8 | DECEMBER 7 • 2023 J
N

opinion

Israel’s Just and Moral War
O

n Oct. 6, a ceasefire 
was in effect 
between Israel and 
Hamas. Hamas breached 
that ceasefire on Oct. 7 
and attacked Israeli civilian 
communities 
along the Gaza 
border. They 
massacred 
some 1,200 
babies, children, 
women and 
men, many 
after torturing 
them in the most heinous 
manner. They took around 
240 hostages.
In response, Israel did 
what every country in the 
world would do. It took 
military action to take back 
its territory and then enter 
Gaza to rescue its hostages 
and eliminate the existential 
threat on its border. Hamas 
had made it clear its goal is 
Israel’s destruction and the 
extermination of its 7 million 
Jewish inhabitants. It is 
thus essential for Israel to 
destroy it.
No war is more just and 
moral than a war to destroy 
an existential threat. Hamas, 
in contrast, could not be 
waging a more unjust and 
immoral war. It breaks all 
international laws by hiding 
among civilians and firing its 
weapons next to hospitals, 
schools and mosques. While 
Israel tries to avoid civilian 
casualties, Hamas fires 
thousands of indiscriminate 
missiles in order to 
maximize Israeli civilian 
casualties.
Hamas came to power 

by winning an election. 
According to a recent poll, 
75% of its subjects support 
its genocidal goals. This 
support was proven by the 
celebrations on the streets of 
Gaza at the news of Hamas’ 
massacre. Many Gazans who 
were not members of Hamas 
joined in that massacre.
Nonetheless, Israel is 
conducting itself in a more 
moral and ethical manner 
than any other country that 
has fought against an enemy 
embedded within a civilian 
population. 
The former supreme 
commander of British forces 
in Afghanistan Richard 
Kemp has testified that, in 
previous fighting in Gaza, 
“The Israel Defense Forces 
did more to safeguard 
the rights of civilians in 
a combat zone than any 
other army in the history of 
warfare.”
Israel is doing so again by 
dropping leaflets and calling 
and texting Gazans, telling 
them to leave the combat 

zone, even though Israel 
loses the element of surprise 
by giving such warnings. The 
IDF has even provided safe 
passage for those who choose 
to leave.
The International 
Holocaust Remembrance 
Alliance (IHRA) definition 
of antisemitism includes, 
“Applying double standards 
by requiring of [Israel] a 
behavior not expected or 
demanded of any other 
democratic nation.” The 
lie that Israeli military 
action in Gaza has violated 
international law is unques-
tionably antisemitism under 
this definition.
Indeed, it is telling that 
Israel’s “critics” do not 
cite a single example of 
another country in a similar 
situation that has taken more 
comprehensive measures to 
avoid civilian casualties. Nor 
do they suggest another way 
Israel can ensure its security 
and get back its hostages — 
because there is none, and 
they know it.

Given this, it is not 
surprising that many who 
criticize Israel eventually 
cannot contain themselves 
and proclaim that they 
support Hamas’ goal of 
destroying Israel. They don’t 
want to save civilians; they 
want Hamas to win.
Much of the media 
obsesses over a false 
definition of the term 
“proportionality.” They 
compare the number of 
tortured and massacred 
Israeli civilians to the 
number of casualties in 
Gaza — the latter from 
Hamas itself. The only list 
with any moral weight, 
however, should be between 
the numbers of civilians who 
have been intentionally killed. 
But that list would not 
be amenable to the media. 
It would show the number 
of civilians intentionally 
killed by Hamas is 1,200 
and counting. The number 
intentionally killed by Israel 
is zero.
Israel is fighting a moral 
and just war for its existence 
against an enemy committed 
to its destruction. Anyone 
who opposes this war is 
a fool, an enabler or an 
active supporter of Hamas’ 
genocidal ambitions. 
The last of these are 
clearly antisemites. The 
others are collaborators with 
antisemitism, whether they 
realize it or not. 
 

Farley Weiss is chairman of the Israel 

Heritage Foundation (IHF) and former 

president of the National Council of 

Young Israel.

Israeli troops operating in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Nov. 21, 2023.

IDF

PURELY COMMENTARY

Farley Weiss
JNS.org

