©2024
By Don Frost
It’s hard to see pictures and videos of the suffering in Gaza caused by Israel’s response to the barbaric attack by Hamas on Israelis Oct. 7. The images of bleeding, crying children cannot fail to move anyone with a soul. They are the innocents, civilians who had nothing to do with Oct. 7.
But at the same time, it cannot – should not – be forgotten that we Americans, in concert with our allies, similarly killed innocent civilians in World War II: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, firebombings of Tokyo and other major Japanese cities; the Dresden firebombing in Germany, strategic conventional bombings of Berlin and hundreds of other targets throughout Germany. These civilian deaths were no accident. We knew with absolute certainty that noncombatants would die.
Estimated civilian death toll in Germany during WWII is 1.5 million to 3 million. It’s 550,000 to 800,000 in Japan, including both atomic bombings.
We did it then because we were faced with implacable enemies dedicated to our destruction. Israel is doing it now because they are faced with an implacable enemy dedicated to its destruction.
German civilians died because they accepted a monster, Adolf Hitler, as their leader; their conscience. Japanese civilians died because they accepted the myth that the emperor could do no wrong.
Yes, weep for the innocent civilians of Gaza, but never forget they allowed the barbarous Hamas to rule them. They stood by and watched while rockets were fired from their country into Israel; while massive machines dug miles of tunnels under their hospitals and neighborhoods; while terrorists used those tunnels to launch attacks on Israeli innocents.
Perhaps now the innocents of Gaza will claim that they never liked Hamas; that they abhorred its policies and practices. German civilians did the same when the war landed on their doorstep. But now, as then, qui tacet consentire – silence gives consent.
commonsense931 
Bravo for stating what should be obvious. “War is hell,” famously said Gen. Sherman. It’s an illusion that war can be fought humanely and triumphantly. Our firebombing of German and Japanese cities and dropping the big one on two of them saved millions of lives in the long run. A similar arithmetic will likely play out if Israel succeeds in wiping out Hamas and many of its enablers. “Proportionality” is a stupid concept militarily. Vicious enemies need to be crushed, not slapped.
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You also had an excellent response to Don’s Post. The two of you should get together and write some excellent masterpieces!
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Don, You are getting better with age! This is perhaps your best post ever. You put thing into perspective. Until this article, I was very much against what Israel was doing. But now it makes sense as to why Israel will not stop what they are doing.
Regards,
Tony
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