AJC Strongly Supports Israeli Strikes on Hamas Military Targets

AJC Strongly Supports Israeli Strikes on Hamas Military Targets

December 27, 2008 – New York – AJC expressed strong support for Israel today in its military operation aimed at terrorist targets in Gaza.

“The handwriting was on the wall for some time,” said David A. Harris, AJC’s Executive Director. “Israel had repeatedly warned the Hamas-led regime in Gaza to end the launching of rocket and mortar attacks against Israel or face consequences. Rather than heed the warnings, however, Hamas leaders continued the attacks and taunted Israel to retaliate: Now Israel has – by targeting military and security bases in Gaza.”

Harris added: “Hamas has only itself to blame for the current events. Its leaders, choosing to pursue terror against Israel rather than the welfare of the Palestinian people, have brought it on. They believed they could repeatedly attack Israeli towns and villages with impunity, while counting on Israeli restraint.

“No nation, neither Israel nor any other sovereign state, could withhold a response indefinitely to an unrelenting siege of its civilian population. What would other countries do if faced with Israel’s circumstance? Without doubt, respond with military force if all other available avenues to restrain the aggressors proved to no avail.”

Harris noted that Israel has always gone to great lengths in an attempt to avoid civilian casualties, but that, tragically, Hamas uses civilians “as human shields,” making Israel’s efforts still more challenging.

“It’s important to put today’s events in context,” said Harris.

“Israel left Gaza in 2005. It withdrew to an international border. It gave the residents of Gaza the first chance in their history to determine their own destiny. But rather than focus on construction of a new society, they chose to elect Hamas leaders dedicated to destruction of Israel. Hamas rule was consolidated in 2007 when the group violently ousted the Palestinian Authority from Gaza. We can only hope that one day soon Gazans will wake up and realize that, as long as a terrorist group remains in power, they have chosen a dead-end strategy.”