The pictures of destruction and mourning in Gaza that have filled media around the world for the past several weeks have been very painful and sad to view. One would be hard-pressed to find an Israeli who does not sympathize with the suffering of Gaza’s victims.
Yet there are also few Israelis who feel we are responsible for this suffering. For us, the tragedy of Gaza is inseparable from the tragedy of the entire Middle East. Over the past three years, in countries around our tiny state, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed in the most horrific ways. This wave of terror recognizes no official borders. The only border at which the savagery stops is Israel’s.
Hamas and Hezbollah are doing their best to change this. So what protects us? The United Nations or human rights groups? No. Only the military power of the Israel Defense Forces. In response to our enemies’ relentless campaigns, the army is constantly developing new ways to defend us. One new weapon, Iron Dome, has in the past few weeks protected civilians from almost 3,000 missiles.
But while Israelis have developed missile shields to protect children, Hamas has been using children as shields to protect missiles. This perverse strategy is the brainchild of a society that hails death. For Hamas, using living shields serves the double function of increasing the number of martyrs and galvanizing a free world that values life to pressure Israel to stop fighting.
The sad irony, then, is that while the world can do so little to stop the terror in Syria or Sudan, it can do a lot to press Israel to stop defending itself. We ask ourselves, is this hypocrisy? Is this a betrayal by the free world whose values we are defending? And in response, Israel hears from the international community, “Of course you are judged differently. You insist that you are part of the free world, so we hold you to a higher standard than neighboring countries, where wanton destruction of human life is the norm.”
I strongly agree with this argument.
Israel, like any other free country, should be held to a higher moral standard than its unfree neighbors. As the war against terror becomes increasingly global, it is imperative that all free countries develop and uphold common norms in our military conduct against armies of terror. Israel, with its decades-long experience, can contribute much to this effort.
For example, 12 years ago, during the Second Intifada, I was a member of the Israeli security cabinet when the army first decided to use aviation to target terrorist leaders. In nearly every cabinet meeting, Israel’s attorney general insisted that our targets must be chosen not on the basis of crimes already committed, but solely in light of proof that they were planning new terrorist acts. In other words, no matter how much death and destruction someone had caused, a targeted killing could be justified only by documented intentions to carry out another attack. A serious case had to be prepared for each assassination attempt, and therefore the number of such operations could be counted on one hand. Now that targeted killings are practically the norm – when the United States uses drones for this purpose all over the world – I would hope others are as scrupulous as Israel has been.
Around the same time, we in the cabinet also discussed the importance of using weapons that minimize civilian deaths, even if this meant decreasing an operation’s chance of success. Many operations were modified or canceled because of this. Today, Israel goes even further. Before the IDF bombs an area in Gaza, residents are alerted by radio, e-mail, phone and text message telling them to leave. The Israeli army also uses small warning missiles to let civilians – that a real missile will soon be fired. Do other free countries go to similar lengths?
In 1999, when NATO launched its offensive against the criminal Milosevic regime in Yugoslavia, hundreds of civilians were killed in the bombings. Many more civilians were killed when U.S. warplanes hunted down Saddam Hussein’s family and supporters, and later al-Qaeda terrorists. They were killed in cafes, cinemas and even a wedding procession.
Let me be clear. I believe that it was the free world’s obligation to fight against the Milosevic regime, which carried out ethnic cleansing in the heart of Europe. I believe it is the obligation of the United States and free countries to lead an uncompromising struggle against terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. But the obligation of the IDF to protect Israeli citizens from thousands of missiles and from underground terrorist infiltrations is just as sacred. In view of the developing global war between the free world and terror, it is time that leading military experts from Israel, the United States, Britain and other countries, along with international lawyers and politicians, compare their experiences and agree about the standards according to which the free world can defend itself.
But once these standards are accepted, they should be applied to every free country. Otherwise, stop calling it a higher standard and call it by its real name: a double standard.
This op-ed originally appeared in the Washington Post.
