Our View: Gaza Barrage
International leaders who condemned Israel the past two months encouraged the rocket fire.
At least three Israelis were wounded in a barrage of rockets and shells fired into southern Israel from Gaza on Tuesday, May 29, as we were preparing to go to press. One shell reportedly struck a tree outside a kindergarten only an hour before children were due to arrive.
“I know the resilience of communities in southern Israel but indiscriminate attacks are totally unacceptable and to be condemned unreservedly,” the European Union’s ambassador to Israel, Emanuele Giaufret, tweeted.
As kids were preparing for school this morning a
barrage of rockets from Gaza fell on southern Israel. One landed outside a
kindergarten. I know the resilience of communities in southern Israel but
indiscriminate attacks are totally unacceptable and to be condemned
unreservedly.— Emanuele Giaufret (@EGiaufretEU) May 29, 2018
We’re glad that EU and even U.N. envoys condemned the indiscriminate attack on civilian areas of Israel, but we also want to ask them: What did you expect?
The clear message sent to Hamas by Europe and the international community the past two months is that any violence is Israel’s fault and that it is wrong for Israel to defend its people. If you follow the logic of recent condemnations, the problem Tuesday wasn’t that Palestinians tried to kill Israelis; it’s that they did so with random, poorly directed rocket fire instead of charging across the border fence and carrying out the violence in person.
The only good news so far from the barrage is that people can still ask “How many Israelis died?” as a not-subtle way to argue that Israel is unjustified to use lethal force against attackers from Gaza. Better for Israel to face vicious comments than to suffer even a single death to counter them.
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