The UN perverts law to demonize Israel

The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General is supposed to promote UN ideals (UN Homepage, “The role of the Secretary General”). Those ideals focus on the dignity and worth of the human person--and on international peace and security (UN Charter, Preamble). To promote these ideals, the UN Charter empowers the Secretary-General to bring to the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten international peace and security (“The role of the Secretary-General, ibid).

This is why UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon is concerned about the current Gaza-Israel war. It threatens international peace and security, and it has resulted in humanitarian violations.

The UN Secretary-General is supposed to uphold the values and moral authority of the United Nations (ibid). Part of those UN values includes establishing rules of war so as to protect civilians during times of conflict. Part of his moral authority includes enforcing humanitarian law to make certain that those who violate non-combatant humanitarian rights are punished (Betrand Ramcharan, “The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law; Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research”, Occasional paper series, Harvard University, Spring 2005, Number 3).

However, in the current Gaza-Israel war, the UN Secretary-General abandons his values. He stains his moral authority. He overturns well-established International Code in order to demonize Israel and elevate the moral status of a war criminal (Hamas).

There is no excuse for such a perversion of justice.

The Fourth Geneva Convention is, essentially, the foundation for International Humanitarian Code that affects conflict. It is clear: in any conflict, civilians are to be protected. This is an absolute: there are no exceptions. Violate this rule and you become liable.

In fact, the reason the Fourth Geneva Convention was created in the first place (after World War Two) was to address an issue which previous Geneva Conventions had not adequately addressed: protecting civilians (“Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949”, Treaties and states parties to such treaties, ICRC, the ICRC Homepage).

From the Convention and its supplements, two points that affect the Gaza-Israel war are very clear. First, civilians are to be protected during a conflict. Second—and far more important--when the Party which controls those civilians violates the rights of those civilians, it is held responsible for death and injury to those civilians—not someone else.

In the Gaza-Israel war, the UN should hold Hamas responsible for deaths and injuries to its civilian population because Hamas violates that population’s Humanitarian rights. But the UN Secretary-General won’t do that. Instead, he ignores International Code. He slams Israel for those deaths.

That is a perversion of International law. It is a perversion of the moral authority of the UN.

Civilians in Gaza die. Hamas controls those civilians. As the Party in this conflict which controls Gazan civilians, Hamas has certain legal obligations. First, it must protect all civilians, including its own. This means that it cannot engage in combat from its own civilian neighbourhoods. It cannot fire rockets into Israel’s civilian neighbourhoods.

Hamas violates these prohibitions. It fails to respect the dignity and worth of humans. Consequently, it commits humanitarian rights violations. It commits war crimes. It is responsible for the consequences of its actions.

Hamas also uses its own population as human shields. This, too, is a war crime. This crime has been amply documented. The proof of Hamas’ use of its own civilians as human shields comes directly from Hamas. Hamas officials have praised its use of human shields in an interview on its Al Aqsa TV, in printed Hamas statements, and in statements made to reporters by Hamas officials.

Hamas should be condemned for these humanitarian violations. It is not. Israel is condemned—for Hamas’s violations. That is, Israel has been viciously condemned for deaths and injuries to Gazan civilians that have resulted from Hamas’ using those civilians as human shields.

But when human shields die, International Code does not blame the bombs that killed them. International Code is very clear on this point. It holds responsible the Party in the conflict that controls those human shields. That Party is Hamas.

Nevertheless, the UN has blamed Israel’s bombs for those deaths and injuries. It has not blamed Hamas. It has not condemned Hamas ‘in the strongest terms’. It condemns Israel. It blames Israel for Hamas’ crimes.

Condemning Israel for Gazan civilian deaths caused by Hamas rights violations is a perversion of justice. When International law mandates that the Party responsible for using human shields is not the Party attacking military targets (Israel), the UN should defend Israel’s right to defend itself. When International law mandates that the Party responsible for the death of human shields is the Party that controls those ‘shields’ (Hamas), the UN should condemn Hamas.

The UN does not do that.

The UN Secretary-General demeans his moral authority by leading the charge against Israel. He perverts Humanitarian law to demonize Israel.

The Commander’s words to Israel’s soldiers

Two days ago, you read below about the words of the Annointed Kohen (priest), who spoke to Israel’s soldiers in days of old just before battle (“The Annointed for War speaks to our soldiers”, below, July 18, 2014). Those words come directly from our Heritage, Talmud tractate, Sotah.

