Conflict has broken out in another part of the world after Israel declared war on the militant group Hamas. Earlier yesterday, Hamas launched a shocking series of attacks against Israel that have killed an estimated 300 people so far.
As of this writing Israeli authorities are still picking up the pieces --as well as plotting their revenge.
With Russia’s war against Ukraine having unintended consequences for the rest of the world we certainly don’t need a war in another region; and one that will threaten to spread across that part of the world as well.
While it may be easy to pick sides in this latest conflict, the issue with Israel, Gaza, Hamas, and the other parties involved has become so complicated throughout the decades that it is no longer clear which side has the moral high ground.
But what is clearly wrong is involving civilians in the conflict. In this case the taking of hundreds of civilian hostages by Hamas, as reported by Israeli authorities. Aside from military personnel, Hamas militants allegedly grabbed men, women, and children, some as young as two years old, during the attack and absconded with them.
The motive for doing so remains unclear, but Israeli authorities think it is to deter retaliation by their military forces or even to use as human shields.
Let’s be clear on this, in any war there are always civilian casualties but usually they are collateral damage; meaning they weren’t the main target of the attack or the conflict, but somehow became victims of it.
It’s different when a war is waged to target civilians themselves, like what the Nazis did during the Blitz in World War II, or what Russia is currently doing in Ukraine.
It cannot be denied that civilians were killed when Israel launched its occasional retaliatory attacks against Hamas. But again these attacks were launched primarily against military targets.
What Hamas did when it kidnapped civilians --for whatever purpose-- was directed deliberately at non-combatants. It will not help win them sympathy from the foreign community --not that they may be looking for any-- or bolster the justness of whatever cause they want to push.
If anything it will only cement their designation as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union with the rest of the world.
Even in war there are rules that must be obeyed. Hamas’ kidnapping of civilians was a blatant violation of these rules.