There are two honest, consistent responses to Israel’s draconian war in Gaza. One is to be appalled at the large number of civilian casualties, the singling out of Christians (whom Israeli hard-liners despise because they simply will not leave), and the resulting damage to international good-will for Israel and Jews. One can watch these events and decide that Israel’s government is sabotaging that country’s future.

Another response is to coldly decide it’s worth it—that Israel must give up the pretense of being a compassionate nation, and instead play by the cold-blooded, ruthless rules of its region: a Middle East where American-backed dictators routinely gas civilians, cleanse minorities, and exploit ethno-nationalism and religious fanaticism. One might conclude that the Muslims of that region are always either at your throat or at your feet, and you prefer the latter, thank you very much.

I have friends who take each of those positions. 

What you can’t do honestly and rationally is pretend that what Israel is doing in Gaza is essentially a humanitarian rescue operation, conducted with exquisite care for civilians by soldiers who are essentially blue helmets — except when the utter fanaticism of their primitive enemies forces those peace-keepers to target facilities containing “human shields.” Nor can one pretend that, even then, the IDF acts with the maximum concern for civilian lives consistent with success—evincing a higher moral code than any nation on earth, and the U.S. military in particular.

That’s just a lie. And as a U.S. infantry veteran with many friends still in the service and a son who served in Iraq, I resent it. Who’s telling this lie? A certain kind of neoconservative or liberal internationalist who practices double standards. In the U.S. and Europe, such people favor high immigration, political secularism, multiculturalism, and Wilsonian rhetoric. But when it comes to Israel, they suddenly turn into practitioners of Realpolitik, of a kind that would make Otto von Bismarck blush.  

Here are some instances of the “Israel’s hands are cleaner than America’s” line that’s being repeated:

• Col. Richard Kemp’s remarks: “Israel: The World’s Most Moral Army.”
• John Kirby’s claim: “We have seen them (IDF) take actions, sometimes actions that even, I’m not sure, our own military would take in terms of informing civilian populations ahead of operations; where to go, where not to go ….” (His remarks start at 14:51 in this video.)
• Rep. Brad Sherman: “War is chaotic, and urban warfare more so. I believe that Israel is doing as good a job as can be done and is working hard to avoid civilian casualties. Analysts indicate that Israeli efforts in this area are favorable [compared] to U.S. military actions in Fallujah and Mosul. And of course, ISIS forces in Fallujah and Mosul were not firing rockets at the American homeland.”
• Daily Telegraph columnist Charles Lipson, “The IDF is still the most moral army on earth.”
• And let’s take it straight from the source, Benjamin Netanyahu himself, “The IDF is the most moral army in the world” that “does everything to avoid harming those not involved.”

If only this rhetoric were true. My organization, the Vulnerable People Project, spends millions each year protecting the most forgotten victims of genocide and persecution — such as Iraqi Christians, Yezidi, Uyghurs in China, and Jews in Nigeria, whose synagogue we defend with armed security. Our current most urgent project is aid for the besieged, non-violent Christian population of Northern Gaza.They have no connection to any form of violence, yet as Palestinian Christians they faced the same brutal fate their Muslim compatriots have endured at the hands of Israel’s army.

These Christians have deep attachments to their ancient churches and cemeteries, and the land on which their families have lived since the first century — when their ancestors were among Jesus’s first disciples. And the IDF seems determined to drive them out. Unlike their Muslim neighbors, these Christians have nowhere else to go.

Their churches and hospitals get bombed, their homes invaded, their civilians abused by rogue, undisciplined conscripts who seem to blame them for historic anti-Semitism in Europe — as Sunni extremists blamed Iraqi Christians for George W. Bush’s invasion. With the Israeli government’s approval, VPP filled a truck with supplies for these helpless civilians. Before it could arrive, the church at which it was destined to arrive had been targeted and destroyed.

