Note: As an editorial, this piece reflects the opinion of the Paw Print newsroom as a whole.
Beginning on the morning of October 7, Hamas, an Iran-backed militant and terrorist group that governs the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip, launched a surprise attack on Israel, the latest and largest episode of a territorial conflict between Israel and Palestine that dates back hundreds of years. The attack by Hamas included attacks via the air by missiles and paratroopers, ground assaults, and even attacks from the sea. The many atrocities committed by Hamas so far include the kidnapping of hundreds of Israeli civilians, the massacre of over 200 people at an Israeli music festival, the parading of a dead Israeli civilian’s naked body through the streets of Palestine, and far more. As of Tuesday, October 10, 2023, over 1000 Israeli civilians had been killed by Hamas as a result of these attacks, with over 1500 Hamas fighters and 900 Palestinian civilians killed in the response by Israel’s military. In an interview with Fox News, Gilad Erdan, the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, stated “[t]his is our 9/11.”
It has been disheartening to see many people across the internet and the world unwilling to condemn the attack, in the name of support for the Palestinian cause. But let us be perfectly clear: the actions of Hamas over the last few days are factually and morally distinct from the territorial conflict between Israel and Palestine. It is possible to support Palestinian liberation or sovereignty, or Israeli security and land-rights, and still condemn the illegal and malicious actions of Hamas, a terrorist organization that has not been accountable to the people of Palestine since 2006. Indeed, any opinion on the historical Israel-Palestine conflict is compatible with an acknowledgment that Hamas’ actions are reprehensible. Why? Because the most deplorable element of Hamas’ actions is not their professed intentions to liberate Palestine (or real intentions to wage a Jewish genocide). What is deplorable is not their jus ad bellum, but their jus in bello. Territorial conflict, even in war, should never involve the wanton slaughter of the civilians of the enemy.
The Paw Print condemns the murderous actions of Hamas in unequivocal and unqualified terms. Note the information above: Hamas did not attack a military camp. They attacked a civilian music festival. They did not kill 1000 Israeli military troops. They killed 1000 Israeli civilians. To call their actions anything but a war crime would be a moral error.