Read now different words. These words come from the Commander of modern Israeli’s Givati fighting unit. They were sent to soldiers who had been chosen to enter combat on Thursday night, July 17, 2014.

Thanks to a reader who forwarded this to me. It comes from the website aish.com. The letter you will read was embedded in an essay written by Sarah Yocheved Rigler entitled, “The Jewish Army”, published July 19, 2014:

Eighteen thousand Israeli soldiers amassed on the border of Gaza last week, waiting for the order to go in and clean out the thousands of smuggling and infiltration tunnels and launching pads of the Hamas terrorists. The Commander of Givati, one of [Israel’s]largest infantry divisions, sent this letter to his soldiers (roughly translated from the Hebrew):

Dear Officers and Fighters,

It’s a big honor that fell to our portion to be and to serve in the unit of Givati at this time. History chooses us to be at the tip of the spear of fighting the terrorist Gaza enemy that provoked and taunted the God of Israel’s battalions. [Here he uses terminology from the Biblical account of David fighting Goliath.]

We prepared and trained ourselves for this moment. And we accept upon ourselves the mission, as emissaries and from a place of total humility. We are willing to endanger ourselves and give up our lives for the sake of protecting our families and our nation and our heritage.

… I’m counting on you, on each and every one of you, that you will act in this spirit, the spirit of Israeli warriors, who are going in the forefront of the fighting forces … I raise my eyes to the heavens and call out with you, “Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokenu, Hashem Echad.” Hashem, the God of Israel, please make our way successful, that we are going and standing to fight for Your nation of Israel against an enemy that taunts Your name. In the name of the IDF fighters and particularly the fighters of this division and its commanders, it should be that what it says in the Torah should be fulfilled by us: “Because God your Lord Who is going with you to fight for you against your enemies, to redeem you.” And let us say, “Amen.”

“Together, and only together, we will win.”

Signing off,

Ofer Winter

 Commander of Givati

----

May HaShem hear these words. May His mercy protect our soldiers.

As of 6:25 pm tonight (Israel time), eighteen Israeli soldiers have given their lives for us. We are stricken with grief. We are filled to resolve to see this through. We must not stand down from this mission.

We call upon the G-d of Israel to hear our pleas for our soldiers’ safe return. We ask the G-d of Israel to answer those who taunt Him.

Leader of the Free World: Israel, not America

The United States of America has been called ‘the leader of the free world’. It began to earn that title when it entered World War Two. It assumed that title in earnest when the Cold War against Russia began after World War Two had ended.

It earned that title because it led the West against two evils called, Nazi Germany and Communist Russia. It carried the heaviest burden in the struggles that led to victory against those evils. It forced Nazi Germany to an unconditional surrender. It engineered the collapse of Communist Russia.

Nazism and Communism were called ‘evil’ for several reasons. They wanted to conquer the free world. They wanted to control the free world. They wanted to enslave the free world. They wanted to destroy the civilization of the free world.

That made them evil.

They used war to conquer others. They used brutal force to dominate all life wherever they became Masters. They sought to rule the world.

That made them evil.

The free world rejected that evil. The free world did not want to be ruled by tyrannies that had literally murdered and tortured millions.

These ideologies were evil because they saw the world in the starkest of terms: they told us, for example, that we had only two choices. They said, “There are two worlds that stand opposed to each other” (read the radio address of President Franklin Roosevelt, Washington, December 29, 1940; Roosevelt spoke of the Nazi; but his words could apply also to Communist Russia under Stalin). Their world will, they said, conquer ours.

That made them evil.

Hitler’s Germany and then, later, Stalin’s Russia stood defiantly before the world. Each was ruthless.

That’s why they were evil.

America stood steadfast against that evil. It fought against Hitler and Stalin so that the free world would remain free. It stood when others were afraid. Its unwavering commitment to freedom made it the leader of the Free World.

Today, we face a different evil. But it is still an evil that aims to do what the Nazis and Communists failed to do: conquer us, dominate us, enslave us.

This evil also aims to destroy free nations. It aims to force free nations to do its will.

There is only one such ruthless evil in the world. There is only one ideology that seeks to destroy freedom’s civilization. That evil is militant Islam.

An ideology becomes an evil to free people because it promotes the free world’s destruction. It presents itself as being irreconcilably opposed to any way of life different from its own. That was the argument of the Nazis and the Communists. It is the argument of militant Islam.

That’s why militant Islam attacked the United States (September 11, 2001). It’s why it has attacked Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Kenya, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Somalia and others. It aims to destroy what is not of its own making.

