Meryl points out yet another case of dangerous media bias. You'd never know that the IDF is fighting a defensive war in Gaza to try to prevent the launching of still more rockets against Israel's civilian population, as well as to head off an escalation that would surely result in many many more deaths among the palestinian Arab population. You'd have to be a careful and interested reader to get far enough to read most of the pertinent details of this battle, and then you'd have to know enough to understand their implications. For anyone reading this blog, that's probably not a problem. But for the vast majority of AP readers, it is.
But what really riles me up about this story is this: not for one second would the Israeli soldiers ever consider inviting women to come act as their shields if they were pinned down by a group of Arabs with guns. Why? Because Israelis never, ever use civilian shields. And there are two reasons for that.
The first is that it would do no good. Israel's enemies have proven over and over again that they have absolutely no compunction about shooting women and children. In fact, they actively seek them out. But the more important reason, the stand-alone reason, the reason that would prevail even if human shields would work against Israel's enemies, is that Israeli soldiers consider it their job to protect their civilian populations, not the other way around.
Which brings me to the ultimate irony of all this, and that is the obvious point that the reason Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Hezbullah rely so heavily on human shields is the exact inverse of both the above points. They have no compunction about hiding behind women and children and, more importantly, perhaps, they know that against the IDF, it will in fact work, and it will work in one or both of two ways. Either the IDF will allow them to escape rather than harm civilians or civilians will be harmed and Israel will be damaged by the publicity. It's a win-win. But it broadcasts clearly that Israel's enemies know full well what they and the media continue to deny -- that Israel does not target civilians, that Israel bends over backwards to avoid injuring civilians and that Israel has done so and will continue to do so, to its own serious detriment.
That's the story that needs to be told.
Shavua tov.
