The Hamas attack on Israel was a shocking event, but subsequent revelations have made clear that it transcended terrorism and descended into inhumanity.
Israel has begun its response and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged that “every Hamas member is a dead man.”
Every citizen of the Gaza Strip, from where the attack was launched, will suffer as well. Hamas is counting on that. It hopes that Israel will be so outraged by the barbarism of the assault that its reaction will undermine the sympathy and support it deserves. Israel must defend itself, but it must also refrain from matching Hamas’ inhumanity.