America no longer stands firm against this Islam. It no longer fights this Islam. It pulls back from the fight.

Today, only one country in the world fights this new evil. Only one country risks its very existence—and its international reputation--to stand firm against this evil. That country is Israel.

In a new essay, “Israel Holds the Free World's Destiny in Her Hands” (Arutz Sheva, July 20, 2014), Giulio Meotti describes Israel as standing alone as it wars against militant Islam. Israel, he says, fights a battle for all of us. He calls Israel the first line of Western defense in the battle for non-Muslim survival and prosperity in the world (ibid).

He is right. He understands the evil that challenges the West. To survive, the West must fight. Surrender means the death of our civilization.  

Clearly, Meotti has read the Islamic calls to destroy both the Little Satan (Israel) and the Great Satan (the United States). He understands the fanaticism of militant Islam. He understands what this militant Islam has done in Syria, Africa and Iran.

The nation which he describes as standing alone against this evil is not just a small nation. It’s not just a Jewish nation. It’s something more.

While he doesn’t use these words, his essay describes the leader of the free world. As he suggests, a leader makes sacrifices to carry the banner of freedom. A leader pays a price to lead. A leader understands how to be ‘steadfast’.

He does not describe America. He describes Israel.

America is no longer the leader of the free world. America will no longer stand against militant Islam. America no longer wants to oppose the drive of militant Islam to conquer and enslave.

America abdicates its leadership. America abandons the fight for freedom.

Israel doesn’t. Israel fights.

That’s why Israel is now the leader of the free world.

 

 

The Annointed for War speaks to our soldiers

In the Talmud, Sotah 42a, we read something about how our ancient soldiers of Israel once prepared to go to war. Before they set out to fight, they heard special words of encouragement.

Today, we awaken to news that our modern soldiers of Israel have also gone to war. Late last night, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) crossed into Gaza in a ground offensive against Hamas. Already, one of our own has been killed.

We pray for our soldiers’ safety. We offer condolence and comfort to the family of this fallen soldier. He died al pi Kiddush HaShem, sanctifying G-d’s Name so that Israel itself—G-d’s sacred Treasure-- would be safe.

Perhaps we should pause. Perhaps we should recall how soldiers during the time of the First Temple prepared for war. We do not yet have our Third Temple. We pray for it every day. Perhaps we would be wise to think about it now.

During the time of the First Temple a special Kohen (priest) was chosen to travel with soldiers into battle. He wasn’t just chosen. He was anointed with the rare—and rarely used--anointing oil of the Temple. He was special. He was specially designated because he had the special task of addressing Israel prior to battle.

He was called, the 'Annointed for War'.

He spoke in Hebrew. He began with the famous Jewish call, ‘Hear O Israel!’ He then said (in part), You draw near this day to battle against your enemy. Let not your heart become faint. Do not be afraid. Do not panic and do not be broken. Let not your heart become faint from the neighing of [your enemy’s] horses and glittering swords. Do not be afraid of the [sounds of] clashing shields [sounds created by an army to raise such a tumult that soldiers facing them would fear they face an enormous force]. Do not be afraid of dust-clouds raised by the stamping feet of enemy soldiers [to create the illusion of a large army]. You are commanded to cast away fear—and rely upon G-d.  Each of you, dispel thoughts of home, family and possessions—and focus completely on the business before you.

Do not allow fear to cause you to transgress the prohibition, do not be afraid. Banish your fear! With G-d beside you, there is nothing to fear, for it is HaShem your G-d who goes with you.

Your enemy comes to the battlefield with the strength of flesh and blood. But you come to that battlefield with the strength of the Omnipresent.

The Philistines came against you with the strength of their champion Goliath. He reviled our king and blasphemed against our G-d. What was his end? He fell by the sword and his fellows fell with him.

There’s more. This is an interpretive reading of that ‘Annointed’ speech (see The Art Scroll Daf Yomi edition, Sotah, 42a3-4). Nevertheless, this is the essence of that speech.

Such a speech might sound old-fashioned. But it is a reminder to all of us: this war is not about land. It isn’t about self-determination. It’s about G-d.

If you doubt that, read the Hamas Charter.

May G-d’s mercy protect our soldiers as they go to meet the enemy who has sworn to annihilate us.

When you elevate Hamas’ moral stature

In the second essay below, published yesterday, I spoke to you about moral equivalency. I proposed to you that moral equivalency does not lead to morality.

See the essay for details.

Here now is a specific look at what happens when you employ moral equivalency. You not only elevate one who is not moral, you encourage his immorality.

