Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Palestinian civilians in Gaza were “responsible” for the Saturday attack by Hamas.
“It is an entire nation out there that is responsible. It’s not true this rhetoric about civilians [being] not aware, not involved. It’s absolutely not true,” Herzog said Friday. “They could have risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d’état.”
“I agree there are many innocent Palestinians who don’t agree with this, but if you have a missile in your goddamn kitchen and you want to shoot it at me, am I allowed to defend myself? We have to defend ourselves, we have the full right to do so,” he added.
The Israeli president made the comments while calling for over 1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate in 24 hours. The evacuation was first announced to Gaza residents via leaflets from the Israel Defense Forces.
“Civilians of Gaza City, evacuate south for your own safety and the safety of your families and distance yourself from Hamas terrorists who are using you as human shields,” the leaflets read. “This evacuation is for your own safety. You will be able to return to Gaza City only when another announcement permitting it is made.”
Hamas has told people in Gaza to ignore the evacuation order.
“Israel is removing Palestinians from their homes and lands for a second time, and we have responded to the Zionist crimes by targeting them and Ben Gurion,” Abu Obaida, spokesperson of Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades, said. “Displacement and exile are not for us, Israel is carrying out psychological warfare through the threats and their dark history, which shows they carry out crimes and killings as a form of collective punishment.”
The United Nations has called the evacuation “impossible,” due to the large number of people asked to leave the area, according to CNN. John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, called the evacuation a “tall order.”
“We understand what they’re trying to do: They’re trying to move civilians out of harm’s way and giving them fair warning. Now it’s a tall order. It’s a million people and very urban, dense environment. It’s already a combat zone. So I don’t think anybody’s underestimating the challenge here of effecting that evacuation,” Kirby told CNN.
The war between Hamas and Israel started on Saturday when Hamas soldiers attacked Israel from Gaza. Hamas killed over 1,000 people and took over 100 hostages in that attack, according to NPR. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by many countries including the U.S., Israel and those in the European Union. Since the beginning of the war, Israel says Hamas killed 1,300 people. The Palestinian health ministry reports 1,800 killed in Gaza.
I did give you a solution. You didn’t want to hear it because the only solution you want to hear is eliminationist.
Your solution is for Israel to welcome Hamas into their borders. You did not offer a solution at all. Unless you think the destruction of Israel is a solution.
Did America die after abolition? You want an ethnostate and you want to eliminate the Palestinians.
As I’ve advocated and continue to advocate, I am opposed to terrorism and support Israel’s right to defend itself from those that would see its citizens murdered and its government destroyed. You can’t even denounce terrorists brutalizing babies, so you can stop with the moral grandstanding.
You are in active support of baby murder. You advocate for it.
No, because murder implies an active malice. Murder would be what Hamas did to the Israeli children, which you have yet to denounce. Murder would be killing a child in front of their parents, killing their parents, and uploading the video to the victim’s Facebook. Something you have yet to denounce. Killing children is not defacto murder. It’s a war. Children will die. In the end, we can only hope this is the least deaths possible to excise the cancer of Hamas. At least, that’s what I hope. With you, it’s not clear at all.
So baby murder is just when you do it.
You don’t consider Palestinian children to be human. This much is clear.
Again, I’m the one willing to denounce terrorism and murder. You are not. So quit moral grandstanding. You’re shameless.
I just explained to you the distinction between murder and killing. The two are not the same, but you need them to be the same to push your anti-semitic narrative. At this point you are implicitly defending the murder and brutalization of Israeli babies, an action taken by Hamas and which you refuse to denounce. You wouldn’t recognize morality if it was attached to a missile launched through your window.
Except you didn’t. You are actively apologizing for the terrorism inflicted on Palestinians. Advocating for it. You are pro terrorism.
Regardless of the lies you tell yourself about your side’s terrorism being just.