I could hardly believe my ears when I tuned into Radio New
Zealand this morning and heard an Australian academic describing how Hamas and
Hezbollah, the Palestinian terrorist organisations, hide their arms caches,
rocket launchers and anti-aircraft batteries amid the civilian population so
that the Israeli Defence Force has no choice but to risk collateral damage –
that is, deaths and injuries to innocent people – when it retaliates to attacks.
The speaker went on to say that the aim of Hamas and
Hezbollah is to make the Israelis look like bastards and therefore win the campaign
for international sympathy. This seemed extraordinary: an interviewee on Radio New Zealand actually admitting what Israel has been saying for years –
namely, that the Palestinian terrorists deliberately put their own people at
risk.
Oh, but wait; he hadn’t finished. Noelle McCarthy’s guest –
Australian law professor Tim McCormack, whom the RNZ website describes as an
international humanitarian law expert – went on to absolve Hamas and Hezbollah
of any blame. “My response is to say ‘well, what do you expect?’”, McCormack
said of the Palestinian tactics. “In an
asymmetric conflict where one party has overwhelmingly superior firepower,
what’s the other side to do?”
So the end justifies the means, and never mind the innocent
casualties. It seemed an odd position for a supposed humanitarian to be taking.
But at least I was reassured that nothing has changed at RNZ, or its choice of
interview subjects. Earth hasn’t tilted
on its axis after all.
