opinion
This Time, It’s Diff erent
BY JEROME M. MARCUS
T 18
AUGUST 11, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
THIS TIME WE CAN ALSO
SAY KOL HAKAVOD L’DOVER
TZAHAL — GIVE HONOR TO THE
IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT, WHICH HAS
ATTAINED A NEW AND EFFECTIVE LEVEL OF
PUTTING THE TRUTH OUT TO A WORLD THAT IS OFTEN
RELUCTANT TO HEAR THE TRUTH FROM THE JEWISH STATE.

It is showing the 20% of PIJ’s missiles that land
within Gaza, killing the very people the terror
group pretends to be fi ghting for.

The result is a slew of news stories not pub-
lished in the same old way, libelously attacking
the Jewish state. The New York Times has main-
tained its standard policy of publishing articles
only about Israeli military action, with no mention
of the hundreds of missiles PIJ is launching at
Jewish civilians that explain that action. But even
in the Times, the articles contain timely expla-
nations from the IDF of what’s being attacked
and why.

This relative evenhandedness is not a function
of any change by the Times in its political views —
it just appointed a fervent Israel-hater as the new
editor of its Sunday opinion page — or because
politics has somehow been disentangled from
the “news” section of that once great newspaper.

The reason the stories are more evenhanded
is that it’s harder to write completely one-sided
articles if the truth is out there for all to see. And
now it is.

So, for example (though you would never learn
about it from the Times), there is this series of
clips showing four attempts to assassinate Khaled
Mansour, the Islamic Jihad leader killed on Aug. 6.

In the fi rst three attempts, the attacks are called
off because children are nearby. By 11 p.m., the
children had stopped kicking a soccer ball in the
nearby courtyard. All was safe for an attack that
killed no one but the terrorist. And it’s all there to
watch from the comfort of your laptop or phone.

When Israel’s ground operations end — and its
sons and husbands come back across Israel’s bor-
ders after yet again defeating those who would
destroy the Jewish state and kill all of the Jews
who live there — the bumper stickers and bill-
boards in that country say Kol HaKavod l’Tzahal,
give honor to the Israeli army, which has yet again
protected Israel’s citizens from their would-be
murderers. This time we can also say Kol HaKavod l’Dover
Tzahal — give honor to the IDF Spokesperson’s
Unit, which has attained a new and eff ective level
of putting the truth out to a world that is often
reluctant to hear the truth from the Jewish state. JE
Jerome M. Marcus is a lawyer and a fellow at the
Kohelet Policy Forum in Jerusalem.

1201143370 / iStock / Getty Images Plus
he Jews, in general, and this Jew, in particular,
have complained for years about how poorly
Israel has explained itself to the world. It’s a privilege
to be able to recognize good work on this front by
the Israel Defense Forces now that it’s been done.

In almost all of its previous military confronta-
tions with its neighbors, Israel has been attacked
by wild lies, to which it has responded by saying
that the libelous accusation is under investigation.

After the lie had made its way around the world
alone for weeks, a report would be issued by the
IDF proving to any objective mind that the lie was
a lie. But by then, it was far too late. The lie had
embedded itself in the world’s “narrative,” and the
truth was completely irrelevant.

So it was with the “massacre” in Jenin that never
happened. So it was with the staged fi lms about
Mohammad Al-dura. So it was with any number of
attacks on ammunition dumps, rocket launchers
and snipers lodged in Gaza’s schools, mosques
and homes. The world heard about the attacks
on these buildings, and it condemned the attacks
and the Jewish state for committing them.

Then, weeks later, if you were paying close
attention and reading Jewish or Israeli news
sources, you might learn what actually happened
— that the schoolyard was being used as a rock-
et-launch pad; that the mosque was fi lled with
explosives; that the apartment building window
was the location of a sniper or a Hamas com-
mand-and-control operation.

But this time is diff erent. In “Operation Breaking
Dawn,” which has now concluded, the IDF
Spokesperson’s Unit is clearly out front. It has been
releasing, within a few hours of the events, footage
showing exactly what Israel is doing. As important,
the footage shows what Israel is not doing; it is
showing the many attacks called off because of the
nearby presence of non-combatants.

It has been Israel’s policy and practice for many
years to abort attacks that unnecessarily endan-
ger civilians, as Israel has patiently explained to
anyone who cares to listen. But in the past, Israel
hasn’t revealed to the world the evidence show-
ing this degree of care in action actually being
applied in real-time. Now Israel is publishing that
proof and doing so very quickly, like on the day of
the attack, often within a few hours.

IDF news releases are also showing the errant
missiles launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad —
errant, that is, because they killed Arabs instead
of the Jewish civilians at whom they were aimed.