What has triggered global outrage at Israel’s response to 7 October?

By Rolene Marks

I call this war the “great illuminator”. Since the atrocities of the Hamas attack of 7 October, so much of what had been bubbling under the surface has now come out into the light. Many of us have lost lifelong friends who showed their lack of concern or blamed Israel, the antisemitism that many of us warned for years was fostering a climate of hate, has now been exposed to the world. The United Nations and their relevant “human rights” agencies like UNICEF and the UN Human Rights Council have demonstrated their lack or moral clarity. Do not get me started on the Red Cross and organisations that purport to support women and children.

No sooner had the horrific events happen, which the world watched on 7 October because gleeful Hamas broadcast it for all to see, the denials of the atrocities but also the celebrations began. Israel had not yet responded. So deep is the level of hatred for Jews and the Jewish state that the strange phenomenon of schizophrenic response is immediate. I have a theory why many denied the events that they just celebrated and watched like terror-porn quaffing lunatics. If they admit that they support those that carry out mass rape, burning of families alive, wholesale slaughter and torture and kidnapping, then they too, can be considered a monster. There are those who without apology and compunction, are happy to admit they support it because they see these monstrous actions as “resistance” or “justified”. These people walk amongst us.

There is the absolute outrage at Israel’s response. “The civilian casualties” they cry – while ignoring the empirical proof from many sources that proves that this is a war not only prosecuted with as much precision as possible, but the data gathering on casualty numbers has been proven to not make sense. The source of information to media is Hamas and even UNOCHA halved the numbers of women and children killed. The media earnestly gobbles up Hamas casualty figures while ignoring the glaring facts – and numerous military experts who say that at a veritable 1-1 civilian to combatant ratio, this is the war with the lowest casualty rate in the history of warfare.

So what is the real issue?

I believe it is the audacity of Israel daring to defend itself. Israel has a right to self-defence – in fact an OBLIGATION under international law to defend our citizens.

Over 80 years ago, the world closed its gates to the Jews fleeing the genocide in Europe. Today, most of the world breaks its moral compass by giving a tailwind to the terrorists and their various agents that are attempting to stop our inalienable right to defend ourselves. It is our audacity of self-defence that has the world up in arms – and not the atrocities that started this war we did not want.

Many of us are watching events on campuses and in cities around the world in utter disbelief as many young people or “Gen Z”, fed on a steady diet of anti-West propaganda denounce the countries they were born in and shill for Hamas, Hezbollah and other terror organisations. I feel like we are living in a parallel universe when young people take to Tik-Tok, (where I believe brain cells go to die) to extol the virtues of Osama Bin-Laden. I wish I was joking but I am not. You can almost see the Ayatollah Al Khamenei himself taking a break from calling for the annihilation of the Jewish State on X to rub his hands in glee at how well the minions have drunk the Kool-Aid. Gen Z’ers would rather “glamp” on a nearby campus, masked up and demanding humanitarian aid than defend their countries if needed.

A YouGov survey in the showed:

The US did not fare differently. A Pew survey demonstrated:

I watched the exceptional veterans at the 80th D Day Anniversary commemorations earlier this month.  The greatest generation. I marveled at the veterans, the eldest at 107, medals polished, with their dignified comportment. We owe them the gratitude of our freedom and democracy.

I am not shocked at the poll results in the United Kingdom and USA. Many (not all!) Gen Z’ers or the Tik-Tok generation have steadily been radicalized in their schools, universities and through social media. We are watching it in real time. They are taught to feel shame about their countries history and see everything through the prism of colonization, critical race theory and oppressor vs oppressed.

Israeli’s do not fit into any particular box of definitions and this confuses the paradigm. Israelis, no matter their age or background, religious or secular, left or right leaning, are patriotic. We are proud of our flag, we are proud to serve and we are proud of our national identity and history. This is an inconvenient truth for many of our detractors. 

When I watched the D-Day commemorations, I wondered who could be remotely comparable to the brave men who stormed the beaches of Normandy on 6 June 1994, some of whom would liberate the death and concentration camps where our families and ancestors were murdered and imprisoned.

This generation of Israelis are worthy. They are the reservists who did not wait to be called up by the IDF to defend Israel in the wake of the Hamas attack who rushed to their bases or caught planes from the four corners of the world to fight. The fight with honour and with pride. While many of their compatriots around the world are looking for the nearest “safe space” on campus – they are busy fighting a brutal enemy that threatens our western values and liberties.

They are the exceptional courage of the survivors of the horrors and the former hostages who at great pain to their physical and mental health continue to share about their experience and advocate for the 120 hostages that remain in captivity.

They are the exceptional forces that rescued four of our hostages over the past weekend. In a mission that was rehearsed for weeks, with complexities that changed second by second, in a manner where daring and bravery ranks up there with the Entebbe mission. Instead of applauding Israel’s daring and bravery – the global media and many others, gobbled up the Hamas propaganda and castigated Israel for “massacring hundreds of Palestinians”. While Palestinian civilians, caught in the crossfire were killed, the number is yet to be confirmed. Can someone place the world back on its axis? Israel lost one of our finest warriors in the mission – Chief Inspector from the YAMAM, Arnon Zamora, of blessed memory. A lion of Judah.  Like Yoni Netanyahu before him, Arnon will go down in the annals of Jewish history as one of the true kings of the battlefield. The rescue mission was named “Operation Arnon” in his honour.

Israel’s audacity to defend ourselves irks the world – and it is a loud reminder that we are the vanguard in the clash of civilizations and if they do not wake up, they are next. The future, like all the other issues mentioned in the beginning has been illuminated. Perhaps that is why the safest reaction is to criticize?

The lions of Judah neither slumber nor sleep, and the Jewish state, the embodiment of our ancient covenant, will do everything we can to survive. We will continue to fight.  Long may we be audacious.

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