Guest column

Report offers perverse view of Israeli, Palestinian deaths

By BRUCE A. EPSTEIN and BARRY AUGENBRAUN
Published December 11, 2004

The deaths of any civilians in war are tragic, but Susan Taylor Martin's report "Children in the cross-fire" equates the unfortunate accidental Arab casualties caused by terrorists who deliberately operate in civilian areas in Gaza and the West Bank with the murder of Israeli children killed while riding the bus to school or buying a slice of pizza. That equation should be morally unacceptable to any serious observer.

While she is correct about the tragic loss of children's lives, Martin repeatedly holds Israeli policy and its soldiers responsible. She fails to grasp the fact that the fault lies with a Palestinian leadership that refuses to accept the existence of the State of Israel and is determined to create a Palestinian state on the blood-drenched soil of Israel; a leadership that indoctrinates children to hate Israelis and Jews, that supports summer camps to teach boys kidnapping, ambushing, use of firearms, and other skills for a guerrilla war; a leadership that recruits teenagers to throw Molotov cocktails and stones at Israeli soldiers and that has convinced the Palestinian people that their only path to a Palestinian state is one of violence.

It appears that many of the figures she cited are from a pro-Palestinian "human rights group," B'tselem. A thorough journalist would have realized how this group defines its terms. Many of the Palestinian "children" cited in its numbers were initiating violence. For example, B'tselem cites one 14-year-old boy who was killed "after taking part in the stabbing to death of the Israeli civilian." In another case, a 17-year-old boy was killed "after having entered the settlement and stabbed the security officer." Both these casualties were included in the "innocent" Palestinian children casualty count.

Israel does not target civilians, and Martin's figures indicate clearly that Israel does not deserve the accusation of using indiscriminate force. If Israelis were targeting civilians, the number of women, children and elderly fatalities would be much higher. All of the statistics, even those of B'tselem, support the Israel Defense Force's contention that soldiers seek to avoid civilian casualties, especially youngsters.

However, the Palestinians make no attempt to minimize innocent fatalities, and, in fact, have blatantly targeted civilians, as demonstrated by their fondness for suicide bombings against Israeli children. Martin fails to understand that there is a profound moral difference between those who intentionally kill and those who accidentally kill. There is a difference between a child who is killed while eating at a pizzeria and one who is killed because he confronted an armed soldier with a Molotov cocktail. If Palestinians are throwing rocks at Israeli civilians and soldiers, Israeli soldiers must fight back to protect the civilians and themselves. If Palestinians insist upon letting school out early and deliberately placing children in the line of fire, there will be casualties. But these children are by no means killed with cold-blooded intent.

Innocent Palestinian children are killed and maimed so that Palestinian leaders can answer any accusation made about them with the statement that "Israel has victimized Palestinian children." Their parents and teachers, in the hopes of breeding fodder for propaganda against Israel, make martyrs of their own children. Why were there no photographs included in the article that showed children standing with armed Palestinians? Why were there no pictures of teens throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers? Why didn't Martin report the difference between the reactions of the Israeli government to the death of a Palestinian child, and the response in the Palestinian world to the deaths of Israeli schoolchildren? Upon hearing the news, no Israeli politicians praised the deaths, no rabbis thanked the Lord and no Israeli mobs danced in celebration.

Just the opposite. Senior officials of the Israeli Defense Forces expressed condolences and launched an investigation. Regrets and condolences were extended, and there were wide-scale calls for an inquiry. We would be the first to admit that not every soldier in every army conducts himself or herself in an ethical way. Take, for example, our own soldiers in Iraq and the Abu Ghraib prison episode. Do these immoral acts by a few mean that everyone in the U.S. armed forces is guilty of inappropriate behavior? Does this mean that our government supports these actions? Nothing of the sort. The actions of Israeli soldiers as reported by Martin are deplorable and unacceptable. We do not take pride in these actions, but we will take pride in the Israeli response to identify them and put an end to them, to the extent humanly possible.

Martin is not alone. Many reporters give credence to the false parallels and lies by repeating them. Let's hope that in the future, Martin will look at the facts behind the sick lies and perverse excuses and recognize them for what they really are.

Bruce A. Epstein and Barry Augenbraun are co-chairs of the Jewish Community Relations Council, Jewish Federation of Pinellas County.

[Last modified December 11, 2004, 00:27:20]