The essay below is an example of Hamas at its immoral worst. It is an essay published two days ago on the Hamas news site, called The Palestinian Information Center. It is a kind of essay you will never see headlined on any of Israel’s main news outlets. 

Here it is, unedited but with comments:

“Disarming Hamas: Unthinkable and impossible”

16/07/2014 - 08:32 AM  [July 16, 2014]

By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied Palestine [On each Hamas and PLO news site, all of Israel is termed, ‘Occupied Palestine’]

 With characteristic arrogance, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is now demanding the disarming of Hamas, the Palestinian liberation group now defending the Palestinian people against the ongoing Judeo-Nazi onslaught. [calling Israel a Nazi regime—or Nazi-like, etc—is a theme that goes back to the founding Hamas Charter. It is a typical anti-Semitic label used to demonize both Jews and Israel]

Netanyahu knows deep in his heart that disarming Hamas is impossible and unthinkable; at least as far the Palestinian people are concerned since such a measure would be tantamount to inviting Israel to massacre the Palestinians en masse and complete the liquidation of their enduring just cause. [all anti-Semites, going back to the original blood-libel accusations of the Middle Ages, accuse Jews of the very things they want to do to Jews: massacre and liquidate; we see Hamas using that same transference here]

Hence, I really don't know why this racist Nazi-like animal keeps regurgitating his arrogance. Perhaps he thinks that Hamas would budge under international pressure and agree to disarm like Bashar Assad agreed to dispose of his chemical arsenal. [one key ingredient in preparing a nation to kill an enemy is demonization –Israel as Nazi—and dehumanization—Israel as not just Nazi, but a Nazi animal. Demonization makes a nation angry. Dehumanization enables killing: it is easier to kill an animal than a human]

But Hamas is no Bashar Assad, who used chemical weapons against his own people in order to save his sectarian regime from what seemed to be an imminent western bombing campaign.  

Hamas is defending, not killing Palestinians [but it is doing exactly that, though the war crimes listed in the essay below], and selflessly offering its fighters and leaders as martyrs for the sake of Palestine. [Hamas has done this by encouraging civilians to be human shields—a war crime} Hamas's fighters have been and are dying in the hundreds so that Palestinians will live and have a better tomorrow.  

Hamas's leaders are not the type of people who would rob their people of billions of dollars and deposit them in their personal accounts in Switzerland. [there is significant evidence that Hamas does exactly this. See “Hamas corruption weighs heavily on Gaza”, The Daily Star, October 1, 2012)]

 We all know Ahmed Yasin, Abdul Aziz Rantisi, Ibrahim Maqadmeh, Ismael Abu Shanab, Nezar Rayan, etc., died poor men. These impeccable men were and continue to serve as role model for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and other Muslims around the globe. [how interesting to see the need to argue this case. Hamas graft is considered by those who study these things to be of Olympian proportions]

This is why the vast majority of our people will continue to embrace Hamas and rally around it because Hamas is perceived to be of the people and for the people. Hamas is the child of Palestinian suffering. It is the inevitable response to overwhelming Jewish Nazism, hell bent on annihilating the Palestinian people and stealing the remnant of its homeland. [there is evidence that Hamas wants to steal the Jewish homeland. The Hamas Charter calls to   annihilate Jewish Israel.]

The Palestinians will simply continue to defend and protect Hamas to the last man, regardless of the ferocity and savagery of Jewish Nazism. [this is both dehumanization and demonization]

Yes, Israel is undoubtedly exploiting the deafening silence in Cairo and other Arab capitals. But this is only exposing these regimes as mere attack dogs against their own people. [more dehumanization]

Unfortunately, it is Hamas's destiny to fight not only Judeo-Nazi Israel but also tyrannical Arab regimes that openly collude with the Nazi-like entity against the Palestinian people and against their own peoples. The rulers of Arab countries who shamelessly collude and conspire against our people will have a prominent place in the dustbin of history.[demonization]

I have no doubt that the Arab masses will eventually rise up against these attack dogs that savage their own peoples on Israel's and America's behalf. [demonization; dehumanization]  

We will continue to be steadfast and resilient despite the high price we are paying in terms of our children's lives. This is the price of freedom and we must not flinch from paying it. If we did, then we would have to pay a double price in terms of subjugation, humiliation and enslavement. [funny thing about this statement: Hamas, through its war crimes—see the essay below—kills its own children; and we Jews are the ones fighting for freedom]

We must never surrender to the Nazis of our time. [if you know anything about the history of Nazi Germany, you would understand that if anyone in this war acts like a Nazi, it isn’t the Jew. The Jew does not call for the extermination of a homogeneous group. The Jew does not demonize and dehumanize its enemy. The Jew does not kill its own civilians because of ideology. The Arab, on the other hand, does all of this}

You will never find such an essay on any of Israel’s main news sites. Within the Hamas-PA unity government, however, you will find such language every month, if not every week.

