Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that Israel was becoming like the terrorist organization Hamas in remarks on Thursday, suggesting that both showed the same disregard for civilian life — evidence to the contrary.
The Times of Israel reported:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warns that Israel risks becoming indistinguishable from Hamas if it continues to fail to protect civilians amid the Gaza war.
“What happened after October 7 could have ended immediately if Hamas had stopped hiding behind civilians, released the hostages and put down its weapons, but Israel is not Hamas. Israel is a democracy; Hamas, a terrorist organization. Democracies place the highest value on human life, every human life. As it has been said, whoever saves a life, saves the entire world,” Blinken says during a press conference in Brussels, quoting a Jewish proverb.
“That’s our strength. It’s what distinguishes us from terrorists like Hamas. If we lose that reverence for human life, we risk becoming indistinguishable from those we confront.”
Blinken did not provide evidence that Israel was failing to protect civilians. Earlier this week, Israel concluded a two-week battle in which it killed 200 terrorists who had holed up in Shifa Hospital. There were zero civilian casualties.
The ratio of civilians killed to terrorists killed in Israel’s counterattack in Gaza is less than two to one, an historic low.
Last month, West Point professor John Spencer wrote that Israel had set a new standard for urban warfare. “[A]ll available evidence shows that Israel has followed the laws of war, legal obligations, best practices in civilian harm mitigation and still found a way to reduce civilian casualties to historically low levels,” Spencer concluded.
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