You might be an anti-Semite if…

I’ve been following the conflict between Israel and terrorist organization Hamas as closely as possible. Unfortunately, there are a number of folks who don’t know what’s going on and that point is very clear with just a cursory review of Twitter. Journalist/activist Glenn Greenwald is one.

This is a good reminder. Israel is an ally fighting terrorists in Gaza. We shouldn’t be neutral. We should be stalwart supporters of Israel — they’re the good guys. Well, they’re the good guys to most people.

Something struck me this morning that really set me off — I saw a number of tweets saying that Israel is “targeting kids” militarily in Gaza. There was news that a school was hit by Israeli shelling and there were civilians killed. Because of the civilian death toll, anti-Israel critics are pretending that those civilians are being targeted (meaning — purposefully being murdered) by Israeli forces.

These are anti-Semitic statements. If you believe Israel is targeting kids and/or civilians, you hold an anti-Semitic, hateful view and I won’t let someone’s ignorance on exactly what’s happening excuse away that view. It’s your responsibility to be a better consumer of news (as I preach nightly on my radio show) and know what Hamas is doing and why. Let me explain.

In it’s most simple form: Hamas wants to kill Jews and take Israel. They have created dozens and dozens of tunnels to infiltrate Israeli land with the sole purpose of capturing and killing Jews. They send thousands and thousands of rockets into Israeli land with a very simple target: Israeli civilians. Hamas store their weapons in schools, hospitals, mosques and private residences. Why do they do this? Because when the IDF has to finally take out these targets — after warning civilians in the area that they’re doing it, giving them time to leave before the attacks — there is still the possibility of civilian death. Then Hamas puts out images of dead civilians so they can further propagandize the public into thinking Israel is just targeting civilians, hoping the uninformed don’t realize where Hamas stores their weapons. And no, you can’t just send ground troops in to some of these targets — why would Israel unnecessarily risk the lives of Israeli soldiers by putting them in a densely populated area where they can be easily detected and targeted?

The folks who think Israel is targeting kids and/or civilians, committing genocide or apartheid, and whatever other nutty and ignorant belief you might have, are taking the exact same line that Hamas is taking — that anti-Semitic, terrorist group that doesn’t believe Jews have the right to exist. When you align your beliefs with the beliefs of an anti-Semitic group… you’re just as bad.

The civilian death is heart breaking. No one wants that — including Israel. But it would stop immediately if Hamas would stop firing rockets into Israel and if they would destroy their underground terror tunnels. Civilians may be dying from Israeli munitions, but they’re dying because of Hamas.