In any war or heated conflict, innocent lives are lost, and this is always tragedy. Even though efforts are always made to target only the enemies and not civilians, in reality this is often impossible. When Palestinian children were killed in the recent Gaza crisis, Israel was automatically blamed.
For Arab Knesset member Ahmed Tibi, such tragedies are ready material to criticize and malign Israel worldwide. Tibi quickly tweeted a post under the photos of three dead children and wrote: “This is what Israel’s right to self-defense looks like, which is endorsed by the US and the UK. Three or more “dangerous terrorists” were killed today in Gaza and now Israel is safe.”
Then, after it became clear that the Palestinian children in Jabaliya were killed by Islamic Jihad, Tibi deleted the tweet and their photos. Now it is as though the dead Palestinian children have no faces and no names. Why? Because they were killed by a Palestinian terrorist and not by Israel. This is hypocrisy and this is played out over and over again by Israel’s Arab politicians in situations like this.
The problem is not the irritating discourse of Israel’s Arab Knesset members. They have the right to protect the Palestinians, even if it keeps bugging us. The problem is the false narrative they spread. Every time there is an Israeli military or defense action, they fire at Israel like an automatic machine gun: “Israel is committing terror, Israel is hurting and killing innocent people.” Never a word or even quiet condemnation of Palestinian violence, which unfortunately kills children and innocent citizens in Gaza, more than they like to admit.
A fair discussion about the values of human life on the Palestinian side? The abuse of innocent Palestinians as human shields for terrorists? Unheard of.
The reason of Israel’s “sin” from the Arab point of view is that Israel conquered the land and the Palestinian people. As an “occupying power,” they say that Israel can expect nothing less and for this reason all criticism is justified, even if lies are told. Anything that serves the Palestinian narrative is sacred, even if it is not true.
The Palestinians will never accept that Israel exists again in the Biblical lands. That is why Arab Knesset member and Israeli gynecologist Dr. Ahmed Tibi deleted the pictures of the three dead Palestinians. It does not fit the Palestinian anti-Israel narrative, even if it is true that Israel did not kill them. As an esteemed medical practitioner in the country, he should show more human feelings in certain ways and keep the faces and names of the three Palestinian boys alive, even if they were killed because of an Islamic Jihad rocket.
