Jen Psaki Is 'Appalled'–and Appalling

State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki declared Sunday that the United States was “appalled” by Israel’s apparent shelling of a UN-run school in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. You’ll remember Psaki–she’s the former Obama campaign spokesperson who lied in 2012 about the man whose wife Romney allegedly killed, then lied again in 2013 about whether Secretary of State John Kerry was yachting during the Egyptian coup.

Now this hack purports to care about the lives of innocent Palestinian civilians, pouring scorn on Israel and encouraging others to do the same. The photo above, released Sunday by the Israel Defense Forces, shows clearly just how cynically Hamas uses UN schools as staging points for attacks on Israeli troops and Israeli civilians–a double war crime, since it places civilians on both sides in danger, as well as the UN facilities.

International law permits Israeli troops to fire back if fired upon–period!–even if that means firing back towards a UN school that is being used as a shelter. The reason is simple: international law intends to stop combatants from using UN facilities and civilian shelters as cover, which is exactly what Hamas is doing. Therefore Psaki and her bosses are actually undermining the goal of international law with their outrage.

Effectively the Obama administration and the UN–and the British government, which has behaved only slightly less appallingly than the British opposition–have given cover to Hamas with its strong condemnation of Israel. A more appropriate response would have been to express sorrow at the loss of life and to demand that Hamas cease turning UN facilities into military targets, full stop. Instead, they do Israel maximum harm. It’s appalling.