Queen Rania of Jordan posed a question in a recent interview, essentially: Is not the death of a Palestinian child as tragic as the death of an Israeli child?
It’s a good question, one that must be looked at from two different points of view.
The death of a child, any child, is tragic. It is all the more so when caused by violence, such as war.
It doesn’t matter whether that child is Palestinian or Israeli, or any other nationality. Or whether the death is the direct result of fighting or a byproduct of that war through the deprivation of food, water or medical care.
If you’re human, a child’s death should at the minimum sadden you.
Now turn around and look at that death from another direction: Motive.
For instance, if I kill a man, is it murder or self-defense? The man is still dead no matter which is true.
If I killed the man out of malice or when he posed no threat to me, I committed murder, or at the least, manslaughter. Both are crimes.
If I killed the man because he was actively seeking to kill me, then I acted out of self-defense. I did not commit a crime.
Now consider Hamas and Israel.
Whether you agree with Hamas’ position on the existence of Israel or not, the clear fact is that Hamas launched a murderous attack on Israeli civilians on October 7. Men, women and children were killed in their hundreds, defenseless young people were slaughtered at a music festival, babies were murdered in their cribs, young children in their homes. The perpetrators celebrated the blood they spilled. That slaughter was made possible because Jews were dehumanized by Hamas, just as the Nazis dehumanized Jews.
Now Israel is attacking Hamas in Gaza, cutting off strategic supplies, such as food, water, fuel and electricity. The Israeli Defense Force is carrying on heavy bombing and artillery attacks on Hamas targets. Fighting on the ground has begun on a small scale.
Palestinian children are being killed and injured. Hospitals are running out of the medicines and electricity they need to care for those children.
The difference between the deaths of Israeli children and Palestinian children is the difference of motive.
Hamas attacked with the intention of killing Israeli children.
The Israelis are attacking Hamas with the intention of killing its fighters and leaders.
Unfortunately, Hamas imbeds its military infrastructure among civilians, and does it best to keep those civilians from leaving.
The tragic consequence of that is those civilians, including, or perhaps especially, the children, become what is referred to by the odd term of “collateral damage.” That doesn’t sound so bad as saying, we weren’t trying to kill those people when we went after our enemies.
Hamas could end or at least reduce the human death toll, especially among children, by evacuating its people from the combat area and allowing humanitarian aid to come into Gaza without stealing any of it for its own military purposes.
Egypt could allow civilians, especially children, to flee to safety with both Israel and Hamas pledging to allow them to return to Gaza when the fighting ends.
Motives matter.
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