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Source: https://www.jns.org/anti-israel-virtue-signaling-on-gaza-is-immoral/
Anti-Israel Virtue-Signaling on Gaza Is Immoral
(JNS) Jonathan S. Tobin - The avalanche of anti-Israel propaganda as a result of a flurry of reports of alleged starvation in Gaza is starting to overwhelm even the most stalwart supporters of the Jewish state. This is not to deny that Palestinians are suffering. They are and have been since civilians began paying the price for tolerating a Hamas government in Gaza and its genocidal fantasy of an endless war to destroy the neighboring Jewish state. Yet, the responsibility for the suffering of the side that started the war and seeks to continue it in order to kill more Jews and destroy the one Jewish state on the planet belongs to Hamas - and its foreign enablers and fellow travelers - not to Israel. The reason why Hamas is continuing a bloody guerrilla war in Gaza, even after its military formations and capability of inflicting rocket fire on Israeli civilians have been smashed, is that they are counting on public opinion in the West to hand them an undeserved victory. It is why they have deliberately created a food crisis by stealing the massive amounts of aid that Israel has allowed into Gaza. As has been the case for decades, those who criticize or condemn Israel act as if the Palestinians have no moral agency for their conduct or fate. Critics who lament Israel's alleged betrayal of Jewish traditions seem to think that the Palestinians have no responsibility for what has happened and must be saved from the consequences of their actions, no matter how often they reject peace. They demand something unique in history: that an aggrieved combatant in a war forced upon them assume complete responsibility for the enemy population even before their opponents surrender. By joining the chorus of those who seek to delegitimize Israel's self-defense and force an end to the war in a way that clearly grants a triumph to Hamas, these critics are giving aid and comfort to genocidal Islamists. Virtue-signaling about Gaza starvation isn't a reflection of Jewish values. It is a gift to the enemies of the Jewish people, whose goal is the shedding of more Jewish blood.