As environmentalist extremist turned pro-Hamas activist Greta Thunberg’s refusal to watch the film of the atrocities committed by the Palestinians on Oct. 7 indicated, the Jewish state’s foes may not be interested in listening to the truth about the war in Gaza.
But according to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, it is still imperative for pro-Israel advocates to continue to speak out and highlight the facts of the conflict.
He’s joined in this week’s episode of “Think Twice” by legal expert Thane Rosenbaum, author of the new book, Beyond Proportionality: Israel’s Just War in Gaza. Rosenbaum argues that the attempt to smear Israel as having committed war crimes or genocide in Gaza is not only an outrageous lie. He sees the attempt to shape the narrative of the war in this manner as “the intersection between antisemitism and international law.”
He maintains that not only is Israel’s war just and its actions in Gaza are entirely legal under international law, but that the common assertion that too many innocent civilians are being harmed by the conflict is wrong. While the deaths of any individuals in this or any war are a tragedy, the vast majority of Gazans are, Rosenbaum argues, morally complicit in the crimes being committed in their name and with their active cooperation. Hamas may be essentially staging the deaths of civilians because of how they fight the war and their refusal to keep them out of harm’s way. But the population in Gaza has gone along with their being sacrificed in the same way as they did with the barbaric atrocities committed on Oct. 7.
Israel has, Rosenbaum says, a moral obligation to “take the gloves off” and finish the job of eradicating Hamas. A failure to do so, even if it facilitates hostage release-ceasefire deals, would simply guarantee more Oct. 7-style tragedies and more bloodshed in the long run.
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