Through the current almost 3 years conflict, Israel takes various measures to combat the Palestinian terrorism and defend its civilians. Among them are closures, curfews, roadblocks, fencing, offensive operations and targeted killings. The targeted killings are the perhaps the most controversial ones, as they almost always cause death, sometimes not to the selected target, often not to the target alone.

The argument for them is clear – elimination of top terrorists, mounting pressure on the terror organizations and the Palestinian leadership and preventing terror attacks that the target has planned. The opposition argues that killing one terrorist yields 100 others, and inaccuracy and collateral damage turn it into a murderous weapon. For them, the civilian death cause the targeted killings to be morally equal to the suicide attacks. Also, it is easy to show that many targeted killings are followed by suicide attacks, proving it just doesn’t work.

One of the most worldwide-condemned targeted killing was the strike at Saleh Shehada’s house in July 2002. The Israeli Air Force dropped a one-ton bomb on the house, killing 15 people, most of them civilians, including children. If Israel does a single thing that causes as much horror and death of innocent people as the suicide attacks, it is this. Expectedly, the strike was followed by a wave of suicide attacks that were declared as revenge for Shehada’s killing.

From the terror organizations point of view, the revenge was for Shehada, and Shehada alone. Not for the innocent people who were killed with him. However, the repercussions this strike had in the West were obviously because of the significant civilian damage. Most of the critics, after all, did not like Shehada that much, even if opposing his killing. This is an important point regarding the difference between what the West condemns, and what drives the terror attacks.

When assessing the implication of this to the consequences of Israeli actions, we get to the sad conclusion that fighting fair doesn’t pay. Killing Palestinian civilians result in some nu nu nu from the West, while killing terrorists with blood on their hands, who deserve to die, result in a terror wave in our cities.

This does not mean we should avoid the terrorists and start indiscriminate carnage of Palestinian civilians. Too much of this killing will result in justified international boycott of Israel. We fight under the banner of the battle morals. Israel cannot survive having a genocide army, because we are not Nazis. Our targets are terrorists, not civilians.

What it does mean, is that the Palestinians who see the suicide attacks as revenge for their suffering should open their eyes. This is not a revenge for the humiliation and hindrances at the roadblocks. This is not a revenge for one’s innocent cousin who was killed by IDF. This is a revenge for the death of the very people who are responsible to the pitiful situation the Palestinians are in.

Israel should meanwhile keep its struggle against the terrorists, fighting in the cleanest possible way, absorb the terror attacks without becoming monsters, and pray that the Palestinian public will see who they are serving. Targeting terrorists, and only terrorists is the way to keep a place for hope, and preserve our case. But in the short run, this is not the best thing for our interest.