Israel has lost the moral high ground

By David Horsey

Seattle Times cartoonist

Hamas terrorists’ vicious Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israeli civilians took 1,200 lives, making it, in proportion to Israel’s small population, far worse than the 9/11 attacks on the United States in 2001. Attendees at a music festival were slaughtered. Women were raped, parents were murdered in front of their children. Children were murdered in front of their parents. Two-hundred-and-forty hostages were dragged away to an uncertain fate.

On that dreadful day, Israel certainly held the moral high ground and, other than their cold-hearted enemies in the Islamic world and the pro-Palestinian activists who lauded Hamas killers as freedom fighters, Israelis had international sympathy and support.

Then the assault on Gaza began.

It is utterly human to want revenge in the face of atrocities like those committed by Hamas and it is the right of any country to respond to an attack, but the Israeli bombing campaign that has stretched on relentlessly for 11 weeks seems drastically out of proportion. It is being cited as one of the most destructive military actions in history, according to experts, as bad as, or worse than, Syria’s decimation of Aleppo over four years of civil conflict or Russia’s pummeling of Mariupol during its invasion of Ukraine.

As many as 20,000 Palestinians may have been killed so far, according to Gaza authorities, and nearly the whole population has been displaced with many now suffering on the edge of starvation.

All but one of Israel’s allies have backed away from their early support, leaving the United States the country’s lone friend and primary arms supplier. Yet, even the U.S. administration appears to be shocked by what Israel’s military and its right-wing government have unleashed. President Joe Biden has acknowledged that Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing” is destroying the legitimacy of Israel’s hunt for Hamas in the eyes of the world.

Gaza is in rubble. The people who live there are bereft. And the Israeli government may have, in the long run, seriously harmed Israel’s reputation and future security by showing no pity, no restraint and no remorse.

See more of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey