By law, this should be the moment when the humanitarian case against the Israeli campaign in Gaza collapses. From now on, there can be no ambiguity. Those who persist in opposing war on the basis of civilian casualties are either ignorant or arguing in bad faith. Or both.
Earlier this month, the United Nations halved its assessment of the number of women and children killed in Gaza. Then: 9,500 women and 14,500 children dead. Currently: 4,959 women and 7,797 children. In seven months, perhaps a few thousand more will be resurrected.
A moment’s reflection reveals that it is impossible to produce reliable figures quickly. People may be missing, but in the chaos of war, how can authorities know they didn’t flee, hide, or die of natural causes? Victims may be buried under collapsed buildings, vaporized, burned or so disfigured that it would require complex forensic analysis to identify them. That’s why it took months for Israeli investigators to arrive at a definitive figure for the October 7 victims, some of whom were missing.
With the war raging, this kind of detailed work is impossible. Yet for months, the UN has relied on figures produced by the same savages who massacred poor Shani Louk and drank ice water from an Israeli refrigerator while watching a dying young boy comfort his little brother to whom he missing an eye. He has finally taken the first step towards reason. But he continues to rely on Hamas figures as a point of contact.
Don’t these sanctimonious UN officials realize how ridiculous they look? Have they forgotten how war works? Two decades after our invasion of Iraq, the death toll remains extremely controversial, ranging from 100,000 to 600,000 people. Yet we are supposed to believe that Hamas, which clandestinely squats its Jewish sex slaves, has the professionalism necessary to provide statistics reliable to within a few hours.
Statisticians have demystified the data. Yet the narrative remains unchanged, even on President Biden’s side. Clearly, the sheer volume of images of suffering civilians – all projected by Hamas, which censors photos of dead or wounded fighters – has made us lose our minds. When we fought in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, no one discussed civilian casualties. Yet when it comes to Israel, everyone talks about it. We are being played.
This is why civilians in Gaza do not have access to the security of the tunnels, even if the entire population could enter them. That’s why they don’t have a single air raid shelter. Hamas leaders did their best to have their members killed on camera, then fabricated the numbers. They did this to brainwash the international media, political leaders, celebrities and protesters in our streets into believing the Israeli “genocide” lie. They want Jerusalem to be pressured into ending the war, leaving them to prepare for the next act of savagery.
Every human heart must bleed for Gaza. Even one innocent death is appalling. But unless you’re a pacifist, the tragedy of every civilian in a war zone – no matter how heartbreaking – is not what tips the scales. What should be the case is the bigger picture. This is the principle of a just war, which always involves civilian victims. Israel did not choose this conflict any more than Britain chose to fight Nazi Germany. The curse of the world is such that democracies are sometimes faced with a formidable enemy and the only way to respond is with force. Churchill knew it. Israel too. Do we?
Those with good judgment should insist that the emperor has no clothes. The Jewish state is estimated to kill proportionately fewer civilians than any other democracy in the history of warfare. To pretend otherwise is simply false. Now let’s talk about the destruction of jihadism.
Jake Wallis Simons is editor of the Jewish Chronicle and author of “Israelophobia”
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