Hamas targeting Israeli civilians for eight years

THE media priority now given to the Israeli targeting of Hamas facilities in Gaza contrasts oddly with that not afforded to the bombardment of Israel with more than 8,000 rockets and mortar shells by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other armed elements within Gaza over the past eight years.

When the infrastructure of these armed elements was targeted, it was beyond doubt that Israel did not aim to injure any civilians even though the sites from which it is attacked are located within or near residential areas

The great majority of those killed at such sites were not civilians but were involved in Islamic Jihad, Hamas, etc — the latest UN estimate suggests that about five of every six killed were armed Hamas forces.

In contrast, the slaughter of two young Arab children by rockets fired from northern Gaza was only a mistake — in Hamas terms — in that those Jihadi rockets were aimed to slaughter Jewish children instead. The 250,000 civilians within Israel under daily risk of such terror attacks equals the combined population of counties Donegal, Leitrim, Cavan and Monaghan being under daily rocket and mortar attack launched from Northern Ireland.

No Irish government would, or should, stand idly by in face of such a sustained campaign of atrocities against civilians — so why should Israelis be the only people on earth not allowed to protect themselves from such terror? The civilian casualties are not only those physically maimed or murdered, but the tens of thousands reduced to nervous wrecks by such ongoing bombardment. That is the precise long-term strategy of this cowardly Hamas war on civilians.

It behoves Irish and other EU politicians and commentators to focus on this unending murderous barrage, which is the sole cause of the drastic Israeli military response, instead of just reacting to the emotive images of stretchers.

Tom Carew

Chair

Ireland-Israel Friendship League

Ranelagh

Dublin 6