The word on the street out there is that “Israel is indiscriminately killing people in Gaza”

Really? Do we really believe that? I submit that neither Jews themselves nor Israel as a nation have had any history of “indiscriminately” killing anybody. Rather, they have a long history of being “indiscriminately” killed themselves.

Let’s ask ourselves: “What actually is “indiscriminate” killing? For the answer, we need look no further than the October 7^th massacres of Israelis and others by Hamas with the help of Gazan citizens. Gangs of armed people crashing across the borders of a neighboring country and entering into homes of private citizens in multiple towns and into public events and torturing and killing almost everyone in sight and taking hostages to be killed later is true “indiscriminate” killing! Let’s keep that crystal clear example of “indiscriminate killing” in mind as we think about what the IDF is doing in Gaza.

Speaking of what the IDF is doing in Gaza, let’s remind ourselves of their stated goals regarding the war.

Israel’s three goals of war in Gaza as articulated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are:

1. Eliminating Hamas and its infrastructure.
2. Freeing hostages.
3. Ensuring Gaza will never again pose a threat to Israel

So, we see that Israel is prosecuting a war with three well-defined objectives. Already, this does not smell “indiscriminate” to me.

Since this is a war, let’s find out something about the Rules of Engagement in a war zone.

From the website of Uniform Code of Military Justice, we can glean the following ten points.

• Military rules of engagement (RoE) are critical frameworks that dictate combat operations. RoE are based on both national laws like the U.S. Law of War and international treaties such as the Geneva and Hague Conventions and NATO guidlines.
• RoE keep civilians safe during war. They aim to keep damage minimal and protect innocent lives.
• RoE promote distinction. This means soldiers must know the difference between civilian and military targets and therefore only attack military targets. However, civilian targets that help the enemy can be attacked.
• RoE promote proportionality which means any harm to civilians can’t be too big compared to the benefits of the attack.
• Soldiers are mandated to be trained to know the rules and follow them on pain of criminal prosecution.
• The Geneva Convention rules protect people in war, like fighters, prisoners, and those not fighting. They dictate not to hurt civilians and to treat prisoners kindly.
• The Hague Convention rules promote using only the necessary force to win. They forbid the use of weapons that cause too much pain or methods that harm innocent people or buildings.
• NATO guidelines advise members on how to interpret the Geneva and Hague Conventions.
• It is understood that each mission needs its own RoE to meet its specific needs, risks, and goals and that RoE are more permissive in active combat areas due to higher risks, allowing the use of more force against the enemy.
• Indiscriminate attacks are never allowed. These are understood to be attacks not focused on clear military goals or attacks using uncontrollable methods. Clear military targets can include soldiers, weapons, or specific buildings and involved civilians.

In attempting to evaluate the IDF’s actions in prosecuting the war, one must keep in mind two fundamentally important considerations: the conditions on the ground and the ruthlessness of Hamas.

We must keep in mind that the fundamental intent of war is to kill people. War exists because two belligerents come to a point where there is no more room for discussion and the issue of contention can only be resolved by the forceful subjugation of one side by the other. Unfortunately, this has been the human experience throughout history. In the case of the Gaza war, Hamas has said to Israel, “we want to repeat October 7^th again and again and again until we eliminate you from the river to the sea.” Israel, in response has said to Hamas, “No, we will not let that happen and we are going to kill enough of your operatives and supporters that you will be eliminated as a viable threat now and into the future.”

It should be obvious to those watching this conflict that Hamas is the one wishing to “indiscriminatingly” kill and Israel is killing “discriminatingly” to achieve a security goal.

Of course, accusations of “indiscriminate killing” are likely to increase with increasing casualties (that is “killings”) due to the biases and ignorance regarding warfare on the part of those watching from afar.

But the more discerning can see that killings on both sides are likely to be driven up by the fact that the war is being waged in probably the highest density urban environment in the world consisting of both above ground and underground infrastructure.

The discerning can also see that the numbers of civilians killed will also be exacerbated by Hamas’ practice of its fighters wearing civilian clothes, establishing control centers in schools, hospitals and mosques and launching attacks against Israel from civilian neighborhoods and designated civilian safe zones.

These facts should lead to the conclusion that higher killing numbers do not automatically indicate “indiscriminate” killing.

The discerning will realize, on the other hand, that the killing numbers will be driven down by Israel’s ability to pinpoint enemy activity by using its well-developed intelligence methods its unprecedented war practices of moving civilian populations, providing advance warnings of attacks and exercising precisely focused maneuvers using precision weapons. All things that go beyond the requirements of international war conventions.

The discerning will also realize the role of propaganda in the inflation of casualty numbers.

As an example of the escalation due to all the effects we just discussed, let’s look at the recent IDF attack on the Al-Tabaeen compound in the Gaza strip on August 10^th. Here is a timeline complied by an X user that is quite revealing and worth going through.

The Al-Tabaeen Attack

• 05:00- Israel targets Hamas terrorists hiding at the Al-Tabaeen compound.
• 05:20 – Hamas Health Ministry announces that 40 martyrs were killed.

• 05:40 – Hamas sees an opportunity to inflate the numbers and sends another message saying 100 martyrs were killed.
• 07:00 – First media report claims the IDF killed over 100 in a school.
• 08:00 – Condemnations from every country and politician, all sharing Hamas’ numbers.
• 12:00 – Western media extensively covers a major attack on a school, allegedly killing hundreds, once again sharing Hamas’ information and not distinguishing between armed Hamas men and civilians.
• 17:00 – CNN publishes an article with the headline “More than 90 Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on a school and mosque.” (You have to read to the last line, after nine paragraphs, to find that these numbers cannot be verified. This was Hamas’ intention hiding in a school compound to have a headline like this spread.)
• 18:00 – Israel publishes the list of the 19 terrorists killed in the strike, proving that one room in the complex was being used as a Hamas control center.
• 19:00 – Hamas revises the number from 100 to 40.
• 20:00 – Israel releases images of the strike, proving it was extremely precise, with munitions that could not have blown up a school and a mosque. Only the room with the terrorists hiding in it was hit. School was not in session.
• Once again, Hamas has lied and manipulate Western media and world leaders. And once again, sadly, they played all of us perfectly.

(Hen Mazzig on X)

As we can see from this recent on-the-ground event, Israel is being very discriminate and focused on its stated goals and Hamas is the one being “indiscriminate” in trying to precipitate unnecessary killings and the media is helping them.

As we have discussed before, the intent of the statement that Israel is killing “indiscriminately” is to get the undiscerning world to think that Israel is contravening international war conventions and therefore, is an evil state and people. Thus, Israel is demonized.

Again, Hamas knows full well that winning this propaganda war means life or death for them. Shalom all you discerning ones!