A senior Israeli cabinet minister on Monday rejected international criticism of Israel's open-fire policies along the Gaza border, saying the disproportionate number of Palestinian casualties does not reflect the true story.
Speaking to foreign reporters, Construction and Housing Minister Yoav Gallant – formerly commander of the IDF's Southern Command – accused Gaza's Hamas rulers of cynically exploiting their own repressed population to score points against Israel and urged the world not to "calculate who is right and who is wrong by the numbers of the casualties."
The terrorist group has been organizing weekly riots along the Israeli border since March 30. More than 115 Palestinians have been killed by IDF fire since late March. One day in May saw over 60 casualties, 50 of whom Hamas admitted were its own members.
Israel has come under heavy international criticism for shooting the rioters, despite their attempts to breach the border fence and attack security forces.
"In the Second World War, 7.5 million Germans were killed and only 500,000 British. So who was the aggressor, the Germans or the British?" he asked. "The issue is not the numbers. The issue is who is doing what."
Organizers say the riots, dubbed "marches of return," are designed to advocate for Palestinians refugees' return to properties in what is now Israel. Some two-thirds of Gaza's 2 million people are descendants of Palestinians who either fled or were forced from their homes in the War of Independence in 1948.
Gallant, who also serves on the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet, said Israel's policy has been to aim at demonstrators' legs and try to minimize casualties. He said nonlethal means, such as rubber-coated bullets, have proved ineffective at stopping crowds from trying to break through the border fence.
Despite these claims, hundreds of unarmed people have been wounded by Israeli fire, often times far from the border. Unarmed journalists, paramedics, minors and two women have been among the dead.
Gallant acknowledged that "mistakes" have happened, blaming the uneven terrain and crowded protests. Protesters often set tires on fire to make it difficult for Israeli snipers.
The widespread criticism of Israel, coming from places like the U.N. and European Union, has drawn angry reactions from Israeli leaders and military commanders.
Hamas had called for another round of protests on Tuesday, the 51st anniversary of the 1967 Six-Day War, in which Israel captured Gaza as well as Judea, Samaria, east Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula, but organizers said they had called off the protest and instead were planning a large demonstration for this Friday, the last Friday in this year's holy Ramadan month.
In addition to protests and occasional rocket fire, Israel has been battling a spate of fires caused by kites from Gaza rigged with firebombs or burning rags that have damaged forests and torched agricultural fields. The fires have caused significant destruction, including $1.4 million in agricultural damage.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said some 600 kites have been launched from Gaza, of which a third have reached Israel and started blazes that burned 2,250 acres of farmland. He vowed to stop the phenomenon.
"I don't tend to leave an open account, and we will settle the score with Hamas, with Islamic Jihad and the other terrorists who act against us from Gaza," he said at parliament.
Israel announced Monday that it plans to deduct from tax funds it collects for the Palestinians to compensate the victims of the attacks.
The tax funds are transferred to the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, whose forces were ousted by Hamas in its 2007 takeover of Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office didn't disclose how much would be deducted.
Yair Lapid, head of the opposition Yesh Atid party, said residents of southern Israel were still suffering because the government had no long-term policy about what to do with Gaza besides "waiting for the next round and waiting for the next fire."
Turning to Syria, Gallant told reporters that Syrian President Bashar Assad is a "monster" but not Israel's primary concern.
Gallant said Assad is the region's "greatest murderer" since World War II, and is responsible for killing half a million of his own people. But "this is a worldwide problem and not Israel's problem," Gallant said.
Gallant said Monday Israel would not allow Iran to establish a presence in neighboring Syria but would not dictate who leads the country after the Syrian war, which has already gone on for over seven years, is over.
