Gaza FAQ
I invite more questions to add to this list.
Q: Why did Israel break the cease-fire?
A: Israel did not. The cease-fire agreement expired on December 19th, 2008. From the 19th to the 27th, at least 130 rockets and mortar shells were fired from the Gaza strip into southern Israel. Israel's assault began on the 27th.
Q: Why, then, did Hamas break the cease-fire?
A: That question assumes that they ever obeyed the cease-fire. 329 rockets and mortars were fired into southern Israel during the six-month term of the agreement.
Q: Isn't there a slaughter of Palestinians going on in Gaza?
A: Roughly 500 Palestinians have been killed during the recent violence, of whom roughly 100 are reported to have been civilians. The rest were part of the military and paramilitary forces of the Hamas government. The deaths of 100 innocent people should never be minimized or taken lightly, but nor should Israel's efforts to minimize collateral damage.
Q: But isn't this all just a pretext for killing Palestinians?
A: Israel's air force is widely considered, man for man and plane for plane, to be the most effective in the world. If Israel had no goal in mind but to kill Palestinians, there wouldn't be millions of them living in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel's decision to initiate a ground assault stems from the fact that, while air strikes from a distance are safer for Israelis, they carry the risk of higher collateral damage. 34 Israeli soldiers have already been wounded and one killed due to this change of tactics intended to minimize the civilian death toll.
Q: Isn't Israel overreacting to a bunch of homemade rockets?
A: As anyone who has been punched in the face can tell you, a crude weapon is not necessarily a benign one. "Homemade" Qassam rockets-whose construction requires machine tools and the skill to use them-have caused dozens of deaths and millions of dollars' worth of property damage in Israel and Gaza. Their primitive nature is relevant only in that it limits their role to semi-random death and destruction. They do not carry guidance systems and cannot be aimed with any accuracy, which makes shooting one toward a population center a bit like firing a gun into a crowd with one's eyes closed. Because of the reckless and unpredictable nature of Qassam attacks, Israeli and Palestinian Arabs are numbered among the dead, and Palestinian houses among the destroyed.
Q: I heard from that lady on Fox News that they don't even have warheads. What's the big deal?
A: Diana Buttu did indeed claim in this segment that the rockets fired into Israel "do not have explosive heads." Ms. Buttu was either misinformed or lying. While Qassams are not of standardized construction, they usually contain an explosive mixture of trinitrotoluene (TNT) and urea nitrate. Some are also packed with shrapnel to increase their antipersonnel capabilities.
Q: Many people who join the Hamas security forces do so out of the need for a steady job, not because they agree with Hamas's ideology. Isn't it wrong to attack those people?
A: America experiences a similar "poverty draft," as do other countries with volunteer armies. Others, such as Israel, have armies filled mainly with conscripts. I have never heard anyone argue that fighting a war with any of these countries is immoral on those grounds.
Q: Why doesn't Israel just negotiate a permanent peace with Hamas? If all they want is land, shouldn't Israel just placate them with land?
A: Hamas does not support a two-state solution. Its immediate goal, stated explicitly in its charter, is to conquer Gaza (accomplished), the West Bank and Israel proper, and to replace their various governments with a militant Islamic theocracy.
Q: What about the international condemnation of Israel's offensive? Isn't it a bad sign when George W. Bush is the only head of state who thinks you're right?
A: The Australian, Canadian, Czech, German and Hungarian governments have also stated that they support Israel's actions and have placed ultimate responsibility for the violence on Hamas.
Q: Why did Israel break the cease-fire?
A: Israel did not. The cease-fire agreement expired on December 19th, 2008. From the 19th to the 27th, at least 130 rockets and mortar shells were fired from the Gaza strip into southern Israel. Israel's assault began on the 27th.
Q: Why, then, did Hamas break the cease-fire?
A: That question assumes that they ever obeyed the cease-fire. 329 rockets and mortars were fired into southern Israel during the six-month term of the agreement.
Q: Isn't there a slaughter of Palestinians going on in Gaza?
A: Roughly 500 Palestinians have been killed during the recent violence, of whom roughly 100 are reported to have been civilians. The rest were part of the military and paramilitary forces of the Hamas government. The deaths of 100 innocent people should never be minimized or taken lightly, but nor should Israel's efforts to minimize collateral damage.
Q: But isn't this all just a pretext for killing Palestinians?
A: Israel's air force is widely considered, man for man and plane for plane, to be the most effective in the world. If Israel had no goal in mind but to kill Palestinians, there wouldn't be millions of them living in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel's decision to initiate a ground assault stems from the fact that, while air strikes from a distance are safer for Israelis, they carry the risk of higher collateral damage. 34 Israeli soldiers have already been wounded and one killed due to this change of tactics intended to minimize the civilian death toll.
Q: Isn't Israel overreacting to a bunch of homemade rockets?
A: As anyone who has been punched in the face can tell you, a crude weapon is not necessarily a benign one. "Homemade" Qassam rockets-whose construction requires machine tools and the skill to use them-have caused dozens of deaths and millions of dollars' worth of property damage in Israel and Gaza. Their primitive nature is relevant only in that it limits their role to semi-random death and destruction. They do not carry guidance systems and cannot be aimed with any accuracy, which makes shooting one toward a population center a bit like firing a gun into a crowd with one's eyes closed. Because of the reckless and unpredictable nature of Qassam attacks, Israeli and Palestinian Arabs are numbered among the dead, and Palestinian houses among the destroyed.
Q: I heard from that lady on Fox News that they don't even have warheads. What's the big deal?
A: Diana Buttu did indeed claim in this segment that the rockets fired into Israel "do not have explosive heads." Ms. Buttu was either misinformed or lying. While Qassams are not of standardized construction, they usually contain an explosive mixture of trinitrotoluene (TNT) and urea nitrate. Some are also packed with shrapnel to increase their antipersonnel capabilities.
Q: Many people who join the Hamas security forces do so out of the need for a steady job, not because they agree with Hamas's ideology. Isn't it wrong to attack those people?
A: America experiences a similar "poverty draft," as do other countries with volunteer armies. Others, such as Israel, have armies filled mainly with conscripts. I have never heard anyone argue that fighting a war with any of these countries is immoral on those grounds.
Q: Why doesn't Israel just negotiate a permanent peace with Hamas? If all they want is land, shouldn't Israel just placate them with land?
A: Hamas does not support a two-state solution. Its immediate goal, stated explicitly in its charter, is to conquer Gaza (accomplished), the West Bank and Israel proper, and to replace their various governments with a militant Islamic theocracy.
Q: What about the international condemnation of Israel's offensive? Isn't it a bad sign when George W. Bush is the only head of state who thinks you're right?
A: The Australian, Canadian, Czech, German and Hungarian governments have also stated that they support Israel's actions and have placed ultimate responsibility for the violence on Hamas.