These are the people the West tells us are morally equivalent to us.

Really?

The G-d of Israel watches us—and the West. He writes everything into His Book of Remembrance.

 

Pictures: why Israel defends itself

 It’s true: a picture is worth 1,000 words.

Consider the pictures you have seen of Arabs suffering in Gaza. Those pictures don’t just inform. They shape opinion. They create a moral statement. They even shape your definition of morality.

Look at that human suffering! How can we allow it? How can Israel do that?

These pictures, more than anything, have turned the world against Israel. No one cares that too many of these pictures are staged. No one cares that too many of the worst pictures are not of death or damage caused by Israel. No one cares that some of those pictures don’t even come from Gaza. They come from the horrific Arab-Arab killing orgy called Syria.

No one cares that they have been manipulated. What everyone cares about is, how can Israel inflict such pain on another human? Are Jews that barbaric?

Yes, the news suggests with its graphic depictions. Jews are that barbaric. That’s one reason why, some say, for world peace we must destroy Israel.

The truth, however, lies elsewhere. Morality lies elsewhere. Peace will not happen if Israel is destroyed.

Indeed, the raging dogs of Hell will be unleashed if Israel is destroyed. World Jihad will see to that.

Israel inflicts much pain on Gaza. The reason for that pain is not Jewish barbarity. It’s Arab barbarity.

The pain of those pictures exists because of Arab pressure upon its citizens to become human shields. Those pictures show you what happens to human shields. That’s barbaric. The horror of those pictures exists because of the Arab belief that an Arab should die as a martyr in order to find eternal bliss. Those pictures show you what really happens when Arab martyrs die. That’s barbarism.

The horror you see, in other words, does not so much come from Israel’s defending itself as it comes from Arab inhumanity. The pain in those pictures is real. But that pain doesn’t come from a sovereign state that has the right to defend itself. It comes from inhumane people driving their own citizens to pay the price of their own inhumanity.

Inhumane people want to kill Jews. They learn to kill Jews. They are encouraged to kill Jews. They dehumanize Jews.

They call Jews apes and pigs. They say apes and pigs must be slaughtered.

That’s the horror the Christianized West cannot comprehend. That’s the barbarism the Christianized West cannot understand. Therefore, it’s the barbaric horror the West refuses to look at.

They find it much easier to look at Jews. They find it much easier to accuse Jews.

In the Haftorah we will read in two days--on Shabbat--we learn what happens to those who would murder Jews. Israel, we are told, is sacred to G-d. Those who would commit evil upon the Jews carry guilt. They will suffer because of that guilt (Yirmiyahu 2:3, as translated in The Living Nach).

The Arab Middle East teaches a different lesson. It teaches us that, contrary to both Judaism and Christianity, compassion is not universal. Our Torah teaches us that there is a serious price to pay for actions G-d terms evil. But if, in the face of that evil, we demand compassion, then we create a problem that even the secular world understands.

We know the secular world understands this problem because of a saying created by that world: if we are compassionate towards the cruel, we end up being cruel to the compassionate.

This is an ugly lesson the Christianized West refuses to face. But it is the truth.

The pictures you see sell you a morality of Jew-hate. They exist to elicit your compassion for a culture of cruelty. They beg you to be merciful towards those who are ruthless.

They appeal to your sense of Christian love. They hate you. But they demand your sympathy.

Perhaps you should see something different. Perhaps a different picture will illustrate why Israel defends itself.

Perhaps a different picture will tell you why Israel must defend itself.

The online site below will show you how a war unfolds against a sovereign state. It gives you an animated look at real war in real time.

You will see the intensity of the Hamas rocket war against Israel. The site below uses a recorded real-time chronology in animated form. As you watch how the attacks flash in clusters around certain cities, think about this: no nation would tolerate such a concentrated assault on those cities.

 The population of the areas you will see attacked is greater than 65 per cent of Israel’s total population—more than 4 million people.

To put this into numbers, watch the animation. See if you can count fast enough to add up all the explosion-sites in Ashkelon, Ashdod and Tel Aviv.

