A Time to Speak
There are times when the best thing to say is nothing. When one is angered or outraged, silence is wisdom. After all, after expression words cannot be rescinded. They have a power of their own. One must be careful, especially when indignant. So, waiting for the whole story to emerge, waiting for fury to pass a good course of action. Stillness and silence have an expiration, though, and they have expired. Now, truths must be spoken. The Hamas atrocities against Israel are shameful and disgusting. They are a moral outrage. Hamas’ campaign of maniacal evil is a menace to life and goodness. People of goodwill from around the world should oppose Hamas and all who support them. Governments and organizations around the world should give unequivocal denouncements.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/timeline-surprise-rocket-attack-hamas-israel/story?id=103816006
The Atrocities Begin
In the early morning hours of Oct 7th, Hamas began its malevolent assault on Israel. They rained thousands of rockets down from the sky in an indiscriminate attempt to kill. Then Hamas terrorists penetrated Israel’s security wall and began a campaign of wanton death.
Unaware of the horror headed their way, Israeli and tourist revelers celebrated at a dance party, the Nova, about three miles from the wall between Gaza and Israel. People who attend such parties tend to be young progressives as was this crowd. Unbeknownst to them they were a target of evil. It is important to note that Hamas did not accidentally happen to find the rave and attack. No, it was part of their battle plan. Hamas directed significant forces to attack the rave. They surrounded the party-goers and attacked them with machine gun fire, killing some at point-blank range.[1] Press reports are that Hamas murdered 260 at the rave.[2]
Hamas and Women
It is particularly important to note Hamas’ depraved brutality against women. One of the revelers at the rave, Shani Louk, was captured and presumably killed by Hamas. Terrorists took a picture and a video of her on the back of their white Toyota pickup truck as they paraded her through Palestine. Stomach down on the bedliner, her jet-black hair made it difficult to see her face and identify her. As observers watched with horror, however, the camera panned to her leg which flopped in unnatural ways. Her knee pointing to the side, the heel of her right boot pointing to her head, and the grotesque position of her broken right leg revealed a distinctive tattoo allowing identification. Hamas took the 22-year-old artist.
Four men proudly displayed her like she was a 12-point buck they killed on a hunt. One was holding something like a leather strap around her upper torso. Another man was jumping in a celebration while holding an automatic weapon to the sky. Another draped his denim-clad leg over her broken body, his sandal in view. The crowd squealed with glee at her demise and humiliation shouting “God is great!” A young man in the crowd took the opportunity to spit on her corpse.[3]
Additional Attacks on Women
Hamas violated other women in the most horrific ways as well. Some were raped beside the still-warm corpses of their bullet ridden friends.[4] Terrorists filmed the killing of a grandmother, whose name has not been released, and published it on Facebook. One elderly woman abducted by Hamas is a Holocaust survivor.[5]
Newsweek reports another outrage.
Then there’s the video of a teenage Israeli woman being pulled by terrorists from the back of a vehicle in Gaza. In the video, she is barefoot, wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, and as she turns, you can see the back of her sweatpants covered in blood that came from between her legs.[6]
Door To Door
More than just targeting women, Hamas went on a door-to-door rampage, killing whole households. Videos have emerged of terrorists kidnapping Israelis and parading them to the delight of Palestinians. CNN reports that Hamas terrorists followed Israelis fleeing for their lives into shelters and massacred them with gunfire.[7]
Murdering Children
Hamas terrorists burned children alive according to reports (warning graphic image).[8] There are other reports of atrocities too gruesome to ignore but too horrid to speak. A French Journalist is reporting the decapitation of 40 babies.[9] [10] I was hesitant to post this as the first source was a single unconfirmed source. Now that the international press has reported and confirmed the atrocity, I feel comfortable sharing it. French press accounts also include houses burned to the ground with whole families inside and the decapitation of women and children.[11]
Truth is the first casualty of war, so it is important to only say what can be verified. Filtering through what is true and what is not is very difficult at the moment as both sides are fighting an information war as well as a physical war.
Barbarity
What is verified is a level of barbarity that would make barbarians blush. In a war, most nations attempt to avoid causing civilian causalities. When there are civilian casualties, they will use the euphemism “collateral damage” to cover their shame. The death of non-combatants is a horrible reality of war, and every war will have that. What makes Hamas different is that their targets are civilians. They did not target Israeli military bases; they targeted a rave. Hamas did not go after tanks; they went after homes. Israel’s aircraft were not their target; they killed 100 people at a kibbutz. While Hamas has taken women Israeli soldiers captive, the vast majority of their targets have been civilians. For Hamas, killing civilians is the object of war, not the horrible side effect.
Shame
Further, Hamas counts on shame. They hide operational centers, ammunition depots, and terrorists among civilians knowing that most nations will hesitate to attack them there. Most nations will avoid civilian casualties if possible. So, Hamas targets Israeli civilians and hide behind their own. When Palestinian civilians die, they will call it an Israeli atrocity, but it is not. It is a Hamas atrocity. Hamas is also using hostages as shields, threatening to kill hostages and broadcast their deaths if Israel attacks.
Moral Clarity
It is important in moments like these to have some sense of moral clarity. If an organization cannot condemn Hamas’ actions unequivocally, they are committing moral malpractice. I am deeply disappointed by the statement of the United Methodist Church Church (UMC).
They have “…Condemned the ongoing violence in the Middle East…” They are “appalled” by the actions of Hamas, and “saddened” by Israel’s declaration of war.
To be clear, putting those two sets of actions side by side indicates a moral equivalency between the two actors. There is no equivalency. Hamas decapitated 40 babies. It would be irresponsible for Israel to refrain from declaring war. Hamas burned babies alive. It is shameful to avoid condemning them.
Black Lives Matter has given the most shocking and horrible response:
The terrorists breached the wall using paragliders. The image is disturbing and deeply shameful. Celebrating these horrid acts is disgraceful.
Clarity
Organizations all over the world should be able to say Hamas’ actions are evil. Any further qualifying is a problem. Qualifying gives comfort to the terrorists and instills fear into those who were the targets.
This horror is enough. It must stop now.
[1] https://www.timesofisrael.com/emergency-group-says-260-were-slain-by-terrorists-at-rave-as-families-seek-answers/
[2] https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/09/middleeast/israel-hamas-music-festival-aftermath-intl-hnk/index.html
[3] https://www.prosportsextra.com/video-shows-rape-of-beautiful-females-by-hamas-terrorists-including-shani-louk-video-11-us-citizens-killed-in-israel/
[4] https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-10-09/hamas-invades-israel-separating-truth-from-lies-in-social-media#xj4y7vzkg
[5] https://nypost.com/2023/10/08/elderly-holocaust-survivor-in-wheelchair-kidnapped-by-hamas-blinken/
[6] https://www.newsweek.com/hamas-reportedly-using-rape-warfare-where-are-feminists-opinion-1833599
[7] https://twitter.com/AvivaKlompas/status/1711566795570602162
[8] https://twitter.com/IsraelWarRoom/status/1711754754446225910
[9] https://twitter.com/margothaddad/status/1711756690574479651
[10] https://twitter.com/i24NEWS_EN/status/1711718195025821976
[11] https://twitter.com/Livrenoirmedia/status/1711745837183721782
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