In six months of fighting in Gaza, Israel has produced the lowest civilian to combatant casualty ratio in history.

Nonetheless, the Jewish State has found itself subject to accusations ranging from being overly aggressive to outright genocide — accusations that are flatly contradicted by well established data. To accuse a country that is being so incredibly careful sends a dangerous message to the world: that being careful doesn’t matter, and that terrorism works.

A case-in-point is the recent statement by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) spokesman Tarek Abu Shaluf, who admitted that terror groups (such as PIJ and Hamas) have taken over all of the hospitals in Gaza, and are using the medical facilities to hide military activities and launch attacks.

Shaluf was speaking while under interrogation by Israeli intelligence, a situation that public audiences typically find non-credible. However, in this case, Shaluf’s statement coincides with multiple international intelligence findings, including by the United States and Europe, not to mention a mountain of specific evidence publicly disclosed by Israel.

Nonetheless, Israel has garnered a general and baseless reputation for being overly aggressive and even malicious. Last week, for example, senior Democrat, and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, signed a letter calling on President Biden to withhold arms sales from Israel. This move is especially notable because Pelosi does not represent a niche faction of the party, but is considered to be a senior and mainstream leader within the US political establishment.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board said that Democrats were “play[ing] into Hamas’s hands,” and that, “Cutting off weapons to an ally in wartime would be the definition of betrayal.” There is also opposition to supporting Israel on the political right, though it has yet to reach levels that are quite as senior and mainstream as those represented by last week’s letter.

Internationally, Israel is fighting accusations of genocide in the International Court of Justice at the Hague. Meanwhile, Nicaragua — which for years has been closely tied to both Iran and Hezbollah — brought a similar suit last week against Germany based on the country’s support for Israel. The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, and the United States, in a notable shift of policy, did not exercise its veto power to prevent it.

Notwithstanding the accusations against Israel, which are often dramatic and deeply emotional, the numbers tell a different story.

Currently Hamas claims a total of some 33,000 casualties.  It is well established that Hamas’ casualty figures are wildly inaccurate, including such faults as counting combatants and also counting civilians that Hamas itself has killed.

The IDF states a combatant casualty count of some 14,000, putting the civilian to combatant casualty ratio at slightly over 1:1, even if one accepts Hamas’ figures. This 1:1 ratio is nine times lower than the UN published global average, and 4 to 5 times lower than numbers produced by the US and its allies (such as in Iraq and Afghanistan).

In fact, the figure is lower than any urban warfare scenario that has ever been recorded in history. Even now, conflicts are raging in places like Syria and Yemen with death tolls in the hundreds of thousands, with abysmal civilian to combatant ratios, and yet they are receiving precious little global attention.

On the humanitarian aid front, Israel has facilitated the transport of more than a quarter million tons of food and over three million cubic meters of clean water into Gaza since October 7. Hamas habitually steals this aid to supply its military machine at the expense of Gaza’s civilians, a leading factor behind much of the food insecurity in the region. However, Hamas’ food theft has gone mostly unnoticed by international critics.

The global publicity campaign against Israel is no accident: Hamas has little chance of defeating Israel militarily, and their leadership is well aware of this reality. The terror organization has therefore publicly stated that it intends to use public pressure to stop Israel’s military campaign prematurely, and thus achieve an overall victory even despite losing every physical battle. Such tactics are nothing new, but if recent changes in American policy are any measure, it seems that this time, the tactic may actually stand a chance of working.

Israel has lost more than 600 soldiers since October 7, many of whom fell precisely because of Israel’s historic caution in protecting civilians, and the world is watching.

On the one hand, world leaders see the price Israel is paying to protect civilians and they see that this sacrifice goes unacknowledged. On the other hand, terror groups are also watching: they see that hiding behind civilians works, that placing military bases inside hospitals works, and that a campaign of global defamation works as well. If we publicly malign the very caution we wish to see in the world by Israel, if we permit the very abuse of civilians we wish to prevent, then we build the very kind of future we should rationally wish to avoid.

Daniel Pomerantz is an expert in international law, an adjunct professor at Reichman and Bar Ilan Universities in Israel, and the CEO of RealityCheck, an nonprofit NGO dedicated to clarifying global conversations with verifiable data. Daniel lives in Tel Aviv, Israel and can be found on Instagram at @realitycheckresearch or at www.RealityCheckResearch.org.

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