any decent person. This is not a human shield strategy. It's a human sacrifice strategy. Defense officials in numerous countries, for operational reasons and to comply with international laws of war, take pains to locate their military assets away from their civilians and to maximize their protection. Hamas officials do the opposite. As UN officials have disapprovingly noted, Hamas stores ammunition in schools, puts missile launchers adjacent to mosques, sets up command centers in hospitals, and generally bases its operations in densely populated civilian neighborhoods. Israelis pride themselves on acting humanely, even in war. Their military officers distinguish between civilian and military sites and never purposefully target the former. Innocent Palestinians deserve sympathy. But when Americans, Europeans, and others misdirect their outrage at Israel, failing to grasp Hamas' responsibility, they are encouraging the very cruelty they intend to condemn. Blame for the purposeful sacrificing of innocent Palestinians goes first and foremost to Hamas, to be sure, but also to those of us in the outside world duped by this strategy. The writer, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, served as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy.
2023-10-18 00:00:00
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