(13) shelley, September 8, 2014 8:48 AM
A light unto the nations
Our duty in this world is to set the standard. G-d wants peace and kindness. The Torah tells us how to do our job.
(12) Anonymous, August 24, 2014 3:08 PM
Higher standards, no double standards
The US faced the same double standards in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. The US did their utmost to abide by the Geneva Convention and other bodies rules and the enemy ignored them. The enemy has actually won because they know they can commit atrocities against their own people and countries like the US and Israel and pay no price from the world.
However, the enemy underestimates the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the living covenant He made with them. Jews and Christians alike need to turn back to the G-d who saves them, otherwise it will not turn out well for them. Only G-d can defeat the enemy
(11) Albert Hache, August 20, 2014 2:05 PM
Israel is paying for its leniency
Israel, which has the most moral army in the history of warfare, is paying for its leniency. It is perceived as weak on account of its humanity and restraint; that’s why cowards all over the world find it easy to turn against Israel. Nobody sent any flotilla to protest Saddam Hussein’s killing of 182 000 Kurds, or the Chinese Killing of 420 000 innocent Tibetans, to take only two examples, because everyone knew that any outside interference would have been most forcefully dealt with .
(10) Barbara Dagen, August 20, 2014 2:03 PM
Very well said.
Natan Sharanksy makes Israel's case very well. Israel is the most humanitarian army and country in the world. Yet there is a double standard applied against her. That is because Israel is a land of Jews and the anti-semites of the world do not want to see a Jewish State. Israel is amazing. Her critics are hypocrits . Am Yisrael Chai!
(9) Anonymous, August 20, 2014 5:28 AM
Where was our Jewish God during the Holocaust? Too many foolish Jews stuck their heads in the sand over the centuries thinking prayer would save their lives and now the millions of descendants they would have had to made us stronger were never born. Thank G-D the Israeli leadership will never let this happen again.
Anonymous, August 20, 2014 4:48 PM
G-d was there
Before I reply to your comment, I would just like to make it clear that I do not judge any survivor who feels that G-d was not present during the Holocaust.
G-d was there. The fact that anyone survived is a testament to that. Maybe prayer didn't save the victims' lives, but perhaps it helped them live a bit longer or suffer a little less. We cannot know because we only see the small picture. Only G-d sees the bigger picture.
Additionally, for most Jews, prayer was the only option. It is a spiritual way of fighting. It shows that the Nazis did not crush their faith. Most Jews were unable to fight physically because they lacked weapons and were too weak from malnourishment. Even if they were to fight physically, they most likely would have ended up being killed.
You said it yourself - "THANK G-D the Israeli leadership will never let this happen again." It is G-d who gives the Israeli leadership the strength, power, and intelligence to fight our enemies.
Anonymous, August 24, 2014 1:11 AM
Before G-D took us out of Egypt
Before G-D took us out of Egypt some 80% died and were buried (during the week of darkness). Does that make them foolish? Does that make our salvation from Egypt any less of a series of overt miracles? We all have free choice, and G-D has his ways of turning anything and everything towards HIS WILL.
(8) Anonymous, August 19, 2014 11:58 PM
What about G-d?
Although the point of the article was well stated, Mr Sharansky neglected one major item. It is not only the IDF and the Iron Dome that protects Israel. It is G-d who gives the IDF and the Iron Dome their capabilities.
(7) Anonymous, August 19, 2014 10:25 PM
G-d protects us
the author says: "So what protects us? The United Nations or human rights groups? No. Only the military power of the Israel Defense Forces. In response to our enemies’ relentless campaigns, the army is constantly developing new ways to defend us. One new weapon, Iron Dome, has in the past few weeks protected civilians from almost 3,000 missiles."
Actually it is Hashem who protects us. It has been an open miracle that we've ha few casualties, that Iron Dome has been so successful, that we've had the money to pay for it etc....
This article suggests that it is man and military might that saves the day. This is wrong.
