Look, I get it. Hamas executing gays is such a downer. And Hamas terrorizing Israeli children is not exactly breaking news. But if you fail to be moved by the Palestinians and the Israelis tortured and killed by this monstrous terrorist organization, maybe you’ll care for the animals?
Earlier this week, an employee of Israel’s National Parks Authority rushed to HaBesor National Park, not far from the border with Gaza, to put out a fire caused by an incendiary airborne device. Hamas has launched many such attacks over the last few months, mostly by launching fiery kites that have consumed 2,260 acres of land, or just about three New York Central Parks. But the latest attack, the employee soon learned, wasn’t caused by a kite: On a nearby tree, the man discovered the remains of a falcon, dispatched by Hamas to serve as an avian suicide bomber. The bird, a common kestrel, was discovered hanging from a tree with a harness attached to a steel wire connected to flammable material.
The Israel Defense Forces’ Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) posted a photo of the bird’s remains to Twitter:
A falcon attached to a rope with flammable material was found today near the Gaza Strip. Arson fires have been caused by incendiary materials flown from Gaza into Israel. Apparently it’s not enough to destroy nature with kites, now falcons are being used for terror as well. pic.twitter.com/j6noxwCwqS
— COGAT (@cogat_israel) July 16, 2018
How to respond to such barbarism? One way is to donate to the Israeli Wildlife Hospital, which works to treat wounded and sick undomesticated animals. Another is to never forget that evil men will stop at nothing to inflict pain on others, and that, for the benefit of all living things, they must be forcibly stopped.
Liel Leibovitz is editor-at-large for Tablet Magazine and a host of its weekly culture podcast Unorthodox and daily Talmud podcast Take One. He is the editor of Zionism: The Tablet Guide.
