English-language Al Jazeera is reporting that “a dozen Palestinian civilians have been killed on Monday as Israeli forces pushed deeper into the Gaza Strip” with “the latest total death count in Gaza [standing] at 531 people killed across 10 days, with more than 80 deaths since the ground offensive began last Saturday.”

But the innocents are always slaughtered in any war. 47 million civilians were killed during World War II, if you count an estimated 20 million from war-related disease and famine. It’s horrific, but it’s never stopped combatants on either side of any conflict, going back to the days of Alexander the Great. War is cruel.

Any report about the current Gaza conflict that focuses solely on civilian deaths and agony (as this Al Jazeera one does) is omitting the basic shot, which is that Israel is invading in order to stop rocket attacks launched from within Gaza by Hamas.

Is there any HE reader who would say if he/she was one of Israel’s top leaders, “Well, I guess we have to live with those rocket attacks. Maybe it’s part of our karma or something. Israel, after all, has been fairly brutal in its treatment of Palestinians over the years, so maybe it’s a case of just desserts.” If you were an Israeli citizen, would you be saying “comme ci comme ca” about the rockets? Be honest.