(6) Jonathan, August 19, 2014 9:22 PM
In God's image
"Israel, like any other free country, should be held to a higher moral standard than its unfree neighbors."
I disagree. We oft times speak of Hamas and their ilk as "animals" and worse. But are they not also made in God's image? (As hard as it is to consider) Do they not also have free will? Way should Israel's enemies NOT be held to the same standard as Israel and the rest of the free world and would they not be excoriated and punished for behaving as like the animals we call them.
If all men are created equal in the Eyes of God and the law then they should be held to the same standards of conduct. Anything less is to truly consider them sub-human.
(5) Richard Wahl, August 19, 2014 8:36 PM
Profound Article
I wish everyone could read this article. Its a shame when America who is supposed to be Israel's ally is such a hypocrite. We attack terror organizations around the world to protect America yet we condemn Israel from defending its own people. I when the next terror attack occurs in America our people remember. Yes we need to be at a higher plain but we also must treat our ally Israel as we treat ourselves.
(4) Mohammed Malike, August 19, 2014 8:15 PM
Isreal has the right to defend itself.
Nobody in the world knows about radical Islamic than me.All the information in this article is True.When I was young the government of Sudan was trying to send me to get special Jihad training to fight against our brothers and sisters in South Sudan I refused because I know the war between North and South Sudan got nothing to do with religion.Hamas warn the civilians to stay despite the IDF warning, if they decide to leave Hamas will accuse them as traitor and kill them so in this case Hamas is responsible no doubt.
(3) Anonymous, August 19, 2014 7:48 PM
The right of Israel
Israel should do what many other countries would do and that is to level Gaza to the ground. It is such great restraint that Israel shows to those who want it destroyed. Those Hollywood types that criticize Israel for defending herself are misinformed and show their ignorance of the facts. Most Americans love Israel and stand by the Jews despite what their president shows in his anti Jew attitude. Israel forever! No country or people will ever overcome Israel. No people on earth have ever been granted a land to them by God Himself but Israel. Peace to Israel!
(2) Anonymous, August 19, 2014 10:36 AM
"Only the military power of the Israel Defense Forces?"
doesn't God count as a protecter?-
Avi, August 19, 2014 6:12 PM
I Agree!
I think that with all the good words Sharansky has put here, it is a desecration of the state of Israel to leave out Israel's Sole protector which is God who he is the one who gives the Israeli Army its strength and power.
(1) Yehudith Shraga, August 18, 2014 11:23 PM
Where have we been at least for the last 6-7 years?
When the G-d has brought the rockets on all over the Israel, we have remembered that there are military experts, international lawyers and politicians. Why haven't we thought about it when the very first rocket was fired from Gaza Strip, why do we need to sacrifice the lives of our outstanding soldiers and citizens for us to realize that we are the Nation which introduced the importance of the Courts of Justice for Israel and all the rest of the nations.
The Sages say, that the Wise is the one who sees the end at the very beginning, but for these matter we need to come to the spiritual level, when we will be given the Sanhedrin and will be able to get the correction through the study of Torah and performance of Mitzvot ONLY, and not through the suffering, pain, destruction and wars.
Where are the accounts of all the actions which we have done to solve the "problem" in the civilized way=through military experts, international lawyers and politicians. If we knew about the tunnels, why it was kept in "secret" from the citizens of Israel and the world, if we knew about the amount of the rockets and their placement in the Mosques, schools, hospitals, why we haven't demanded in international commission on the issue. Where in the world, has anybody seen an Autonomy without obligations, an Autonomy which only takes and gives nothing, but trouble in return. Where are the accounts and explanations of our Government on all the debts of this Autonomy to the State of Israel? We haven't sighed the peace treaty yet, but there are already endless accounts on the amount of money spent on this war, it looks that we haven't forgotten the math yet, so what happens to our memory, when it comes to deal with the Autonomy, which multiplies its terrorists as quickly as we forget our victims and the ways the Torah teaches us to deal with the world around, including our neighbors and enemies?