The images from Gaza making the rounds across the globe are the product of a well-planned campaign by Hamas public-relations wizards. Every wounded person is a useful cog in the well-oiled machine; every person killed is more fuel to pour on the flame of Hamas incitement.
This agitated horde, ruthlessly oppressed by a terrorist organization that for over a decade has squashed any chance or hope for a better future, is nothing more than cannon fodder in the eyes of Hamas’s leaders. Not only do they send hate-filled children to breach the border fence to sow destruction and spill Israeli blood, they send them to be killed to exploit their deaths. In complete contrast to Israel, Hamas welcomes either outcome—the murder of Israelis or the deaths of Gazans.
The time has come for the international community to realize that by condemning Israel, it plays into the hands of this destructive equation.
Israelis learned this a long time ago. And still, the world refuses to understand that when the Palestinians say “days of rage” what they mean is “days of terror.” That when Palestinians say “right of return,” what they mean is “destruction of Israel.” And that when they say “peaceful demonstrations,” what they mean is “incitement and violence.” Vandalizing and burning the Kerem Shalom border crossing—a vital artery for the passage of goods and humanitarian aid to Gaza—is just another example of Hamas’s utter lack of concern for the welfare of Gaza’s residents.
Every Israeli citizen knows (as anyone with common sense should know) that if this enraged, triggered mob breached the border fence and crossed into Israel, the Gaza area communities would very quickly meet the same fate as the Kerem Shalom crossing. If tens of thousands of rioters armed with incendiary weapons and explosive devices swarmed the border of another country, all the preaching and calls for restraint would evaporate into thin air. No sovereign country would behave differently, and we can even assume the casualty figures would be exponentially higher.
While the United States under President Donald Trump is fully cognizant of these facts and sees the reality clearly, many across the globe would rather be deceived by the Palestinian leadership and Hamas’s cynical, brutal manipulation. Using the transfer of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem as an excuse or justification for Palestinian violence doesn’t pass the reality test. The embassy issue is simply the latest in an endless list of Palestinian excuses for violence against Israel.
For precisely this reason, the historic relocation of the embassy was a necessary, correct step in confronting Palestinian terror and threats, as well as international pressure.
Israel knows it cannot acquiesce to Hamas’s campaign of terror and violent propaganda. It will continue presenting the facts and the truth, and it will continue defending itself at all costs.
Danny Danon is Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations.
