5 Reasons Israel Is Good and Hamas Is Evil

Israel’s military operation into Gaza has brought out the usual chorus of outrage from anti-Israel voices in the left-wing press. CNN’s headline: “Cease-fire effort fails as rockets, airstrikes continue.” Huffington Post, in its typical, even-headed tone: “Headless Bodies. Screaming Children.”

However, with Hamas’s rejection Wednesday of a possible cease-fire agreement with Israel and its killing of an Israeli civilian, it should be clear to the world that Hamas represents the villainous party in its battle with the Jewish State. Thanks to the disreputable work of the media, however, that pertinent fact remains buried – headlines today from many major media ignored Hamas’ rejection of the ceasefire. 

Only the left media could miss the obvious moral narrative. Here are the top five indicators that Hamas, along with its unity government allies the Palestinian Authority and Islamic Jihad, represents evil, while Israel represents western morality:

Israel Warns Its Enemies In Order To Stop Civilian Casualties. Late Tuesday night Israel time, the Israeli Defense Force began issuing recorded telephone messages to Zeitoun and Shuja-iyya, warning residents to evacuate before bombing of Hamas sites begins. Throughout the conflict, Israel has warned residents to evacuate. Israel has routinely foregone military strikes in order to minimize civilian casualties.

Hamas Urges Residents To Stay To Protect Weaponry. In a statement released by the Hamas Interior Ministry Monday, the terrorist group told Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, “To all of our people who have evacuated their homes – return to them immediately and do not leave the house. You must follow the directives of the Interior Ministry. This is psychological warfare, random messages to instill panic in people.” Hamas even threatened to kill those who disobeyed: “Those who fail to comply with the instructions will endanger their lives and the lives of their families. Beware.” Last week, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV, “People are still going to the Kawari family house in order to prevent the Zionist occupation’s warplanes from targeting it… This attests to the character of our noble, jihad-fighting people, who defend their rights and their homes with their bare chests and their blood. The policy of people confronting the Israeli warplanes with their bare chests in order to protect their homes has proven effective against the occupation.”

Israel Agrees To A Ceasefire Against Its Own Interests; Hamas Rejects It. Israel obviously has the upper hand militarily against Hamas. Nonetheless, when Egypt offered to broker a ceasefire, Israel took them up on the offer. Hamas, by contrast, rejected the ceasefire and continued firing rockets into Israel. Israel’s acceptance of the ceasefire has caused serious internal tensions within the Israeli government, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s firing of Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon after Danon criticized Netanyahu’s initial acceptance of the ceasefire.

Palestinians Reject Jewish Blood – And Even Arab Blood Shipped By Jews. Israel’s Magen David Edom – the equivalent of the Red Cross – offered to ship blood units to the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority – the body that the Obama administration calls moderate – refused the donations. Magen David Edom even offered to send only blood from Palestinian or Israeli Arab donors. No dice.

Israel Has Kept Crossing Points Open To Gaza To Provide Humanitarian Aid – And Hamas Is Firing On Them. Following on Hamas’s genius notion of using a rocket to hit a power station, knocking out power to some 70,000 residents of Gaza, Hamas has also been firing on border crossings. Israel has been consistently sending humanitarian aid into Gaza through those border crossings.

Nonetheless, the left continues to maintain that Israel and Hamas are morally equivalent. Barack Obama continues to suggest that while Israel has the right to defend itself, “both sides” should take care to protect civilians, as though Israel is not doing so. And the media continue to play at a “cycle of violence” narrative despite the fact that good fighting evil does not constitute a “cycle of violence” in any meaningful sense.

Ben Shapiro is Senior Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the new book, The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against The Obama Administration (Threshold Editions, June 10, 2014). He is also Editor-in-Chief of TruthRevolt.org. Follow Ben Shapiro on Twitter @benshapiro.