Fighting Fair – What the Media Doesn’t Tell You

We regularly hear news reports about Palestinian women and children killed in Israeli airstrikes as she retaliates for attacks on its civilian populations. Israel is often condemned by the media for their ‘disproportionate response.

I was privileged to sit in on a security briefing about Israel’s defense policies and practices. What I learned was shocking and is never reported by the media. Hamas and other terrorist groups use their own civilian population in their fight against Israel.
Terrorist tactics go way beyond using women as human shields. When planning an attack against Israel, Hamas will roundup children, the elderly and even pregnant women and herd them to the area from which they intend to launch their attack. Once these helpless people are rounded up and taken to the place from which Hamas will launch its rockets into Israel, they are forced to surround the missile launchers and remain in place until Hamas allows them to leave. If the people refuse to cooperate, they are killed on the spot or revenge is taken out on their families.

Why is Hamas using helpless civilians to serve as human shields for their missile launchers? This is the most insidious part of Hamas’ plan. You see, Israel possesses the capability to pin point the exact location from which Hamas launches its rockets. If Israel elects to fire back, who are they going to kill but the innocent children, elderly and pregnant women Hamas has placed around their missile launchers?

This is often the reason the media paints Israel as the “bad guys.” Frequently we hear reports of an Israeli air strike killing women and children in the process of targeting some known group of terrorists or terrorist leader. What the liberal media never mentions is that these innocent people were being held hostage by Hamas to surround their missile launchers, in essence, daring Israel to retaliate.

If Arafat left no other lesson behind for the Palestinian people, he taught them how to effectively manipulate the press and Hamas has learned this lesson well. They know that if Israel strikes back killing women and children it will give the media a hay day creating another black eye for Israel. In addition, Hamas often uses public locations to store weapons and civilian housing complexes as terrorist bases of operation. When such places come to the attention of the IDF, in consideration for the civilians living in and around these Hamas strongholds, Israel will often telephone an advance warning that they intend to strike. In all my days I have never heard of any army warning its enemy of the date and approximate time it intends to launch an attack. Israel’s intention is to save innocent lives, and Hamas uses this to their advantage thus giving them time to relocate their weapons and their fighters.

To further stack the cards in their favor, Hamas will often force innocent children, women and the elderly onto the rooftops of places Israel is preparing to strike in order to make certain there are civilian casualties for the media to see and report. The Palestinian people have no choice in the matter. The next day newspapers around the world print headlines something like… “Israeli air strike kills women and children in housing complex ….” The Israelis are not fighting against people who value life. They are fighting against evil terrorists who think nothing about sacrificing innocent and helpless people who are their own flesh and blood in their fight against Israel.
Where are the investigative reporters who used to report the news without interjecting their own slants and biases and who would dig for and report the truth? The world must consider the nature of the enemy Israel is facing. As terrible as 9/11 was for America, we have had only a slight taste of terrorism in our land.

People everywhere who value life and who hold fast to the concepts of freedom and democracy must start paying close attention to what is happening in Israel. We must read every newspaper account with a questioning mind. Just because it is in print does not make it true. If we fail to stand up and speak out in support of Israel and against terrorism, we will soon be wrapped in the clutches of terrorists much like a boa constrictor wraps its victim squeezing the life out of it until the victim can no longer breathe. We must be alert and make it our business to be educated. Read newspapers…yes. Watch news reports…yes – but we must make it a point to dig below the surface. The only way to defeat our enemy is to know our enemy.

Earl Cox, International Christian Broadcaster, known as ‘the voice of Israel to the world.’ He is also the founder of Israel Always