Terrorist leaders use their relatives and neighbors as shields, and they die with them. Their deaths are the extremists fault, not Israel's.
It's a frequent occuring thing - much of the world applies a double standard when accusing Israel of barbarity for inflicting civilian casualties as part of legitimate military operations, while overlooking the numerous Israeli civilians that are frequently and intentionally killed by Palistenian leaders and their subordinates. For Europeans, especially, Jewish lives count no more today than they did in 1944. Why are Palestinian terrorists allowed to target civilians without exciting an international outcry, while every accidental civilian death inflicted by Israel is a crime against humanity? This is a fact that we have seen far too often and America can sympathize because we get the same treatment. Europe's reflexive anti-Semitism doesn't really matter much, since today's Europeans lack the power, will and courage to act upon their bigotry. But Americans need to stop pandering to the European attitude and recognize that Israel is fighting for its life; that Israel is fighting with great restraint; and that Israel's pursuit of terrorists is every bit as legitimate as our own. In the meantime, as the U.S. slowly learns the real meaning of a "War on Terror", the Israelis continue to struggle against the Arab vision of Jewish annihilation. They have been on the defensive ever since 1949. Defending their land from one attack after another, yet restrain from attacking into Muslim countries. They have been honorable in their quest for survival. They deserve our credit. Israel will do what must be done, as humanely as possible. And Israel must accept that no matter what it does or fails to do, no matter how much success it achieves and how few civilian casualties it inflicts among its enemies, it will be hated by those who cheer on the enemies of mankind from the safety of Europe and Harvard Yard.
People persist in claiming that attacks upon terrorists do not work, since results are not instantaneous. But the war against terror is a war of attrition and can only be won over decades. The same critics will tell you that by killing civilians in their attacks, the Israelis -- or the Americans -- simply turn other civilians against them. This is nonsense. Civilians who shield the enemies of Israel or the U.S. are already anti-Israel or anti-American. But if our strikes against the masters of terror come to seem inevitable, those same civilians will turn against terrorists who try to use them as living shields - as villagers in Afghanistan have already done.
This is not about diplomatic table manners. It is a fight to exterminate human monsters. Terrorists from Palestine to the Arab heartlands and their supporters must learn that they will be allowed no hiding places. Not in their homes, not in churches or mosques, and not in foreign countries to which they might flee. This is a war that must be fought without compromise. It is, above all, a contest of wills. Every apology is a surrender and Israel should not have to apologize to the apostles of terror for every accidental civillian death in retaliation of suffering intentional civillian deaths - and neither should America.