Elliot Mathias
Elliot Mathias is Aish’s Chief Operating Officer for Global Activities, as well as Executive Director of Aish New York. Elliot is also the founder of Hasbara Fellowships, a program he created while studying at Aish in Jerusalem, Hasbara Fellowships grew under his leadership to become one of the premier campus Israel advocacy organizations in North America, training and supporting thousands of students to stand up for Israel.
Israel is focused on destroying the enemy while doing all it can to minimize the damage to civilians.
After the shock and despair of the horrific terror attacks, the Israeli government and army has now turned towards its stated goal of destroying Hamas, the terrorist entity that committed the murderous actions of October 7th. With constant media coverage of the destruction in Gaza – mainly of life, but also of property – many are questioning Israel’s actions. What are Israel’s goals and is the tremendous destruction in Gaza justified?
The Dilemma
After the terrorist attack that killed over 1,400 Israelis, Israel announced they were attacking Gaza with the intended goal of destroying Hamas. This military goal has been widely supported by governments around the world including the United States who have stated that Israel has a right to defend itself and defeat the terrorist organization.
Israel not only has the right to destroy Hamas, but it has the responsibility to do so. Since 2006 when Hamas was elected to power in Gaza, it has initiated at least 8 military conflicts with Israel. It is a given that if it has the capability, it will continue to do so in the future. Its founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel and its atrocious actions on October 7th show it is an enemy from which Israel must defend its citizens. This is Israel’s responsibility, just as any government in the world is responsible to protect and defend its citizens.
The challenge is that Hamas has embedded itself among the Palestinian civilian population. It is impossible for Israel to target and destroy Hamas without also destroying civilian buildings and property, and even injuring and killing civilians.
Hamas has built an intricate tunnel system underneath civilian areas, including schools, hospitals, and mosques, making the situation even more difficult. Terrorists continue to shoot rockets at Israel from these civilian areas.
What Should Israel Do?
First and foremost, it must be absolutely clear that the reason why Palestinian civilians are in harm’s way is because of Hamas. It is only because Hamas attacked unprovoked that Israel is responding militarily. It is only because Hamas hides amongst Palestinian civilians that innocent people are losing their lives.
Palestinian civilians are in harm’s way because of Hamas.
Israel has no objective in targeting Palestinian civilians. In fact, Israel has attempted to limit the damage and killing of Palestinians. Israel has called for Palestinians in the northern part of Gaza to leave and move to the southern part of Gaza. While this is undoubtedly a tremendous hardship for civilians, Israel’s intention is for them to leave harm’s way.
In a doubling down of their cruelty, Hamas has called for Palestinians not to leave their homes but to stay in the battle zone. It is clear who is responsible for civilian casualties if one side is urging them to leave and one side is demanding they remain and serve as human shields.
Israel has also dropped millions of leaflets in Arabic warning Palestinians of impending attacks to defeat Hamas, imploring civilians to leave.
Israel is targeting terrorists, not civilians.
Many critics of Israel have accused her of indiscriminately killing innocent Palestinians. If this was the case, why would Israel be warning and encouraging them to leave? Additionally, while many Palestinians have sadly lost their lives, if Israel was indiscriminately targeting them, there would be many more casualties. So far since the Hamas attack, Israel has fired over 7,000 missiles at targets in Gaza. According to Palestinian sources, about 2,600 Palestinians have been killed. While again, every innocent life taken is a tragedy, the fact is that with Israel’s advanced weaponry, 7,000 missiles should have killed tens of thousands of people if Israel was looking to target civilians. But it is not – it is looking to target Hamas terrorists and minimize the number of civilians killed and injured. Unfortunately, due to Hamas’ actions, many Palestinians have lost their lives.
The Blockade
Israel announced at the beginning of its campaign to destroy Hamas that it was blockading Gaza. Israel would not allow anyone to leave or enter Gaza, as well as prohibiting the entry of food, water, medicine, materials, or fuel. Israel has restored water to Gaza. Many have condemned Israel for this action, accusing her of collective punishment, causing a humanitarian disaster.
Why is Israel blockading Gaza? First, to ensure that no terrorists are able to leave Gaza, as well as no weapons or anything that can be used as weapons to enter. In the past, Hamas has exploited the allowance of incoming materials by stealing supplies, creating “humanitarian” organizations to mask its terror operations and laundering funds.
It would be illogical for Israel to give resources to Hamas to fuel their terrorism and attacks. Just one example: Hamas’ wartime command centre is located in the basement of Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, where the “humanitarian” supply of power and goods can serve the terrorists’ needs.
