“This will be a long, drawn-out campaign,” President Isaac Herzog told international media representatives at a press briefing at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on Thursday.
An unprovoked attack
Calling Gaza “an empire of evil,” Herzog said that there was no justifiable reason for Hamas's incursion into Israel last Saturday. Over the last two years, the border was relatively quiet, he explained. There was major growth in trade between Gaza and Israel. Further, more than 2,000 Gazan workers crossed into Israel daily, where they were able to earn salaries to support their families back home. There were increasing international investments in Gaza as well.
After showing a video of the children abducted by Hamas and taken to Gaza, Herzog read out a series of statistics indicating that 1,300 individuals had been killed and 3,300 people wounded, with citizens of 36 different nationalities being either murdered or missing.
In the course of the briefing, Herzog received notice of an attack on Sderot that morning, in which people were seriously injured.
No legitimization for terror
To illustrate the magnitude of Hamas's depravity and brutality, Herzog read an excerpt from a harrowing report by a long-time member of ZAKA , the ultra-Orthodox search and rescue organization that collects body parts following catastrophes such as earthquakes, terrorist attacks and traffic accidents, and matches them forensically so that the deceased can be prepared for religious burial services.
The writer of the report had seen many horrific scenes over the years, but never such atrocities as he encountered in the south of the country. It was obvious that many of the deceased had been tortured, shot and their bodies subsequently burned.
Herzog and other Israeli representatives have been warning the world for years that Hamas is worse than ISIS. But the world ignored these warnings thus far, generally castigating Israel for what it termed a disproportionate response.
“Does the international community and the international media now believe that we are faced with one of the cruelest enemies we have?” asked Herzog.
The need for a unanimous condemnation of Hamas brutality
Among the world leaders with whom he has spoken in recent days, there has been a condemnation of Hamas, as well as sympathy and understanding for Israel. Widespread dismay over the situation has also been expressed.
The same could not be said, however, in regards to some of the journalists attending the press briefing, who, as noticeable by the nature of their questions, accused Israel of war crimes, given that civilians are killed when Israel strikes Gaza.
This, after Herzog had gone to great lengths to explain that Israel’s air strikes do not constitute a form of retaliation, but rather a means of defense against a movement that seeks to eliminate Israel. “We are targeting and uprooting the enemy who is trying to destroy us,” he said. “We try to make peace, but cannot accept acts of terror. We are very cautious in the way we operate. The IDF uses all the means at its disposal to avoid harming the civilian population.”
Usually even-tempered, Herzog could not contain his anger over questions that implied that Israel was guilty of war crimes, and asked what his interlocutors would do if a terrorist came into their kitchen.
Herzog called on world and religious leaders to do their utmost to ensure the safety and release of the people abducted by Hamas, and said that the press around the world must look at reality. If a family in Toronto was attacked like those in Kibbutz Be’eri, he stressed, then the press would undoubtedly call this a massacre.
Herzog made the point that Hamas attackers are terrorists, not freedom fighters. “Hamas and ISIS are one and the same.”
Asked whether Israel would be prepared to accept a deal for the return of the hostages, Herzog bristled and declared that they must be released without conditions. He declined to answer questions that are within the purview of the government.