No nation would tolerate such a vicious attack.

The site is:   http://redalert.co.il     

If the link does not work, go directly to the site. I do not know how long this site will be open.

 (Thanks to Yosef Rabin for publicizing this video).

 http://redalert.co.il

Moral equivalence, justice perverted--and Torah

The EU, US and UN are wilfully blind. They refuse to see what is happening in the Arab-Israel war. Purposefully blind, they make a moral mistake. They do not distinguish right from wrong. They do not behave as honest judges. They are afraid to assert that someone in the Arab-Israel war is right, someone wrong. Instead, they assert that both parties are morally equal.

The two sides are not moral equals. In fact, in this long-term Arab-Israel war, there has never been a ‘moral equivalency’.

‘Moral equivalence’ is a sham.

When two parties fight, both are not morally equal: one is the aggressor, one the victim.

This Arab-Israel war has been characterized as two peoples fighting to establish their own homeland on the same land. That characterization creates a moral equivalence.

If you start with that premise, then both sides have an equal right to the land of Israel. Therefore, when fighting over the land starts, both are morally equal.

But in this dispute, both sides do not have equal right to the land. The two claims are not equal. One side doesn’t even meet the definition of a ‘people’. It has no distinctive language. It has no distinctive history. It has no distinctive heritage.

Moral equivalence is not moral. It does not lead to justice.

Consider the story of Solomon and the baby. In any dispute, only one side is right. ‘Equivalence’ says otherwise. But ‘equivalence’ does not assist justice. It subverts justice. For Solomon, it meant that if both mothers are equal in their claim that the baby is hers, what choice did he have? The mothers are morally equivalent. Both are right.

Solomon had only one choice. Moral equivalency forced him to announce that he would cut the baby in half. Moral equivalency meant that he must divide the baby equally.

That’s what moral equivalence does. It kills the baby. 

If you are looking for a good definition of the perversion of justice, this is it: It destroys what is most precious.

Yes, this is an unusual way to interpret the Solomon’s baby story. But it is an accurate interpretation. It tells us that ‘moral equivalence’ does not work as a basis for morality—or justice.

Nevertheless, ‘moral equivalence’ finds a place in the Middle East. It assigns a morality to the Arab. It voids the morality of Israel. It ignores Hamas’ war crimes. It elevates the culpability of Israel. After all, someone has to be guilty of killing those Gazan civilians. If Hamas isn’t guilty, then Israel must be.

That’s how the world uses its moral equivalence for the Arab-Israel war: to protect the Arab; to demonize the Jew.

Moral equivalence is not moral. It turns morality into a weapon of war against Israel.

For example, the US condemns Gaza for its rocket-fire into Israel. Then it criticizes Israel for the deaths of Gazan civilians. That’s moral equivalence.

But as there is no moral equivalence, those civilian Gazan deaths are not truly Israel’s responsibility. Most of those deaths occur because of four significant war crimes Hamas deliberately commits specifically to drive up civilian deaths.

 First, Hamas fires rockets at Israel from within its civilian population. That’s a war crime. It exposes civilians to being killed.

Second, Hamas stores munitions inside apartments within civilian apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, mosques and other public-service buildings. This, too, is a war crime.

Third, Hamas places its Command centers in apartments inside civilian apartment buildings. That’s also a war crime because it puts civilians directly onto the battlefield.

Fourth, Hamas uses its own civilians as human shields. That’s a major war crime because it so clearly puts civilians into danger.

As Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week on the CBS interview program, Face the Nation, “the difference between us [Israel and Hamas] is that we’re using missile defense to protect our civilians, and they’re using their civilians to protect their missiles. So naturally they’re responsible for all the civilian deaths” (“Why doesn’t Israel publish figures and details of Gaza casualties?”, Times of Israel, July 15, 2014).

The EU, US and UN ignore the war crimes of Hamas. They white-wash Hamas’ guilt. They assign a ‘morality’ to Hamas through the coffins of their dead.

So it is that, when Man believes he is better than G-d, he becomes arrogant. When Man is arrogant, he creates his own morality. He creates ‘moral equivalence’.

To paraphrase Martin Luther King, Man’s law does not conform to G-d‘s law. Until Man’s law becomes consistent with G-d’s law, there will be no justice in this world.

The world promotes Man’s law. It promotes moral equivalency. It wants us ignore the true mother. It wants us to kill the baby.

Do you know how Man’s law becomes consistent with G-d’s law? By following the Torah.

Have you read your copy of the Torah lately?