This report by the Guardian is shocking because the Israelis, with all their capabilities in launching accurate strikes, had turned to Gaza hospitals and clinics lately. “According to a bulletin by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, as of noon on Saturday, four hospitals run by Gaza’s ministry of health had sustained damage, along with two hospitals run by NGOs, two clinics, a health centre and a facility belonging to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.” This is crazy and goes beyond the need for self defense.
I have lots of respect to Israel as country before, but this time I must say the country (or perhaps more accurately, its leader) disappointed and upset me. I understand that “Israel has accused Hamas in the past of using medical facilities as a cover for its activities, the situation in Gaza is complicated by the fact that fighters with militant groups often rely on civilian hospitals for treatment, while the ministry of health in Gaza is run by the Hamas government.” But even so there is no excuse to hit the entire hospitals and clinics in the middle of the bombing that sent many civilians to medical facilities. This is close to a terrorist attack, a violation of human rights or an attack to humanity, especially given the high asymmetry in war capabilities between the Israelis and Palestinians.
In places like the Middle East we can no longer name or label terrorism by entities but by acts. That is, we accuse terrorist acts by a non-terrorist entity (e.g., Israel), or praise humanity acts by a terrorist entity (e.g., Hamas). This is the way to keep neutrality and maintain good judgement in an extremely messy situation.
The Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu apparently dislike Biden and prefer Trump. Instead of asking help from other Middle Eastern leaders, maybe the White House should talk to Jared Kushner and ask him to talk to Netanyahu. In diplomacy it matters who sit on the negotiation table, not necessarily what message they bring with them. The crisis now calls for all means available from the world.