Every sovereign nation has not only the right but also the obligation to defend its citizens. Israel, a sovereign state, invoked this right and obligation in July with Operation Protective Edge, a defensive military campaign with the goal of protecting Israelis who have been pounded by a barrage of rockets fired by the terrorist group Hamas which resides in Gaza and has members propagated all around the Middle East. 

There has been much debate on whether or not Israel’s actions were justified because of the skewed civilian causalities on the Israeli and Palestinian sides. It is a shame that civilian casualties are an inevitable part of war, but it was necessary for Israel to initiate Operation Protective Edge; Israel needed to protect its civilians and its sovereignty. Hamas is a terrorist organization recognized by the United States, Canada and the European Union. Hamas explicitly states in its charter a goal of destroying Israel. 

Ever since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Southern Israel has faced rocket attacks every year with Hamas acting as the governing force in Gaza. Unfortunately, these attacks escalated during the week of July 8, when 250 rockets were fired within one week, leaving citizens only 15 to 60 seconds to run to shelters. These rockets were also long-range weapons, capable of reaching the three largest cities in Israel: Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa.

Prior to sending in ground troops, Israel and Hamas agreed to cease-fires brokered by Egypt and the U.S.; however, Hamas broke each and every cease-fire by firing rockets into Israel. Operation Protective Edge came to fruition when Israel finally decided to not accept a cease-fire as it became evident that Hamas would break it, putting both Israeli and Palestinian lives at risk.

Israel began a ground incursion of Gaza on July 17. As a result of Hamas’ absolute unwillingness to stop terrorizing Israelis, Israel was forced to target a wide range of Hamas terror sites, as determined by Israeli Defense Force intelligence, which include buildings and tunnels. Unfortunately, Hamas places its terror sites in civilian buildings such as schools and mosques. Israel does what it can to warn civilians when they are about to invade a building, but Hamas will not let the civilians leave. They use their civilians as human shields by doing things such as standing on rooftops of terror sites and having Hamas terrorists carry children while they are under attack. Israel recognizes that the use of human shields does not justify killing innocent civilians, so Israel does what it can to avoid them by creating specific targets. 

Not only were rockets fired into Israel, but Israeli intelligence also discovered a major network of Hamas terror tunnels that had been constructed deep underground on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. These tunnels were created using the funds that Gaza received from the international community to construct a city, but instead, according to the Washington Post, the concrete was used to design tunnels which allow Hamas to enter Israel with the intent to kidnap and kill Israelis. 

Since the beginning of 2014, 4,680 trucks filled with 181,000 tons of gravel, iron, cement and other materials with the purpose to build structures have entered Gaza. Instead, Hamas used these supplies to create terror tunnels. According to the IDF, one tunnel uses 350 truckloads of building supplies which could have been used to build 86 homes, seven mosques, six schools and 19 medical clinics, and the cost of building a tunnel is 3 million dollars, and 30 tunnels were found, which equals to $90 million that could have been used to develop the Gazan infrastructure.  Hamas has a network of terror tunnels along the Gaza-Israel boarder and tunnels designed for smuggling weaponry along the Egypt border, but Operation Protective Edge’s goal was to target and eliminate the terror tunnels. 

It is undeniable that more Palestinians were killed that Israelis.  Every civilian casualty is a tragedy, but the source of these deaths is more complex than simply who pulled the trigger. Israel seems to be the one to blame because they are the ones carrying out the attacks, but they are only doing so because of perpetual Hamas terror which puts both Palestinians and Israelis in danger. Hamas intentionally fires rockets at Israeli civilian centers from Gazan civilian centers as opposed to creating spare military and launching centers. 

They use civilian homes to hide and store weaponry and other military supplies, and force their civilians to stand on rooftops during anticipated airstrikes. Israel is aware that Hamas places its civilians in danger, which makes it difficult for Israel to avoid causalities. This is why Israel has created a system of dropping leaflets and sending text messages to the people in areas of danger. 

They also drop warning shots on buildings to warn the civilians to get out because the next shot will be destructive.  This disables the IDF from using the common military tactic of surprise attack.  Meanwhile, Hamas targeted civilian population centers with the purpose of killing as many Israelis as possible without any warning.

Israel recognizes that it has a reputation to defend and it cannot do what any other nation would do if they were under similar attack. Israel does what it can to reduce civilian causalities, so why should they be so ridiculed when any other nation would have the same moral judgment if put into the same position?  It was inevitable that there would be Palestinian causalities as a result of Israel’s military response. The fatality numbers are skewed because Israel has created missile defense systems, such as the Iron Dome, to protect its citizens. 

The IDF was able to destroy 32 terror tunnels and 4,762 other terror sides during Operation Protective Edge. Israel attempts tirelessly to avoid civilian casualties and protect both Palestinian and Israeli civilians. Thus, we would like to commend Israel for Operation Protective Edge.

—Miriam Fink ’15 and David Schwartz ’16 are the co-Presidents of the Brandeis Israel Public Affairs Committe.