Evil is evil no matter how it is dressed up
The Israeli actions against the Lebanese civilians of a Beirut neighborhood is pure evil
The decision by the Israeli authorities to obliterate Beirut’s largely Shiite Southern neighborhood is an evil act, even if presented in a civilized way. The Israelis sent warnings to the Lebanese residents of a crowded Beirut neighborhood, giving them a heads-up before their homes would be bombed. Panic ensued. People left their homes in cars, on motorcycles, and walking to avoid the unjustified, death-causing attack of the Israelis.
As of March 12, 2026, at least 634 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 91 children and numerous women and paramedics, due to ongoing Israeli attacks. The strikes have also caused massive displacement, with approximately 800,000 to 816,000 people fleeing their homes.
There was nothing civilized in the Israeli warning. It reminds one of a famous saying by a British man entrusted to carry out the capital punishment by hanging. Speaking softly and gently, he tells the person about to be hanged: “Sir, would you kindly raise your chin a little so I can slip in the hanging rope!!”
What security cause does bombing homes of innocent civilians serve? If Israel has a problem with Hezbollah, why take revenge on an entire population that happens to follow the same faith as that of the fighters, or even if they support or sympathize with them? Does this justify carpet bombing their homes and neighborhood??
In Gaza, Israel also bombed schools, houses of worship, hospitals, universities, bakeries, and high-rise apartment and office buildings. In many cases, this cruel act was done after applying the so-called double-tap attack. A small rocket hits the roof of the building to inform its occupants to leave because soon after, the structure will be turned into ruins. Why this evil act against homes or institutions? Revenge? Deterrence?
The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, considered the fact that Israel sends leaflets and warns the population a sign that the Israeli army is more humane than most armies, including that of his own country, the United States. In his mind, blowing up apartments, destroying churches and hospitals are ok so as the people are given a chance to run for their lives, escaping this evil brutality. Again, no security justification. In some videos of soldiers carrying out this evil act, joy and celebration are shown as homes, buildings, houses of worship, and other structures are demolished. Those structures have no strategic purpose; there is no tunnel of combatants below it. This evil act is done just for revenge.
In Palestine/Israel, collective punishment is part and parcel of the sick and evil Israeli policy. As in so many such cruel decisions, Israel uses laws and regulations to justify such acts. The 1945 British Emergency Regulations allowed demolishing homes of so-called terrorists as a way to deter their sons from carrying out attacks on Israelis. It hasn’t worked, and the concept of collective punishment is a war crime.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) explicitly prohibits collective penalties, intimidation, terrorism, and pillage against protected persons (civilians) and their property. It mandates that no person can be punished for an offense they did not personally commit, outlawing reprisals against civilians in occupied territories.
The cruelty of this act has been manifested in so many ways. In Jerusalem, Israel, building permits in Jerusalem Israel takes this collective punishment to even more cruel levels. In occupied East Jerusalem, the issuance of building permits is heavily skewed, with only about 7% to 16.5% of permits issued to Palestinians, who make up roughly 40% of the population. Between 2014 and 2018, only 878 of 11,603 permits were for Palestinian areas. Conversely, over 80% of permits go to Jewish, illegally built Israeli settlements. As a result, some Palestinians are forced to build an extra room or a second floor after failing to get a permit. The Israeli reaction is not to demolish what they consider an illegal building, but it imposes such a high cost of this demolition, forcing families to the cruel act of having to demolish their own homes.
The action of the Israelis reflects attitudes of a foreign occupier whose subjects are not granted political rights and therefore can’t remove the politicians ordering the demolition of houses that are built because of the huge imbalance in issuing building permits for Palestinians.
In Lebanon, the Israeli cruelty is much more visible. Ever since the ceasefire and orders to evacuate, not one day has passed without Israel violating the ceasefire, killing and assassinating Lebanese, and keeping five permanent locations in south Lebanon in defiance of the world community and its so-called binding Security Council resolutions.
The sovereignty of Lebanon, a founding member of the United Nations, is totally violated again by a foreign military power that has yet to be held accountable for its war crime of collective punishment and its violation of a signed ceasefire agreement. On 27 November 2024, a ceasefire agreement was signed by Israel, Lebanon, and five mediating countries, including the United States. The Lebanese government acted to remove political cover for the Hezbollah movement and began action to disarm the militant group, only to be ‘awarded’ by this cruel Israeli violation of their country’s sovereignty and its capital.
Wars historically are time-bound; they end sooner or later. People return to their destroyed homes and memories and begin the hard task of rebuilding their homes and lives. What is not rebuilt, though, is the anger and hatred that children and adults will feel for the rest of their lives. The cruel action of wanton destruction of innocent protected civilians violates international law are not ok regardless of whether the residents are given a warning or not. Evil is evil, no matter how much countries try to justify and defend such evil.