Israel Is Interested In More Than One Soldier

To the editors:



Re: “The Empire Strikes Back,” column, Oct. 10.

Apparently, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN have it wrong and Crimson columnist Bede Moore has it right.

Not only does he know better than the major media outlets, he’s discovered the real reason why the U.S., the EU, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia supported the position that Hamas instigated this recent conflict in Gaza: They were brainwashed by the biased mass media.

Unfortunately, Mr. Moore’s facile and foolish belief that the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was Israel’s only motivation for its incursion into Gaza misstates the root cause of Israel’s actions. The kidnapping of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, a direct violation of Israel’s borders and an internationally recognized act of war, was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

From the moment Israel disengaged from the region in August 2005, its civilians have been subject to thousands of rocket attacks from Gaza. The firing of Katyusha rockets from Gaza and the daily barrages of Qassams threatened Israel’s security, and Israel’s operation in Gaza was concentrated on undermining this threat. If anything, the media has failed to call attention to these constant rocket attacks, which began after Israel evacuated Gaza and therefore cannot be attributed to occupation. If the media had covered the rockets more effectively, Mr. Moore wouldn’t be blind to the fact that Israel’s interests in Gaza are more fundamental than one soldier.

As for Moore’s claim that Hamas was reacting to Israel’s “kidnapping” of two Palestinians, these men were in the process of trying to execute an attack against Israel, according to the BBC article he cites as his source. Chronologically, it is impossible to assert that Hamas captured Shalit (June 25) in retaliation for Israel’s arrest of Hamas members (June 24). The Hamas kidnapping required careful planning and was conceived of at least several weeks in advance as it took a long time to dig almost a kilometer-long tunnel under the border.



REBECCA M. ROHR ’08

October 11, 2006



The writer is president of Harvard Students for Israel.