Israel is accused of crimes that it did not commit.
Tucker Carlson and Piers Morgan found themselves together in Saudi Arabia last week and decided to interview one another for over an hour.
Tucker Carlson is the No. 1 conservative commentator in the United States. He has earned his position through years of hard work, including his time at Fox and his post-Fox career at the Tucker Carlson Network. He is often seen with President Trump and was with the president both at Mar-a-Lago and at the recent inauguration. Nobody can reasonably be described as a bigger voice in the conservative or MAGA spheres. He is beloved by millions.
During their discussion, Carlson and Morgan got around to Israel. Carlson stated that Israel was intentionally killing women and children. He claimed that Israel's “beating its chest” over such behavior was evil and was the basis for not considering Israel as an ally of the U.S. Carlson’s statement is factually incorrect. Yes, women and children have died. But I have never heard of one case where Israeli planners and soldiers actively selected a target due to its having civilians present. Israel is the only country in the world that has done any of the following. And for Israel, they have done all of them:
*Warn people via SMS and phone calls to leave their buildings.
*Provide direct instructions on where to go for safety via drone-warnings or maps.
*"Knock" on the roof with dud bombs to get people out of a building.
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*Cancel attacks on terrorists due to the presence of civilians.
*Feed a hateful enemy population during an active war.
There is no doubt that Palestinians civilians have died during the post-October 7th war. The figures, which are questionable due to their source, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, would show 46,000 dead, half being terrorists based on Israeli data. Every expert in warfare has stated unequivocally that these numbers represent the lowest number of civilians to combatants killed in any urban fighting in history. Better than Fallujah, better than the street fighting in Ukraine. Never has an army made such an effort to minimize civilian casualties and succeeded in doing so. If one conflates collateral deaths with intentional executions then there can be no war on terrorists. They attack, they hide in their cities and they win. Morgan said as much.
And let’s add some context. As we have all recently seen, the general Gazan population is hyper pro-Hamas. Sure there are those who oppose it, but by poll and by actions on the streets, the Gazans are anti-Israel and pro-terror. And even so, Israel made every effort to get civilians out of the way of active war zones. In one case described in the Israeli press, IDF Arabic-speaking soldiers told a family to leave a building that was about to be attacked. When forces found that there were no planes to bomb the structure, they called back and told them that they could go home. A while later, they were warned again, and after the family had left, the terror-supporting structure was attacked. How can Israel be accused of killing civilians? The U.S. has never made a fraction of this effort to protect civilians in any war that it has fought.
I personally do not like the protection of civilians that the IDF makes. I believe that it comes at the expense of soldiers in the field and reduces the possibility of winning the war. Terrorists move with the civilians and suddenly show up during a ceasefire with their uniforms, headbands and weapons. If Israel wants to win, it needs to focus on destroying Hamas and not think about civilian collateral damage or humanitarian aid. Israel's strict rules mean that soldiers who abuse captured terrorists are disciplined by the IDF. If they killed civilians wantonly, they would be in jail.
One may criticize Israel for many things. One may complain about Israel’s prosecution of the war but it is simply not true that Israel targets civilians. Israel has done its best to destroy a death cult terror organization that has embedded itself into a large civilian population. Israel moved hundreds of thousands of people out of Rafah in order to operate there. When the Netzarim crossing was opened last week, in one day over 350,000 Palestinians moved back north to Beit Hanoun and Jabaliyah. If Israel had wanted to kill these people in place, it could have done so . It did not and that says a lot about the way Israel prosecutes wars.
One does not have to like Israel. One can find plenty about which to complain. But one should not put forth untrue claims when Israel's position in the world is already precarious. When I left synagogue Friday night, a young man was sitting in a wheelchair just outside. When they took him badly wounded out of Gaza, they put him into a medically-induced coma. He has made amazing progress. As I approached, he put out his big hand to shake mine. I wanted to throw myself at his feet. This man, like many others, has acted solely to protect his family, his people, and his country.
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