The words we use that stop us from thinking.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/pramila-jayapal-israel-hamas-rocket-attacks

Equality, Fairness, and Justice are ideals built into the American ethos. Sometimes a blind adherence to those ideals, however, makes us say and do stupid things. Here’s an example. Yesterday, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (who used to be my representative when I lived in Seattle), said, in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that “we have to look at the power balance here, or imbalance, as it were, and we have to put more responsibility on Israel in maintaining peace in the region.” She went on to criticize Israel for “the disproportionate loss of lives of Palestinians…”

Is there a “power imbalance” between Israel and Hamas? Yes, Israel is much stronger militarily than Hamas. That’s a good thing. If Hamas were stronger, far more Palestinians as well as Israelis would have died this month. Yes, it’s true that many more Palestinians have been injured or killed in recent days than have Israelis. And it is indeed tragic when non-combatants are injured or killed by military forces. But the "proportionate" loss of life between two parties in conflict is NOT a moral value.

It is estimated that WWII claimed the lives of 5½ million German soldiers, while more than 400,000 American soldiers lost their lives. That’s disproportionate! Yes, and as an American, as a Jew, as the son of a U.S. Air Force officer who served in Europe during the war, and as someone who still hates Nazis, I’m not displeased that those losses were disproportionate and that more Germans carrying out Hitler’s orders died than did American GIs.

One major reason for the “disproportionately” low Israeli casualties vs. Palestinian casualties is the use of Iron Dome defensive missiles by the Israelis. Without those missiles intercepting thousands of Hamas projectiles fired at Israeli population centers, it is likely that the number of Israelis killed and wounded would be considerably higher. But perhaps a higher Israeli casualty rate would be preferred by the congresswoman from Seattle. At least then the loss of life would be more "proportionate."

One more slippery use of language by Rep. Jaypal should be pointed out. She referred to “the bombing of the AP building,” which makes it sound as if the building was targeted by the Israelis BECAUSE it housed AP reporters. But the target, according to Israeli officials, was not AP but rather the set of Hamas offices in the same building. There has never been an AP building in Gaza. Even the Associated Press did not refer to the building which housed its Gaza office as “the AP building”:

“JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli airstrike on Saturday destroyed a high-rise building that housed The Associated Press office in the Gaza Strip…

Twelve AP staffers and freelancers were working and resting in the bureau on Saturday afternoon when the Israeli military telephoned a warning, giving occupants of the building one hour to evacuate. Everyone was able to get out, grabbing a few belongings, before three heavy missiles struck the 12-story building, collapsing it into a giant cloud of dust…

For 15 years, the AP’s top-floor office and roof terrace were a prime location for covering Israel’s conflicts with Gaza’s Hamas rulers….”