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Misplaced Moral Outrage on Civilian Casualties
Former US President Barack Obama. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
JNS.org – “Israel has taken more steps to avoid harming civilians than any other military in history. … Steps that Israel has taken to prevent casualties [are] historic in comparison to all these other wars.” — John Spencer, chairman of urban warfare studies, West Point, Feb. 17, 2024
“[Immediately after taking office] Obama authorized two Central Intelligence Agency drone strikes in northwest Pakistan, which, combined, killed an estimated one militant and 10 civilians, including between four and five children.” — “Obama’s Embrace of Drone Strikes Will Be a Lasting Legacy,” New York Times, Jan. 12, 2016
In recent years, we have investigated civilian harm from U.S. air strikes … in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, and found that thousands of civilians have been killed or seriously injured … with little accountability.” — Amnesty International at a U.S. Senate Judiciary Council hearing, Feb. 9, 2022
The recent accidental deaths of seven foreign aid workers with World Central Kitchen in the Gaza Strip have sparked an eruption of anti-Israel vitriol that highlights the vicious Judeophobic prejudice that is sweeping much of the globe today. This is something that defies all and any tenets of morality and reason. Indeed, by any conceivable criterion of human decency, there is no conflict in recent history in which the gulf between good and evil, wanton barbarism and humanitarian restraint, has been so clearly delineated as that between the protagonists in the ongoing war in Gaza.
Painstaking Israeli restraint
The tragedy of collateral damage has been a lamentable aspect of warfare ever since nation-states began to displace dynastic monarchies as the dominant structural element in the international system and perhaps even before that.
Rarely if ever has one of the belligerent parties—let alone the victim of a brutal unprovoked attack on its civilians—demonstrated such painstaking care to avoid harm befalling enemy civilians as Israel. This is reflected in the unequivocal declaration of the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Col. Richard Kemp: “I have fought in combat zones around the world including Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Macedonia and Iraq. I was also present throughout the conflict in Gaza in 2014. Based on my experience and on my observations, the Israel Defense Forces … does more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.”
In Gaza, the vulnerability of non-combatants is greatly exacerbated by the malicious actions of their leaders, who cynically exploit them by deliberately placing them in harm’s way and coercively preventing them from seeking safe havens. Thus, as a Wall Street Journal piece underscores, “Israel seeks to minimize civilian casualties, while Hamas seeks to maximize civilian casualties and use them as a propaganda tool.”
Israel setting ‘gold standard’ for avoiding civilian casualties
The chairman of urban warfare studies at West Point, John Spencer, described Israel’s achievements in avoiding collateral damage as “unprecedented,” particularly given the complex combat conditions in Gaza above and below ground. According to Spencer, Israel is setting the “gold standard” for avoiding civilian casualties.
Likewise, Kemp praised the IDF for its record of avoiding civilian casualties during its operations in Gaza and pointed out that the average combatant-to-civilian death ratio in Gaza is about 1:1.5, while according to the United Nations, the average combatant-to-civilian death ratio in urban warfare in general is 1:9—six times higher.
The issue of civilian casualties in Gaza is hugely complicated by Hamas’s heinous practice of exploiting medical facilities as a cover for its terror activities. This includes the copiously documented abuse of ambulances for the transportation of terror-related personnel and materiel.
Israeli moderation is underscored by comparison to non-combatant fatalities in other military encounters involving democracies at war. In World War II, nearly 600,000 European civilians were killed by Allied aerial bombardment of German cities that were reduced to rubble and ashes. Moreover, cities in other countries in Nazi-occupied Europe were bombarded—including their non-combatant civilian residents. One of the most grisly and tragic of these events occurred in Copenhagen in March 1945, when the RAF was sent to bomb the Gestapo headquarters in the city. It inadvertently hit a nearby school, killing 123 Danish civilians, including 87 schoolchildren.
Then there were the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—neither of which was ever designated as a military target—of whom between 100,000 to 200,000 were incinerated and irradiated by the U.S. atomic bombings in early August 1945.
“There is always a cost to defeat an evil.”
Half a century later, after hundreds of thousands were killed by American bombing in the Vietnam War, NATO launched a war against Serbia. The NATO campaign consisted of high altitude—and hence far from accurate—bombing raids that regularly hit civilian targets. These targets included residential neighborhoods, old-age homes, hospitals, open-air markets, columns of fleeing refugees, civilian buses, trains on bridges and even a foreign embassy.
When then-NATO spokesman Jamie Shea was pressed on the issue of the significant numbers of civilian casualties, he responded, “There is always a cost to defeat an evil. It never comes free, unfortunately. But the cost of failure to defeat a great evil is far higher.” This is exactly how Israelis feel about the war against Hamas.
These were not the only post-World War II instances of pervasive human suffering caused by large-scale U.S.-led military operations.
