Accountability, international law and the free world

The Hamas terror organization must be held accountable for the atrocities it has committed, as well as for the ongoing war and the toll it has taken on Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Hamas initiated this war when it brutally attacked Israel on Oct. 7. More than 3,000 terrorists and Hamas supporters rampaged through some 30 rural communities and three towns with the clear intent of murdering or abducting as many Israelis as possible. About 1,200 people were killed, some of them tortured and their bodies mutilated, some were even burned alive. Thousands more were injured and women were raped. There is no question that these are crimes against humanity. Hamas’ terrorists were acting in accordance with the Hamas Charter, which calls for the ethnic cleansing of Jews in the territory “from the (Jordan) River to the (Mediterranean) Sea.” Hamas doesn’t recognize the right of the State of Israel to exist, it tries again and again to annihilate it.

The terrorists kidnapped over 240 people, among them 33 children, the youngest only nine months old. Around 18 people kidnapped are over 75 years of age. Hamas has prevented any access to them, even by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). They were held as tools for extortion. This is a war crime.

Since Oct. 7, Hamas has continuously fired rockets and missiles at Israeli population centers, deliberately targeting civilians. On the first day of the attack, Hamas terrorists destroyed ambulances to prevent evacuation of the wounded and attacked clinics, murdering doctors and paramedics.

Hamas leaders are hiding in and under the main hospitals in Gaza and using ambulances to transport terrorists. A rocket fired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas’ collaborator in crime, hit Gaza’s Al-Hali hospital on Oct. 17. This caused the death of dozens of Palestinians and Hamas tried to pin the blame on Israel. All of these are war crimes.

Hamas has embedded itself amidst the civilian population in Gaza; its leaders, operatives, ammunition stockpiles, missile launching pads and command centers are all located intentionally in densely populated areas, near, under and inside residential buildings, schools, mosques and hospitals. Hamas leaders have admitted that the vast underground infrastructure stretching underneath the entire Gaza Strip was built exclusively for its terrorists, leaving the civilian population in Gaza to fend for itself or, worse, to serve as human shields. They even hide their weapons under the beds of babies. Hamas terrorists have been firing on Gazan civilians to prevent them from following Israel’s call to move to safe areas in the southern Gaza Strip. This is why the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) secured them a safe passage. All these are war crimes.

Hamas aggression, supported by Iran and its proxies, is meant to plunge the entire region into war, as Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya stated in an interview to the NYT on Nov. 8. Al-Hayya added that Hamas is not interested in improving the welfare of Gaza residents. Hamas steals fuel, food and medicine designated for the civilian population in order to fuel its war effort. As an example, water pipes intended for irrigation were converted into missiles.

Hamas admits openly that it is much more interested in killing Israelis than in caring for the residents of Gaza. Hamas inflicts terror and violence with the aim of annihilating Israel and expanding worldwide jihad (killing in the name of God) to the rest of the free world.

All of Hamas’ attacks on Israel since Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip in 2005 have resulted in ceasefire agreements that allowed Hamas to grow stronger, arm itself and to launch ever more devastating attacks, culminating in the massacre of Oct. 7. There was no occupation of Gaza. Gaza citizens elected Hamas – so they elected a terror organization like ISIS as their government.

It is important to say that the IDF is fighting Hamas with very clear goals –to bring the hostages back home and to eliminate the terror threats (operatives or facilities) to the Israeli civil population. Israel is fighting the war according to the international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict. Israel is targeting terrorists only. A civil facility or people used by Hamas as a human shield becomes a legitimate military target.

To minimize civilian casualties, Israel gives away the element of surprise and sends out warnings before it attacks residential areas (neighborhoods or buildings). This is done by throwing thousands of leaflets or messages and by calling uninvolved civilians to move to safer locations. Again, Israel is targeting terrorists, not civilians.

There are claims of over proportionality. What is proportionality? According to the international law, proportionality doesn’t mean Israel has the right to kill now exactly 1,400 Palestinians or Hamas operatives of the same ages (babies, children, women and elderly) and exactly in the same way (burning, raping, mutilating, beheading). Proportionality refers to the military advantage of the attack and the incidental loss or injury to civilians. The military advantage of the attack is evident while you maximize your efforts to minimize civilians suffering. No one (except the Hamas supporters) expects Israel to let Hamas attack Israeli civilians once again.

Actually, they are doing it until now, still launching rockets on Israeli communities every day. The international pressure has to go unto the Hamas to release the hostages, stop using human shields and change their ideology of annihilating Israel. Until this happens, Israel can’t go back to the vicious cycle of attacks by Hamas and murdering of Israeli civilians. No responsible government can agree to that. Unfortunately, the price of the Hamas tactics means terrible human suffering in Gaza and in Israel.

The war against ISIS in Mosul or Raqqa left so much destruction and hundreds of thousands have been killed or internally displaced because Hamas, Al Qaeda and ISIS are in principle the same. They all use civilians, hospitals, schools and other civil institutes as human shields. They all call for the establishment of a Muslim state with Sharia (Islam) law and no tolerance for non-Muslims.

Another statement claims that Israel is a colonial force and that Israel is doing ethnic cleansing. This is certainly not the case. In fact, ethnic cleansing was done against the Jews throughout history, including in Europe and the Arab states. Jews had to escape Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen and so many other Arab countries in 1948. Why? Because the Arabs didn’t accept the two-state solution and tried to destroy the young Jewish state and eradicate the Jewish communities in their own countries. Since then, Israel had to protect itself from so many wars and terror attacks that had one goal – annihilate Israel and murder the Jews. Israel absorbed all the Arab Jews refugees and supplied food, housing, work, education. Today they are totally integrated. Thank God, we were able to defend ourselves, otherwise there would have been an Arab state “from the river to the sea” and no Jews there or elsewhere.

That brings me to one more phenomenon we can see since Oct. 7. An alarming increase of antisemitic attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions. Jews are now afraid to be identified as Jews, to go publicly with Jewish symbols and visit Jewish institutions. We thought that the holocaust, just 80 years ago, was a lesson learned and that it can’t happen again. The “Never again” is happening again – and this is a very worrying phenomenon.

You see, the main problem today are the extremist countries (like Iran) and terror organizations that are supported by Iran (like Hamas, Islamic jihad, Hezbollah, Houthis and others) who continuously call openly for the destruction of the State of Israel and murdering all Jews. Actually, they don’t threaten only Israel, they are a threat to the liberal democratic world. Didn’t the Philippines fight ISIS in Marawi? Did we forget Sept. 11? Recently, two Swedish nationals were murdered in Brussels by an Islamist. And so many other terror attacks.

I wonder why all those so-called “liberal voices” support this evil axis? They should study better and understand what and whom they are supporting. Did you know that there is no LGBT community in Gaza? They are hanged, murdered and beheaded; this is the Sharia law. So, you wonder why the so-called liberals support them? The answer is clear – antisemitism and anti-zionism.

Those demonstrating in support for Hamas around the world must understand that they are encouraging terrorism and giving legitimacy to ISIS and to a Hamas oppressive regime in the Gaza Strip. They are also unwittingly aiding the Iranian axis in its efforts to spread Islamic jihad to the rest of the free world.

If the free world wishes to remain free, it must support Israel’s right to defend itself and allow it to utterly defeat Hamas. Hamas must be held accountable for the war crimes and crimes against humanity it has committed. Only then will there be hope for peaceful coexistence in the Middle East.

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Ilan Fluss is the Israeli ambassador to the Philippines.