Haaretz editorial, August 31 (published under the headline: “Israel must not behave like a terrorist organisation”):
Three Palestinian children were killed by Israeli fire in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. The three were cousins from the al-Ghazale family – Yihiye, 12, Mahmoud, 10, and Sara, 10. The Israeli public reacted to these killings, just like it did to the killing of two other children several days earlier, with near complete apathy. It might as well be an act of god, or an acceptable price that balances out the frustration at the continued Qassam rocket attacks.
This indifference is dangerous because it does not encourage greater care in identifying targets. The automatic expressions of sorrow by government officials, and the argument that “the terrorists organizations send children deliberately to places where they become targets,” does not suggest that anyone is attempting to learn the necessary lessons from the mistakes. This is all the more true when the targets are in areas housing civilians, and the risk is known in advance. Israel cannot behave like a terrorist organization that targets civilians, even when the shooting comes in response to an attack. After all, this is the main reason why Israel is encouraging the boycott of Hamas the world over.