Second, Israel has stated that it will lift the blockade if Hamas releases the approximately 150 hostages kidnapped on October 7th. Israel is trying to apply pressure to Hamas to release the prisoners. This includes calling for humanitarian organizations to step in and pressure Hamas, which the Red Cross has now done.
It is important to note that Israel does not fully control Gaza’s borders. Gaza also borders Egypt on the western side. Egypt could open up its border for Palestinians to exit, and allow aid and other goods in. But Egypt has so far refused to do so, as it is concerned about an influx of Palestinian refugees. Egypt has also been the target of Islamist terrorists and is not keen on supporting Hamas.
Hamas has used billions of dollars of aid to build a terrorist infrastructure.
Israel is also not solely responsible for fuel, water, and food in Gaza. Hamas, as the elected ruling party, is responsible. Hamas and Gaza have received billions of dollars of aid over the last decade, but instead of using it to invest in infrastructure such as power plants and aquifers (which there are plenty of in Gaza), they have instead used the funding to build a terrorist infrastructure.
It should also be noted that as of Sunday October 15, Israel has relaxed the blockade and began allowing water to be brought it.1 Israel announced it would allow in water, food, and medicine, while continuing to disallow fuel and electricity.
Israel’s Deterrence
A key aspect of Israel’s defence, and maybe ironically the ability to keep peace in the region, is Israel’s deterrence capability. Israel has always been surrounded by countries and non-governmental entities who aimed to destroy her. In addition to Israel’s ability to defend itself from attacks, the ability to make it crystal clear to her enemies that they would pay a high price for attacking her has created long periods of quiet and even peace.
Both Jordan and Egypt have official peace treaties with Israel. This was after it became clear to them that not only could they not defeat Israel, but that they would pay a heavy price for trying.
The same is true for Hezbollah in Lebanon. While the border is currently flaring up and it is probable that another battle will take place in the future, the shared border between Hezbollah and Israel has been relatively quiet since the last time Hezbollah attacked in 2006. Israel’s strong response taught Hezbollah a lesson.
At the time it might have seemed that Israel was going too far, but in actuality, Israel’s response created years of calm. Israel lives in a very tough neighbourhood. Yes, there is room for negotiation and peace deals. But to survive in the Middle East, Israel must show its neighbours that it just doesn’t pay to attack. People on all sides will be saved through this deterrence.
Wanting a Cease Fire
Shouldn’t good and moral people want a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas? Isn’t that just common sense?
The answer is no. A cease-fire at this time would just reward Hamas for their atrocious terrorist attack. And more importantly, it would allow them to continue their capability to attack again.
The right and necessary thing to do at this time is to destroy Hamas. Israel knows this will take a high toll on its own people. A ground invasion into Gaza is sure to be dangerous, including booby traps, urban warfare against an enemy disguised as civilians, and an intricate web of underground tunnels which are incredibly difficult to find and navigate. In addition, the Israeli hostages in Gaza are in an incredibly horrific situation.
But Israel knows that the price of not doing this will be even greater.
Israel must also do what it can to protect Palestinian civilians. This is part of international law and is the right thing to do. But the sad reality is that innocent Palestinian civilians will lose their lives because of Hamas, and Israel must press forward to end this terrorist threat. Many more lives will be lost in the future if this is not done.
Jewish Perspectives on War
Jewish sources have much to say about war. In Maimonides’ Mishna Torah, his codification of Jewish Law, he dedicates an entire section to the “Laws of Kings and Their Wars”.
Maimonides states that before a war, peace must first be offered to one’s enemy. If peace is refused, then a military attack can occur, but not before peace is offered.
Israel is focused on destroying the enemy while doing all it can to minimize the damage to civilians.
Additionally, Maimonides states that Jewish law forbids a complete blockade of a city. Instead, a blockade on only three sides is allowed, as one side must be left open for those who desire to flee.
Practically though, these stated “laws of war” do not apply to a war of self-defense. When the Jewish People are attacked, they do not need to offer their enemy peace or leave a blockade partially open.
There is no question that Israel’s current war with Hamas is a war of self-defence, as Hamas initiated the war unprovoked.
No Easy Answers
Some aspects of the current conflict are black and white – Hamas is an evil, terrorist entity. But many aspects don’t have simple answers. How does Israel balance protecting its citizens with the potential damage to Palestinians? The only answer is to maintain its moral compass – which means to focus on destroying the enemy while doing all it can to minimize the damage to civilians. Israel is trying – and will continue trying – to do just that.
For more information on the morality of Israel’s response, click here.
