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My headline, Is EWTN Pro-Hamas Now, is a legitimate question considering that the article I am referring to is helpful to Hamas and propagates some falsehoods about Israel. I am simply dumbfounded that EWTN appears to be making the case that Israel should not defend herself in a ground offensive against Hamas terrorists in Gaza. EWTN is also not clear about who is actually causing most of these innocent deaths in Gaza. Hamas is.

Here is some background. The hostilities are about Hamas vs Israel, not so much “Palestinian” vs Israel, and the Catholics in Gaza are caught in the middle. Who is the aggressor? Hamas is. Why does Hamas control Gaza? Hamas controls Gaza because the “Palestinians” elected them. Just as we Catholics in America have our identity issues to work out, I think the Catholics in Gaza should start identifying as “Catholic only” instead of “Palestinian.” Since their 2006 election, when “Palestinians” elected Hamas, the term “Palestinian” is synonymous with Hamas.

I admit to bias in favor of Israel, which is a free country, over Hamas, a terrorist group. Certainly, I am biased most of all for the Catholics in Gaza and am appalled by the violent hyperbole of some Israelis, but at the same time, we need to face the truth here of the big picture, that this is a war against Israel begun by Hamas. Israel is defending herself against terrorism. Whatever we may think about Israel, we have to look at the current situation objectively and in light of recent events. Siding with “Palestinians” is exactly the same as siding with Hamas, and siding with Hamas is out of the question.

D. Greenfield:

Hamas is an Islamist movement. It has no problem deliberately starting conflicts that kill hundreds of its own people. Its members won’t enjoy sitting in the dark, but they feel little to no responsibility for the civilian population. The entire policy of the terrorist movements in the West Bank and Gaza has been to start conflicts that impact their own people as a publicity ploy.

Now, have a look at these quotes below from the article at EWTN which rightly notes that Hamas attacked Israel first, but seems to be pushing the frequently used (and, yes, anti-Semitic) argument that Israel defending herself against that aggression is wrong.

Note: Like Father Z, I’m going to post my remarks in red. [Switching to green so that my links may show up better.]

In recent weeks rocket attacks have been launched on Israel by Palestinian militants ["Palestinian militants" should read "Hamas terrorists"] in Gaza, causing retaliatory airstrikes from the Israeli military. However, the Israeli armed forces launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip on Nov. 14. [Israel's offensive is necessary to stop the terrorists from continuing their assault on Israeli civilians. Rock-throwing is not what Israel is dealing with here. Terrorist rockets are.]

Over the weekend, Israeli forces began attacking homes of Palestinian activists in Hamas [these "homes" are terrorist bases (video)], the Islamist group that controls Gaza. [Because "Palestinians" voted them into office.]

At least 24 Gaza civilians have died in just two days as the Palestinian death toll nears 100, including 53 civilians. About 840 Gazans, including 225 children, have been injured. [Horrific, but much of that is due to Hamas rockets with 20% falling short, not the Israeli forces.]

Palestinian rockets have killed three Israeli civilians and dozens have been wounded, the Associated Press reports.

Fr. Hernandez stressed the harsh conditions Palestinian [the word "Palestinian" should not appear here at all] civilians face.

“The situation has not changed, but rather worsened day by day,” he said. “The pressure of continuous bombardment day and night is growing ever more as the conflict lasts.” [This implies that Israel is doing the "continuous bombarbdment." Hamas kills more "Palestinians" than Israel does.]

“The people want nothing more than simply live their lives. We ask all leaders to leave Gaza to live in peace!” [He is blaming Israel, and blaming Israel is the Hamas game.]

He said the Christian Palestinians suffer from the “unjust aggression” but “resign themselves and put their trust in the Divine Providence of God the Father.” [Pray for them.]

In the last sentence of the article, there is this pressure on Israel not to defend herself.

A threatened ground invasion from Israel could postpone relief efforts for several weeks.

Should Israel launch that ground invasion? I think yes. My friend Daniel Greenfield rightly refers to Gaza’s onslaught against Israel as “a modern day version of the London blitz.” Hamas targets civilian areas, whereas Israel targets the terrorists. Those terrorists use civilians as human shields and then blame Israel when civilians are killed.

The video here shows Hamas’ rockets practically raining in from Gaza, deep into Israel, and the Israeli “Iron Dome” knocking them out of the sky. Still, about 10% of them get through. If Israel were America, I should hope that our president would do something about 10% of a rainfall of rockets hitting our cities. It appears to me that Israel has little choice but to do exactly what they are doing.

I do feel solidarity with the Catholics of Gaza, but at the same time, I have to see this situation as it is. That is, the big picture. “Palestinians” elected terrorists to run their country, therefore “Palestinians” are terror-supporting people. Those terrorists are now raining rockets onto Israeli civilians intentionally.Wouldn’t you rather identify as “Catholic” than as “Palestinian” in this situation?

We should pray for Catholics in Gaza, and also pray that Israel will defeat Hamas, for everyone’s sake, including the “Palestinian” Catholics in Gaza.