War is hell, especially for those who bring it on themselves

OPINION:

Civil War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, notorious for his devastating march through Georgia, said war is hell. Yes, and especially for those who bring it on themselves.

At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Vice President Kamala Harris took the time to criticize Israel for its conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip, based on her vast military experience.

After Israel’s airstrike against a school building that was harboring terrorists, the Democratic nominee for president declared that “far too many civilians have been killed yet again.” She did not specify how many civilian deaths would be acceptable.

Ms. Harris also said the Israeli military has “an important responsibility” to avoid killing noncombatants. Perhaps she thinks Israeli soldiers can shoot weapons out of the hands of terrorists, like the Lone Ranger.

Hamas intentionally places its fighters in schools and hospitals, courting civilian deaths for propaganda.

All of the casualty figures from Gaza come from its Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas.

After Israel’s Aug. 10 strike with precision missiles, the Hamas Health Ministry changed the number of civilians killed from 50 to 70 to 80 and finally settled on 93.

What Hamas reported as an earlier Israeli airstrike against the Al-Ahli School turned out to be a missile launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad that had misfired and landed in Gaza.

A war without civilian casualties is impossible, even for those who try hard to avoid them. The United Nations says the average civilian-to-combatant ratio of deaths in all of the wars fought since 1945 is 9-to-1. For Israel’s war in Gaza, it’s 4-to-1.

During World War II, between 350,000 and 635,000 Germans died in Allied strategic bombing. Germany’s cities were reduced to rubble.

The German people brought Hitler to power and were his willing accomplices in a war of subjugation and annihilation. In the end, Germany had to be bombed into submission.

Japanese civilian casualties from U.S. bombing in World War II are estimated as high as 50,000, including the death toll from the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Japan started the war with the enthusiastic support of its populace, which provided the soldiers who spread death and terror throughout Asia. In August 1945, Japan’s war Cabinet was planning to mobilize the entire civilian population to resist an expected invasion, resulting in a “glorious death” for the nation.

That’s what Hamas envisions in Gaza, which is why, while its U.S. cadre demands an immediate cease-fire, it keeps rejecting proposals for a pause in fighting.

Like Germany in 1939 and Japan at Pearl Harbor in 1941, the war in Gaza started with an act of naked aggression, resulting in 1,200 deaths, many in the most savage fashion, including rape and torture, as well as more than 240 hostages taken.

Besides putting Hamas in power, a Dec. 14 poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Research showed that 72% of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank thought the Oct. 7 massacre was “correct.”

Ms. Harris is doing one of her famous high-wire acts.

She needs money from Jewish donors and Jewish votes in swing states. But she also needs the support of Arab Americans in Michigan. The Democratic Party’s oversized left wing is pro-Palestinian and in many cases openly antisemitic, as the demonstrators in Chicago showed.

Ms. Harris generously allowed that Israel could “go after Hamas” — as long as there aren’t “too many” civilian casualties.

The vice president tells those rioting for Hamas, including those attacking police and burning the American flag, that she respects their voices, and that she’s open to discussing an embargo on U.S. arms to Israel.

Should Israel trust the judgment of a woman who says she was the last person in the room when President Biden decided on his disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan — 13 dead at Abbey Gate and at least $7 billion in military equipment left behind — which set the stage for Oct. 7 and the war in Gaza?

Sherman observed: “You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out.”

The Palestinians brought the war into Israel on Oct. 7. Where did they think it would lead, and what right do they have now to complain about the way it’s being fought?

Don’t cry for Gaza, Madam Vice President.

• Don Feder is a columnist with The Washington Times.