Letter to Washington Post

Dear Editor, One day, operation "Pillar of Defense" will be called the most humanitarian, precision-conducted campaign in military history. With over 1350 sites hit by the Israeli defense force, there have only been about 50 civilian deaths - and this in one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Further, some of these casualties were caused by Hamas' own rockets. (It is estimated that over 100 Hamas rockets aimed at Israel actually landed in Gaza.) Yet The Washington Post front page headline screams "Civilian toll up in Gaza fighting" (11/19/12). For this kind of warfare, with Hamas firing rockets from civilian neighborhoods adjacent to schools, hospitals, and mosques, the civilian toll was down, not up. Compare with Syria, where over 40,000 are dead. Before bombing, Israel sent out warning texts, tweets, emails, phone-calls and leaflets. Israel should be praised, not condemned.