CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – There is probably not a cache of weapons in the basement of your church. Missiles are unlikely to be fired from the belltower.
Yet that is a curious feature of mosques in Afghanistan. When we were fighting there, shots would regularly be fired from the turrets of mosques. Back then, we landed on the right policy: Mosques were culturally sensitive sites, they were not targeted for military action. But they ceased to be mosques when they were used as bases of military operation. Then they became military targets and were blown up and destroyed.
In Gaza, Hamas terrorists hope and pray that Israel will blow up a mosque. It would incite riots throughout the muslim world. The facts – like whether militants were using the ground as a military base – will be irrelevant.
This is why the debate over the three hospitals in Gaza is curious. The largest al Shifa was built by Qatar. It has some curious features for a hospital: like a military command and control center in the basement, and a series of underground tunnels that lead to other parts of the city. Joe Biden brainlessly says a hospital should not be a military target. Well, not if it’s ground zero for Hamas military planning. It’s a military base that happens to perform surgery.
Beware of the Qataris. They hope to raise their international profile as a moderate peace partner in the war. They are not. Surely Qatar was fully aware that the hospital they built in Gaza had military features. Qatar is also the host country of the Al Jazeera news network. The broadcasts that are seen in the U.S. are cleaned up for American consumption. Terrorists are referred to as ‘freedom fighters’ in broadcasts for arab audiences. Qatar funds payments to the families of suicide bombers. Some of the terrorists we released from Guantanamo Bay were sent to Qatar, only to have them return to the battlefield.
What we need to remember is that Israel is our only friend in that part of the world. Other nations may try to curry favor, but be assured they’ll betray us with a smile and a kiss.
Chris Conley
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