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By RUBEN NAVARRETTE
The world needs to get real and accept that war is incompatible with public relations.
We're told that Israel is losing the critically important communications battle in what many of its citizens see as a necessary war for their nation's survival. Hamas's heinous Oct. 7 attack on Israel left 1,200 people dead and hundreds more injured. More than 200 people were taken hostage. Israel should be given a wide berth as it tries to bring to justice those who planned and carried out these atrocities. Instead, it's had to endure the opposite -- the strictest of scrutiny and presumptuous second-guessing from critics all over the world.
Take a look at a recent NBC News story about the conflict. It began: "Alongside its fight with Hamas, Israel is fighting another battle: to convince the world, and chiefly the United States, that this is a just war."
So Israel now has to persuade the world that acting in its own defense is justified? What a humiliating turn of events. What Israel is being put through now goes well beyond the concept of blaming the victim. This is now a bizarre case of demanding the victims show evidence to prove they're not being too aggressive in trying to avoid being victimized over and over again.
First, Israel was injured by Hamas. Then it had to endure the insult of being judged by the rest of the global community.
Imagine if, a few weeks after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Edward R. Murrow began a broadcast: "Along with its battle against the empire of Japan, the United States finds itself trying to convince the world that its counterattack is fair and just."
How exhausting to have to fight the equivalent of a two-front war. First, you have to defend yourself against further attacks, with weapons and ground forces. And, if that wasn't difficult enough, you also have to show evidence that proves you're acting appropriately.
Meanwhile, who is judging Hamas? We don't hear enough about the terrorist group and the war crimes it committed on Oct. 7. It's not playing by any set of rules.
In the NBC News report, H.A. Hellyer -- a senior associate fellow at the D.C.-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace -- tries to explain why there seem to be two sets of rules for messaging: one for Israel, the other for Hamas.
"We don't take seriously what a terror group says, but we do take seriously what an army says, especially one that's an ally of ours," Hellyer said. "So we naturally hold it to a higher standard."
High standards are one thing. Impossibly high standards are another.
Finally, let's not forget the realities of antisemitism. With so much of the world showing such little regard for Jews, why should anyone trust in the oversight process?
When Israeli troops made their way through al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, they found automatic weapons, grenades, combat gear. Not good enough, the critics said.
Let's be honest. On the issue of whether Hamas is using hospitals to store weapons or possibly even hostages, is there really any amount of evidence that would satisfy its critics? Or would they see any evidence as tainted?
For Israel, the public relations war is a losing proposition. And it's no wonder why. After all, the terms "public relations" and "war" should never even be in the same sentence.