Diplomatic Dispatch – Hamas, Gaza, and the Rush to Judgment – Amb. Dore Gold

• In 2009, Israel was bombarded with criticism that it had used disproportionate force as it tried to suppress Hamas rocket fire aimed at Israeli cities. Now in 2018, Israel was bombarded again with a whole series of false accusations about how it handled the situation along the Gaza-Israel fence.
• This time, Hamas ordered an attack on the Kerem Shalom international crossing from Israel into Gaza – the passageway that supplies food, pharmaceuticals, clothing, and everything that the people of Gaza need for a normal life. Kerem Shalom was set on fire by the Palestinians themselves.
• Former Hamas foreign minister Mahmoud al-Zahar said of the demonstrations along the fence, „This is not peaceful resistance. It is supported by our weapons.” Hamas even released a press release that said the „Great Return March,” which was leading Palestinians to charge the border fence, was actually part of the heroic armed struggle.
• Another statement by Hamas said the goal of the march was to breach the fence, meaning to break open the fence and allow thousands to pour into Israel. They weren’t going there to have a picnic.
• The picture became clearer when a senior Hamas member admitted that of the 62 Palestinians who had been killed, 50 were Hamas operatives.
• What is common to all critics of Israel in the wars involving Gaza is a kind of rush to judgment by which people automatically assume that Israel is to blame for whatever has occurred. It’s this rush to judgment that encourages Hamas to keep its war going against the State of Israel.

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