By Gary Bauer

In the last 24 hours, Big Media in the U.S. has savaged Israel with allegations and innuendos suggesting the Jewish State is intentionally killing civilians in the fighting in Gaza.  All the major TV networks, and most newspapers, told heart-breaking accounts of wounded and dead Palestinian children who were victims of mortar fire at a Gaza school.  For example, the Washington Post’s front-page headline on January 7th read this way:  “Israel Hits UN-Run School in Gaza.”  But the reality on the ground in Gaza is exactly the opposite of media representations.  Here are the facts:

• The building hit by Israeli mortar fire was not being used as a school at the time of the hostilities.
• Palestinian residents in the neighborhood told the Associated Press that a group of Hamas fighters fired mortars at Israeli soldiers from next to the school and then ran into a crowd of civilians.
• Israeli forces returned fire and civilian casualties resulted.  But, contrary to media assertions, it is Hamas that is responsible for the casualties, because the terrorist group positioned its military forces in a civilian area.
• Preliminary reports indicate that the Israeli mortar fire did not hit the school itself but landed nearby.  Then explosions rocked the school, indicating the likely presence of munitions in the building.  Hamas routinely places fighters and weapons in schools, hospitals and mosques, all in violation of the rules of warfare.
• U.N. officials in Gaza have been prominently quoted as being critical of Israeli forces during war coverage.  Yet those same officials were silent the last two years, as Hamas built its terrorist infrastructure throughout civilian neighborhoods.
• Israel goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid civilian casualties, while Hamas fires missiles and rockets into Israel at civilian targets on a daily basis.

There is no nation in the world that would permit its civilian population to be subjected to daily rocket barrages—which is an act of war—without responding.  If there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, it has been created by Hamas and aided by an international community that shows no interest in taking steps to stop terrorist targeting of Israeli civilians.