More babies died in Iraq than in Hiroshima
After Saddam Hussein’s 1991 takeover of Kuwait, the United States and its allies imposed sanctions on Iraq and dispatched forces to repel the invasion. Even after Hussein was evicted from Kuwait, sanctions and military operations continued. These measures resulted in tremendous suffering for the civilian population. The scale of it can be gauged by a 1996 60 Minutes interview with the late Madeleine Albright, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and secretary of state under Bill Clinton. Albright was quizzed by the interviewer Leslie Stahl about the ravages the U.S.-led measures wrought on the Iraqi population.
Stahl asked, “We have heard that half a million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?” Albright responded, “I think this is a very hard choice, but the price—we think the price is worth it.”
Of course, it should be underscored that—unlike Israel’s post-Oct. 7 response to a massacre of its citizens on its sovereign territory—at this (pre-9/11) time, neither the U.S. homeland nor any U.S. resident had been harmed by the Iraqi regime.
‘A tremendous human toll … ’
In 2001, in response to the 9/11 attacks in which almost 3,000 people died, a U.S.-led military coalition (in which the U.K. played a prominent role) invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban government and uproot Al-Qaeda. The Oct. 7 massacre was—in proportion to Israel’s population—almost 35 times the toll of the 9/11 atrocity; the equivalent of almost 50,000 U.S. fatalities.
Although reliable figures regarding the toll the war inflicted on the civilian population of Afghanistan and neighboring countries are not easy to obtain, an estimate published by Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs states, “The U.S. post-9/11 wars … have taken a tremendous human toll on those countries.” It presents a 2021 assessment that almost 47,000 Afghani civilians were killed, but adds a proviso that “several times … more have been killed as a reverberating effect of the wars,” including through “water loss, sewage and other infrastructural issues, and war-related disease.”
Thousands of civilians hit ‘with little accountability’
U.S. strikes in which indisputably civilian targets were hit are a matter of record. During the 20-year war in Afghanistan, several weddings, parties and processions were struck by drones—inflicting hundreds of fatalities, including women and children. Such strikes took place not only in Afghanistan but in other countries, including neighboring Pakistan and more distant Iraq, Yemen, Libya and even Somalia.
Summing up the consequences of the U.S. strikes, Amnesty International USA stated: “In recent years, we have investigated civilian harm from U.S. air strikes and U.S.-led Coalition airstrikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Somalia, and found that thousands of civilians have been killed or seriously injured by U.S. air strikes (both using drones and manned aircraft) with little accountability.”
Finally. the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a U.S.-led coalition—launched on the dubious or at least unsubstantiated allegations that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was producing weapons of mass destruction—wrought untold misery on millions of Iraqi civilians and a death toll upwards of 300,000 non-combatants.
Closing caveat
The current vogue of berating Israel is both unfounded and unfair. Lending this abuse support or sympathy will only serve to fan the flames of today’s smoldering embers of hatred that will eventually engulf those who propagate it.
The post Misplaced Moral Outrage on Civilian Casualties first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Military Targets Iran-Backed Houthis, Striking Yemen’s Red Sea Port of Hodeidah
Illustrative: Smoke billows following an Israeli air strike in Sanaa, Yemen, Sept. 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Israel said it struck a military infrastructure site in its latest attack on Yemen’s Houthi terrorists at the Red Sea port of Hodeidah on Tuesday.
The Houthis, Islamist rebels backed by Iran who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have attacked vessels in the Red Sea in what they describe as solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Tuesday’s attack came hours after the Israeli military issued an evacuation order for the port and a few weeks after a major Israeli attack that killed Houthi officials in August.
Al Masirah TV, a station affiliated with the Houthis, said that 12 Israeli strikes targeted the port‘s docks.
Two sources at the port told Reuters the strikes targeted three docks restored after previous Israeli hits. Residents in the area told Reuters the attack lasted about 10 minutes.
“The Houthi terrorist organization will continue to suffer blows and will pay painful prices for any attempt to attack the State of Israel,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X following the attack.
The Houthis have also in the past fired missiles towards Israel, most of which have been intercepted.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Telegram that the group’s air defenses had been able to force Israeli warplanes away but provided no proof.
The Israeli military‘s statement gave no details of the strike beyond saying they hit infrastructure.
“The Hodeidah Port is used by the Houthi terrorist regime for the transfer of weapons supplied by the Iranian regime, in order to execute attacks against the State of Israel and its allies,” it said.
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Israel Launches Major Gaza City Ground Offensive
Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, Sept. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel launched a long-anticipated ground offensive in Gaza City on Tuesday, as the military confirmed it began efforts to “destroy Hamas infrastructure” with a major push in the area after heavy bombing overnight.
An Israel Defense Forces official said ground troops were moving deeper into the enclave’s main city, and that the number of soldiers would rise in coming days to confront up to 3,000 Hamas combatants the IDF believes are still in the city.
“Gaza is burning,” Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on X. “The IDF strikes with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”
In launching the offensive, Israel‘s government defied European leaders threatening sanctions and warnings from even some of Israel‘s own military commanders that it could be a costly operation.
US President Donald Trump sided with Israel, telling reporters at the White House that Hamas would have “hell to pay” if it used hostages as human shields during the assault.
In the latest expression of international alarm, a United Nations Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Israel called the assessment “scandalous” and “fake.”
Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication. However, Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, has in many cases prevented people from leaving, according to the IDF.
Another challenge for Israel is Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
Gaza health officials, who work for Hamas-controlled organizations, reported at least 70 people had been killed on Tuesday, most of them in Gaza City, as airstrikes swept across the city and tanks advanced.
Israel renewed calls on civilians to leave, and columns of Palestinians streamed towards the south and west in donkey carts, rickshaws, heavily laden vehicles, or on foot.
Hours before the escalation, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Jerusalem that, while the United States wished for a diplomatic end to the war, “we have to be prepared for the possibility that’s not going to happen.”
But in Brussels, a spokesperson for the EU executive said it would agree on Wednesday to impose new sanctions on Israel, including suspending certain trade provisions.
Some residents were staying put, too poor to secure a tent and transport or because there was nowhere safe to go.
“It is like escaping from death towards death, so we are not leaving,” said Um Mohammad, a woman living in the suburb of Sabra, under aerial and ground fire for days.
The IDF said it estimated 40 percent of people in Gaza City had left. Hamas said 350,000 had left their homes in the eastern parts of the city, heading to displacement shelters in its central or western areas, while another 175,000 people had fled the city altogether, heading south.
Much of Gaza City was laid to waste in the early weeks of the war in 2023, but around 1 million Palestinians had returned there to homes among the ruins.
Israeli military spokesperson Effie Defrin said the military was adjusting its humanitarian efforts in light of the evacuations and “there will not be a situation of starvation in Gaza.”
Some Israeli military commanders have expressed concern that the Gaza City offensive could endanger remaining hostages held by Hamas or be a “death trap” for troops.
Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, at a meeting Benjamin Netanyahu convened late on Sunday with security chiefs, urged the prime minister to pursue a ceasefire deal, according to three Israeli officials, two of whom were in the meeting and one of whom was briefed on its details.
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists attacked Israel in October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel responded with a campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military capabilities and political rule in neighboring Gaza.
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America Orphaned Charlie Kirk’s Children — We Must Recommit to a Society of Open Debate
Roses and candles are placed next to a picture of Charlie Kirk during a vigil under the line “In Memory of Charlie Kirk, for freedom, patriotism, and justice” in front of the Embassy of the United States after US right-wing activist, commentator, Charlie Kirk, an ally of US President Donald Trump, was shot dead during an event at Utah Valley University, Orem, US, in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
Last week, America orphaned two young children.
Charlie Kirk — a husband, a father, and a son — was murdered for his politics. He leaves behind a three-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son. Before we argue motives or policies, we should sit with this simple fact: in today’s America, toddlers lost their father because of what he believed. What kind of legacy is that for them?
Political violence has scarred this nation before. In the 1960s, John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Robert Kennedy in Los Angeles, and Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis. Those assassinations did more than take lives. They deepened mistrust, fueled cynicism, and plunged a divided country into turmoil.
We appear to be back in that dangerous territory. The attempted assassination of President Trump last summer should have been a moment of unity. Instead, it was quickly absorbed into the partisan crossfire, treated as conspiracy fodder rather than as a flashing red warning.
Now comes the murder of Charlie Kirk. Whatever one thinks of his politics, Kirk embodied a younger generation of conservative voices: brash, combative, sometimes polarizing — but willing to engage with opposing ideas. He didn’t hide from debate. He invited it. That spirit, not the bullet that killed him, should be his legacy.
I’ve seen firsthand how difficult honest engagement has become. I recently completed my first year as CEO of The Algemeiner, a storied Jewish online media outlet. We are broadly center-right, but our mission has always been universalism, which is the translation of the Yiddish word Algemeiner: to provide space for diverse perspectives, including those we disagree with.
In today’s climate, that modest aspiration feels almost radical. Too many Americans don’t just want to win an argument. They want to delegitimize the other side. The result is echo chambers where grievances fester and extremists thrive.
History tells us where that road leads. The political murders of the 1960s did not settle disputes. They destabilized a nation. We should have learned then that violence is not catharsis. It is contagious.
The stakes today are not abstract. They live in the faces of Kirk’s daughter and son — and all of our children. What kind of America will they inherit? One where political disagreements are handled with contempt and violence — or one where adversaries still recognize each other as fellow citizens?
A reset is urgently needed. That doesn’t mean surrendering convictions. It means recovering the courage to listen, to tolerate, and to argue without erasing. Leaders on both sides must resist the urge to score points from tragedy and instead cool the temperature. Media institutions, including my own, must hold space for genuine, even uncomfortable debate. Citizens must step back from the dopamine rush of outrage and recommit to the hard work of coexistence.
Charlie Kirk’s murder is a tragedy. It is also a mirror. It reflects the society we have allowed ourselves to become — and dares us to choose differently. His children will grow up in the country we shape now. Let it be one where their father’s legacy is remembered not only for what he said, but for his willingness to engage across divides.
That is the democratic inheritance worth fighting for — not with bullets, but with words.
David M. Cohen is the Chief Executive Officer of The Algemeiner.