In armed conflict, public sympathy typically goes to the underdog. And perceptions of which side is the underdog or weaker force can be complicated.
Usually, whoever throws the first blow is seen as the aggressor. This was the case in the first hours after Hamas launched a stunning attack on Israel on Oct. 7, killing civilians attending an open-air concert, and going house-to-house to murder many more and grab hostages. As Israel’s vaunted “Iron Wall” crumbled, missiles breached its dome shield, killing more.
About 1,400 people including four Filipinos and other foreigners were reportedly killed in the Hamas rampage – the worst attack on the Jewish state since its creation. There was no doubt that Israel would launch an even deadlier counter-attack.
Fighting Hamas and other extremist groups, however, is always complicated by their use of civilians as shields. Once images of Palestinian women and children dying began piling up, people started hesitating in describing Hamas militants as terrorists.
And once the casualty count on the Palestinian side surpassed the Israeli death toll – and kept rising – Israel was increasingly seen as an oppressor going for overkill.
Such perceptions pose a dilemma for Israel, whose legitimacy as a state continues to be questioned by several of its neighbors. The Jewish state is located in a hostile neighborhood, with groups committed to its annihilation.
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Israel’s top diplomat in the Philippines, Ambassador Ilan Fluss, laments the lack of condemnation from many countries and groups for Hamas’ Oct. 7 atrocities against civilians. He noted that some of the killings were so vicious the dead still cannot be identified.
Video compiled by Israel from cell phone and surveillance camera footage also showed Hamas raping and then killing Jewish women in the Oct. 7 rampage. Yet even as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women approaches, Fluss laments the lack of condemnation of the atrocities from women’s groups.
Hamas, which is the elected governing body in Gaza, has adopted in its charter the slogan “from the river to the sea” for Palestinians – referring to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, which is where Israel is located. Israel sees this as a mission to obliterate the Jewish state; Hamas supporters say it is merely an aspirational slogan for a Palestinian state. Fluss points out that Hamas also has anti-Semitism incorporated into the curriculum in Gaza schools.
“There’s no possibility in (Hamas’) ideology for a political solution with Israel,” Fluss told us when he visited The STAR last Wednesday.
Since the conflict erupted, Fluss says there has been an “alarming” increase in anti-Semitic attacks in many countries, with those in Paris reminiscent of Kristallnacht in the prelude to the Holocaust during World War II. He said it had become dangerous to wear the Jewish kippah or skullcap in many areas.
Kristallnacht – “the Night of Broken Glass” – was a series of Nazi pogroms launched on Nov. 9-10, 1938 against the Jewish population in Germany, annexed Austria and Nazi-occupied parts of Czechoslovakia, with Jewish-owned establishments, synagogues and homes vandalized. Approximately 30,000 Jewish males were arrested simply for being Jewish, and taken to concentration camps.
Fluss wore a kippah during his visit to our office. He has heeded travel advisories against visiting conflict zones in Mindanao, but he has visited many other areas in the country. He told us that he has always felt welcome in the Philippines. He also expressed appreciation for the Filipina caregiver attending to his 93-year-old father-in-law, a Holocaust survivor, in Israel.
“She’s amazing,” Fluss said, describing the caregiver, who has been with them for several years now. “They’re part of my family.”
Filipina caregivers were among the victims of the Hamas rampage on Oct. 7.
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Fluss acknowledges the challenges of fighting an enemy that routinely uses civilians as shields, against international conventions on warfare. Hamas understands the advantage of being seen by the world as a victim.
“We can debate it academically. But a responsible government has to ensure that its citizens are not targeted again,” Fluss said when asked for comment about Palestinian civilians being killed in Israeli attacks. “Israel has to protect itself… we have a responsibility to protect our people.”
When Israel targeted an ambulance being used to ferry Hamas leaders, Fluss lamented that his country was condemned for the attack, but not Hamas’ abuse or misuse of an ambulance.
The world also has a problem separating the terrorist Hamas from moderate Palestinians.
Israel has been hoping that the international community will put more pressure on Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and Iran to condemn or stop sponsoring terrorist activities. Israel says Iran is providing $1 billion a year to anti-Semitic extremist groups including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen who have seized 17 Filipinos as hostages – an attack that is meant to show solidarity with Hamas.
Fluss warns that Islamist extremism “is a global phenomenon… if you don’t fight it, you will suffer from it, too.”
The United Nations, he says, “is certainly not a trusted organization by Israelis” because of its bias for the Palestinians.
Among those killed by Hamas on Oct. 7, Fluss pointed out, were Jewish peace activists pushing for a political solution with the Palestinians.
“We are trying to mitigate the suffering of civilians,” Fluss explained. “We are, of course, in a complicated situation.”
In this conflict, Israel is focused on two main objectives: to bring home all its citizens and foreigners (including two Filipinos) taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, and to ensure that Hamas will never be able to repeat the assault.
“We had to enter into this war because we were attacked,” Fluss told us. “We cannot allow it to happen again.”