In democratic societies, citizens and the state are tightly bound together in a web of reciprocal obligations. In return for their obedience, the state promises to protect citizens. This solemn bond creates an asymmetry in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Every Israeli civilian killed by Hamas is a propaganda coup and morale booster for Hamas. It also weakens the compact between the citizens and state of Israel on keeping Jews safe in their ancient homeland. But every civilian killed by Israeli strikes is a PR disaster for Israel that strengthens support for Hamas locally, regionally and globally. This is why putting Palestinian civilians in harm’s way is a feature of Hamas’s political and military strategy. Far from being troubled by the heavy loss of Palestinian civilians, Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of 7 October, is delighted with the political progress of the war. The disregard for human life reflects the cold calculation that civilian deaths are ‘necessary sacrifices’ in the bigger picture, a recent Wall Street Journal investigation revealed. ‘We have the Israelis right where we want them,’ Sinwar boasted in a message to Hamas officials. His motto is: ‘We make the headlines only with blood.’

Operation Arnon should help to re-establish trust in Israel’s state-citizen compact. After months of planning to gather and analyse intelligence on precise whereabouts, risks and security parameters, on 8 June Israeli military, police and counterterrorism commandos rescued four hostages from two sites separated by 200 metres in Nuseirat in central Gaza. The audacious extraction in broad daylight was done simultaneously because the proximity of the two locations meant the guards in the second home, alerted by the sounds of gunfire in the first, would kill their hostages. The simultaneity added to the complexity and risks of both and the operation came close to disaster. The rescued hostages were winched up to waiting helicopters above the beach, flown to a hospital in Israel and reunited with their families.

Between 100 and 200 Palestinians, including Hamas fighters who opened fire on the Israelis with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades in the narrow streets filled with civilians as the rescue teams left the buildings, were killed in the intense firefight. Two Israeli extraction vehicles broke down in the exchange and air support had to be called in to provide cover. Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, a 36-year-old father of two, commander of one of the two teams, was killed and the operation was renamed from ‘Seeds of Summer’ to ‘Operation Arnon’ to honour his memory. It will enter Israeli folklore alongside the rescue of 103 hostages in Operation Entebbe in 1976. News of the successful rescue prompted tears of joy and jubilant singing and dancing amidst the national crisis and despondency since October. The hostages have morphed from symbols of the mini-Holocaust to emblems of hope. Noa Argamani in particular was one of the public faces of the 7 October massacre, last seen in a short but powerful videoclip screaming on a Hamas motorcycle speeding back to Gaza. Who dared to hope that she was still alive and might be returned to her cancer-afflicted mother?

Driven by fads du jour, anti-Israeli protestors are not all that sophisticated in their grasp of Middle East politics. On 9 June, Outsiders on Sky News Australia played a clip of a gay man confronting a Queers for Palestine female protester who was unaware that gays risk imprisonment or death in Palestine specifically and in Islamic countries generally. What next – Cows for Hamburgers, Pigs for BLT Sandwiches and Chickens for KFC? She also thought Israel was an Islamic country. Most news outlets too failed to highlight the obvious stark contrast. Young Israelis had put their lives in mortal danger in acts of heroism to bring back kidnapped compatriots. One paid the ultimate price. Hamas terrorists hide in tunnels, kindergartens and residential blocks to transfer the burden of risks to civilians. Some of those holding the rescued hostages were not members of Hamas but civilians. The second home belonged to Abdalah Aljamal who has occasionally contributed to Al Jazeera.

Many media focussed on Israeli ‘overreaction’ because of the ‘disproportionate’ number of Palestinians killed to rescue four Israelis. The Washington Post reported that ‘Israel’s military launched one of the bloodiest raids of the war’ in ‘a brazen operation’ that ‘left unimaginable devastation in its wake’. Some CNN reports talked of ‘hostage release’, not rescue, after a fierce firefight. Of course, if we take the Hamas casualty figures of 274 Palestinians killed at face value, then Hamas could preempt the loss of around 7,000 Palestinian lives in future Israeli rescue raids by releasing all remaining hostages in their captivity. Nor do the critics of Israel acknowledge the reality that Hamas itself wants over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails in return for releasing some of the remaining 120 hostages.

An especially egregious example of journalistic malfeasance was an interview on 9 June by BBC anchor Helena Humphrey who asked, ‘Would there have been a warning to those civilians for them to get out on time?’ IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus gently pointed out that if Israel were ‘to give a warning ahead of a raid to extract or to save hostages’, the terrorists would ‘kill the hostages and that would defeat the purpose’. He posted the exchange on X.

In electing and supporting Hamas, Palestinians chose the path that has led them into the killing fields. Hamas, not Israel, started this war by breaking the ceasefire on 7 October, kidnapping civilians, including women, children and elderly, taking them into Gaza and hiding them amidst civilians in crowded residential neighbourhoods. When Israel special forces came to rescue them, which it has both the right and the duty to do, Hamas fighters responded with heavy fire, including RPGs. How many Palestinian innocents would have died since 7 October if Hamas had not attacked, not taken hostages, released the hostages, laid down arms and surrendered the planners and executioners of the atrocities?

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said, ‘This operation was a success in rescuing and returning four hostages…. We will not give up on a single hostage.’ ‘We are the IDF. We’ve come to take you home,’ spoken in Hebrew, is the stuff of sweet dreams for Israeli hostages. Two Britons and five American hostages remain in Hamas captivity. In light of Israel’s rescue, it’s fair to ask what their governments are doing to secure their release by all means necessary.

Would the Albanese government have acted so to rescue any Australians abducted by Hamas? To ask is to answer.