Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the United States has piqued the interest of the foreign media, breathing new life into coverage of the long-running crisis surrounding the Israeli government’s efforts to legislate a package of judicial reforms.
These reforms and the opposition to them were the subject of a 60 Minutes feature on CBS. During the broadcast, host Lesley Stahl interviewed members of the Brothers and Sisters in Arms organization — IDF reservists who have played a prominent role in the anti-government protests that have taken place over the past several months.
During the course of the interview, air force reserve pilot Shira Eting made a statement that has since gone viral. Let’s explain.
If you want pilots to be able to fly and shoot bombs and missiles into houses, knowing they might be killing children, they must have the strongest confidence in the people making the decisions.
Putting the judicial reform to one side, Eting is raising the moral issues that all IAF pilots face when carrying out an operation — the imperative to avoid the deaths of civilians where at all possible. There are plenty of examples of pilots aborting their missions if civilians, including children, are suddenly in the line of fire.
However, as HonestReporting has documented countless times, the international media holds Israel to double standards and errs on the side of condemning Israel, despite evidence that proves how far Israel goes to prevent civilian deaths.
Israel’s enemies do not distinguish between right and left, Otzma Yehudit and Meretz. Eting’s statement to an international audience can and will be used to smear all Israelis, regardless of their political persuasion.
The Child Killer Blood Libel
It is unfortunate that Eting did not expand on her comments to give them some much-needed context. After all, Israelis are all too familiar with the ethical issues that the IDF is forced to confront on a daily basis.
In an environment where Palestinian terrorists operate from within built-up civilian areas, civilian deaths are a tragic and unavoidable consequence of military operations to defend Israel and its people from terror.
The IDF operates according to a strict code of ethics as well as oversight from the military’s and Israel’s state legal authorities.
Israeli society would find the charge that its soldiers are lacking in morals to the extent that they would deliberately kill children to be incomprehensible.
Sadly, this isn’t the case for a foreign audience and any Israeli interviewed on a US (or other) media outlet needs to be fully aware of just who they are talking to.
As recently as July 2023, a BBC News presenter claimed in an interview with former Israeli PM Naftali Bennett that “The Israeli forces are happy to kill children.”
The blood libel of Israeli child killers is out there and Israelis cannot assume that an American audience such as the viewers of CBS 60 Minutes sees Israel’s fight to defend its people in the same moral terms that Israelis do.
Appallingly, it is sometimes quite the opposite.
Further reading: Unreported: IDF Values Life as Hamas Aims to Maximize Casualties
HonestReporting contacted Shira Eting to get her own clarification on the matter. She told us:
No one is surprised that children in Gaza die in Israeli air force strikes. It happens. No one wants it to happen, but it happens. We’re trying to minimize it, but in reality, non-combatants get hurt. It also happens because many times, the Palestinians use it because they know we will not shoot at children. This complex situation has existed for a very long time, and the IDF is trying to deal with it.
Anti-Israel Activists Seize an Opportunity
For anti-Israel activists, however, there is no nuance. For them, Israelis are child killers with no morals whatsoever. The current dichotomy presented by the international media that has divided Israeli society into opposing camps has created a problem for these anti-Israel activists who wish to smear both the Israeli government and its detractors who equally see themselves as proud Israelis.
Israeli helicopter pilots who shoot missiles into Palestinian homes killing children are acting with “moral values,” and in the name of “democracy,” according to a “60 Minutes” segment on Israel’s anti-Netanyahu protests.
More: https://t.co/o5yAnZ7uIQ pic.twitter.com/3Y8kY4Zmtf
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) September 19, 2023
Eting responded to such charges in an interview with HonestReporting:
Ultimately, pilots who killed children didn’t do it deliberately. They were trying to minimize damage. These are very moral people. These are people who did not intend for this to happen. These are very unfortunate incidents that happened. Those people who, because of their actions, damage was caused, are fighting to protect Israeli democracy. I don’t see any contradiction here. It can happen in any other country in the world.
Domestic Opponents
Eting’s statement was also seized on by some supporters of the Israeli government and judicial reforms, seeking to discredit their opponents for domestic purposes.
Eting should be criticized for what she said in the arena she said it. But Israelis publicly dehumanizing other Israelis to further domestic political goals causes harm to Israel on a much wider scale.
This woman is a liar. The IDF never orders or permits bombing children.
These Israeli anarchists are perpetrating a blood libel against the Israel Air Force, the Israel Defense Forces and against the State of Israel.
This isn't about judicial reform. These people hate Israel. https://t.co/OxQ39ZjXRj— Caroline Glick (@CarolineGlick) September 18, 2023
Eting responded:
I did not justify the killing of children. I did not say that the IDF kills children deliberately. All of this simply wasn’t said. And everyone saying this is using it for their own political needs.
Ultimately, despite her intentions, Eting’s statement will be used to smear the IDF and Israel’s moral values.
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