Israeli Shouldn’t Play Hamas’s Game

On October 25, Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) was one of nine Democrats who voted against a resolution supporting Israel after Hamas launched a surprise attack that left 1,400 Israeli citizens dead and more than 200 others takenhostage.

While the resolution rightly acknowledges and mourns the lives taken by Hamas, I cannot support a resolution that fails to acknowledge and mourn the lives of Palestinians taken by the Israeli military.

Rep. Omar missed the crux the problem. Israel, one of the 196 countries that signed the Geneva Convention, avoids killing Palestinian civilians. Hamas, which has not signed the Geneva Convention, knows that Israel avoid killing civilians and so uses civilians as human shields to protect Hamas officials and fighters.

NATO wrote a report about Hamas’s use of human shields. Hamas’s use of civilians to protect its fighters insures that many Palestinians will die if Israeli fights Hamas. Rep. Omar doesn’t accept that Palestinians killed by the Israeli military are entirely the fault of Hamas.

Hamas’s game is to get Palestinian civilians killed to gain media and support from countries such as Iran and Qatar. Israel is in a bind. If the Israeli military responds to Hamas’s attacks, Palestinian civilians will be killed and Hamas will get more support from countries in the region. If Israel doesn’t respond to Hamas’s attacks, it is seen as weak and leaves itself vulnerable to attacks from Hezbollah and other enemies.