Having heard about these incidents firsthand from survivors, I’m inclined not to dismiss as jihadi agitprop reports of other outrages against Christian facilities:

• On Oct. 17, 2023, the Anglican Al-Ahli Hospital was blown apart by Israeli missile fire, killing hundreds of civilians.
• On Dec. 16, 2023, Israeli forces targeted the compound of Holy Family Parish; a sniper killed two women after they walked outside and wounded several men who tried helping them.
• On Dec. 16, 2023, Mother Teresa’s order, the Missionaries of Charity, saw its convent struck three times by Israeli artillery shells, leaving it uninhabitable.
• Ten days, later, Gaza’s only Baptist church was destroyed by Israeli tank shells.
• On July 7, 2024, Holy Family Catholic School was bombed, and four civilians killed.
• The same day, a Byzantine Church in Jabalia (northern Gaza) was destroyed by the IDF.
• Also that day, the Green Shrine in Deir Al-Balah, the first Christian monastery built in Palestine during the Byzantine era, was partially damaged.

Here’s a comprehensive list from the BBC of religious sites damaged or destroyed during the IDF’s campaign so far.

Now maybe we should limit the credence we give to reports from international organizations, especially those with documented anti-Zionist bias. But given the quantity of smoke that I’ve sniffed, it is not unreasonable to think there might be fire here. Therefore, I won’t dismiss out of hand the claims of the Institute for Palestine Studies, which include this alarming report:

Euro-Med cited the cutting off all food supplies to Northern Gaza, along with the deliberate targeting of bakeries and water stores throughout the Strip. Israeli attacks also targeted flour shops, bakeries, agricultural zones, fishing boats, and storage centers belonging to relief organizations. As of Nov. 5, 11 bakeries in Gaza had been targeted and destroyed. The distribution of food to displaced families also became severely limited due to Israel’s ground invasion, further increasing the threat of widespread starvation and famine. It is painfully evident that Israel is deliberately targeting food supplies to Gazan citizens to further their genocidal objectives.

That tracks with the eyewitness accounts I’ve heard myself. Again, I don’t necessarily trust the source — which now shills for the abortion industry — but Amnesty International has marshalled a long list of outrages such as this one:

The WHO reported that 600 patients and medical personnel were killed in attacks on medical facilities, including 76 ambulances. In the north of Gaza, al-Ahli and al-Shifa hospitals were operating at 5% of capacity while being overwhelmed with wounded and sick people. Hospital bed occupancy was at 310%, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. Its al-Amal hospital in Khan Yunis was targeted with a drone on 24 December, killing a 13-year-old boy.

All of this is to say, it’s a bit rich for Israel’s most zealous defenders to claim that Gaza is getting  kid-glove treatment. For them to slander America’s military by claiming that the IDF is morally superior is actually a disgrace — especially as we mark the grim anniversary of Joe Biden’s catastrophic surrender in Afghanistan, which saw many U.S. servicemen and women die needlessly.

America also saw heroic efforts by demoralized, departing service personnel to protect Afghan civilians. My group, VPP, has worked with hundreds of serving personnel and veterans to help thousands of Afghan interpreters, longtime partners who saved countless American lives over two decades — whom the Biden administration left stranded and at the mercy of the Taliban (despite previous U.S. promises of providing visas).

Read about the Digital Dunkirk that helped those interpreters escape to safety in neighboring countries, and Dynamo Two which airlifted many out. The Pineapple Express created an Underground Railroad for these brave American allies, while military contractors worked for free to save their erstwhile partners. The Vulnerable People Project joined those efforts, along with our own, building a women’s hospital, digging wells, securing schools, and delivering “coal for Christmas” to thousands who were freezing.

Americans aren’t for the most part morally cynical. And our military doesn’t customarily play by the grim, amoral rules that prevail in the Middle East — which the IDF seems to be acclimatizing to, “going native” if you will.  When we do screw up, such as was documented at Abu Gharib, we agonize about it and punish those responsible. Indeed, we’re still debating the morality of our civilian bombing campaigns in World War II, especially targets such as Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.

Personally, I’d find it tragic if Israel a creation of Western European nations, which claim Christianity as their founding moral principle, is tolerating the destruction of Christianity in its birthplace and, with it, the Palestinian descendants of the original Christians.

Israel should not let its enemies reshape its moral compass in their own image. It’s not right; nor is it especially smart.