Understanding Gaza

Honest Reporting, a pro-Israel watchdog group, highlighted the biased animation above, stating:

"The Washington Post’s reporting and editorials on the conflict in Gaza have been generally fair and balanced. Which makes it all the more disappointing that the paper considered this crude cartoon animation to be acceptable on its website. The implication that Israel is deliberately pummeling Palestinian babies rather than Hamas terrorists is grossly offensive. Indeed the imagery of innocent babies in anti-Israel cartoons is not new."

 



Hamas Hardly Harmed - Aaron J. Klein and Mitch Ginsburg
 
Israel's military campaign has failed to inflict serious damage on the Hamas war machine, several sources said. "They still have almost 90 percent of their rockets," said Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser. Amidror said that Israel has not hit Hamas rocket stores, rocket development capacity, and senior personnel for two reasons: a lack of detailed intelligence, and an understanding that "the collateral damage would be enormous." He believes an invasion of Gaza would prove useful in the long term - sparing lives on both sides.
     
A senior IDF intelligence officer in the Southern Command said Hamas has placed much of its rocket stores under tall, civilian buildings. "Even if we ordered all of the residents out of the buildings, the collateral damage would be massive." The secondary explosions would kill many innocent civilians. 
(Times of Israel)
    

Digging In, Hamas Believes Time Is on Its Side - Avi Issacharoff
 
Hamas is still looking at many more days of conflict. It realizes that international opinion is against it, and that the world regards Hamas as having escalated the conflict, but believes that as reports of Gaza civilian casualties mount, world opinion will turn increasingly against Israel. It also believes that in a week or two, if Israeli soldiers start dying, Israeli public pressure will demand an end to the conflict - on better terms for Hamas.
(Times of Israel)


Hamas Playing Games with Gazan Lives - Editorial
 
So far Hamas' military campaign against Israel has been a dismal failure. Some 1,200 rockets fired at Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities have caused only one Israeli death and a few other casualties. Attempted commando attacks via the sea and a tunnel were stopped short, and a drone that ventured into Israel was quickly shot down.
     
Yet Hamas rejected an Egyptian cease-fire proposal that was supported by Western governments and the Arab League and had been accepted by Israel. The cease-fire proposal was answered with a new barrage of missiles aimed at central Israel.
    
Why would Hamas insist on continuing the fight when it is faring so poorly? The only plausible answer is stomach-turning: The Islamic movement calculates that it can win concessions by perpetuating the killing of its own people in Israeli counterattacks. Hamas probably calculates that more deaths will prompt Western governments to pressure Israel to grant Hamas' demands.

The right response of the international community is not to surrender to Hamas' despicable tactics but to continue insisting that it unconditionally accept the cease-fire proposed by Egypt.
(Washington Post)


Hamas Media Campaign Fortifies Gaza Public - Noah Browning
 
"Our rockets have struck Tel Aviv!" the loudspeaker of a Gaza mosque blared. The roars of men and boys arose from the windows of houses: "God is Great!" No rocket actually hit Tel Aviv. They were either shot down by Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile interceptor or fell harmlessly on open ground.

But that did not matter in Gaza where inhabitants mostly rely for news on Hamas-controlled media.
(Reuters)
*