photo by: Creators Syndicate

Keith Raffel

In a surprise attack on Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese planes and submarines attacked American forces on Hawaii, killing about 2,400 persons. The next day, the U.S. declared war on Japan.

In a surprise attack on Oct. 7, 2023, the terrorist group Hamas crossed the border into Israel and killed about 1,200 persons. The next day, Israel declared war on Hamas.

Given the difference in population between 1941 America and 2023 Israel, the Israeli death toll would be equivalent to 17,000 killed at Pearl Harbor.

Japanese aircraft and submarines attacked U.S. naval ships and military bases on Dec. 7, so civilian casualties were less than 5%. In its Oct. 7 attack, Hamas targeted civilians including those at a music festival. Moreover, a United Nations report found Hamas committed “rape and gang rape” including “genital mutilation, sexualized torture” against its victims.

Four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan’s ally Germany declared war on the United States. One day after the Hamas attack on Israel, Hezbollah, like Hamas an Iranian-backed terrorist group, began firing missiles into Israel from its bases in Lebanon.

In April 1943, United States fighter aircraft shot down a plane known to be carrying Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the planner of the Pearl Harbor attack. This Operation Vengeance resulted in his death along with the crew and other passengers. In September 2024, Israeli planes bombed the Hezbollah headquarters in Lebanon resulting in the death of Hassan Nasrallah. It was he who ordered the daily barrage of missiles to be launched from Lebanon into Israel, including the one that killed 12 Israeli Druze children on a soccer field.

The United States signed the Potsdam Declaration in July 1945, which called on “the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces. … The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.”

In a speech in July 2024, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed the Potsdam Declaration in calling for victory over Hamas. He told the U.S. Congress, “Like December 7th, 1941… October 7th is a day that will forever live in infamy.” He continued, “The war in Gaza could end tomorrow if Hamas surrenders, disarms and returns all the hostages. But if they don’t, Israel will fight until we destroy Hamas’ military capabilities and its rule in Gaza and bring all our hostages home.”

It’s difficult to estimate the Japanese World War II casualties caused specifically by the United States as distinguished from those inflicted by allied countries. In any case, overall Japanese military casualties were estimated at 1.7 million while the U.S.’s were 109,000. In perhaps the most destructive bombing raid in history, the March 1945 attack on Tokyo by U.S. bombers is estimated to have killed 100,000 civilians and left over a million homeless. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by American bombers killed at least 150,000 more, mostly civilians. Before all three attacks, the U.S. dropped leaflets warning civilians to leave.

Casualties in the war in Gaza are hard to measure. The Gaza Health Ministry cites a number of over 40,000. Numbers from this source, an arm of Hamas, have been criticized as inflated and may include over half combatants. Like the U.S. in World War II, Israel drops leaflets warning civilians of bombings before attacking.

I am no fan of Netanyahu on account of his embrace of the religious right, the charges of corruption and his attempt to undermine his country’s Supreme Court. Of course, I am also no fan of former and perhaps future President Donald Trump for the exact same reasons. That doesn’t mean, however, that I think either Israel or the U.S. surrenders its right to defend itself against attacks whether on military personnel or civilians.

If the U.S. went to war in 1941 over an attack on Hawaii, then a territory 2,500 miles away from the nearest state, how can Israel be condemned for protecting itself against enemies directly on its border? The Japanese feared American interference in expansion of their empire. The Hamas Covenant calls for the elimination of the state of Israel and for a “holy war” against Jews. Japan never was an existential threat to the United States. Hamas and Hezbollah are such a threat to Israel.

Hamas’ stated aim is to destroy Israel and kill Jews. That goal appears to take priority over saving Palestinian Arab lives. Hezbollah attacks on Israel further the aims of Iran. As with Japan and Germany in World War II, the goal of Israel and the United States must be victory over these dark forces. Without doubt, each death is a tragedy. A thousand deaths are a thousand tragedies. Nevertheless, failure this time will lead only to more attacks and more thousands of deaths in the coming years.

Recently, the American government has shown the strongest signs yet of understanding this viewpoint. President Joe Biden called the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah “a measure of justice for his many victims.” The United States joined with Israel in protecting the country from 200 ballistic missiles launched on Oct. 1 by Iran, the sponsor and financial backer of Hezbollah. State Department spokesperson Matt Miller declared, “This was a brazen, unacceptable attack by Iran, and every nation in the world must join us in condemning it. … We will continue to stand with the people of Israel at this critical moment.”

The attack on Pearl Harbor led first to the defeat of the attackers and ultimately to peace and prosperity. What should be the end goal in the Middle East war today then? Again defeating the attackers and subsequent peace and prosperity.

— Keith Raffel is a syndicated columnist for Creators.