Wolf Blitzer tried to shame Israel on Tuesday’s CNN News Central for a strike that took out a top Hamas commander because he was hiding at a refugee camp. Thankfully, retired Major General Dana Pittard would eventually remind him that any civilian casualties that resulted from the strike would be Hamas’s fault.
Before his talk with Pittard, Blitzer discussed the issue in the 1:00 Eastern hour with IDF international spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht. Blitzer asked, “But, even if that Hamas commander was there amidst all those Palestinian refugees who are in that Jabalia refugee camp, Israel still went ahead and dropped a bomb there, attempting to kill this Hamas commander, knowing that a lot of innocent civilians, men, women, and children, presumably would be killed? Is that what I'm hearing?”
Hecht replied, “That's not what you're hearing, Wolf. We, again, were focused on this commander, again, who, you'll get more data who this man was, killed many, many Israelis. We're doing everything we can -- this a very complicated battle space. There could be infrastructure there, there could be tunnels there. We're still looking into it and we'll give you more data as the hour moves ahead.”
Speaking of tunnels and more data, Israel would later declare that there were several terrorists who were killed in the strike and that it destroyed underground infrastructure as well. Palestinians using tunnels under refugee camps would not be new as Al Jazeera previously gleefully reported on how they have “fooled” Israel.
As for Blitzer, he doubled down on his attempt to shame Hecht, “But, you know that there are a lot of refugees, innocent civilians, men, women, children in that camp as well, right?”
In the same way he doesn’t seem to care that he is incentivizing Hamas to hide in refugee camps, Blitzer never cared to ask why people who became refugees in 1948 and their descendants are still in camps
As for Hecht, he responded that, “This is the tragedy of war, Wolf. I mean, we, as you know, we've been saying for days, move south. Civilians are not involved with Hamas. Please move south.”
Later, during the 2:00 Eastern hour, Blitz welcomed Pittard and asked him “what's your take on this Israeli air strike hitting Gaza's largest refugee camp earlier today?”
Pittard observed that Israel is in a difficult position, “I've been in a strike cell making that kind of a call against a high value target in a populated area. You know, Israeli forces are extremely good, but in something like this, sometimes it may call for tactical and operational patience. Once you have a target then you track that target. Now, you track him with your manned and unmanned aerial equipment and all sorts of systems and sensors and maybe that was the only shot they had and had to take it.”
However, that difficult situation exists because Hamas doesn’t care about civilian life, “So, it's a difficult call to do, but I've seen it where once we have that high value target, we're able to track that target to a location away from a populated area because they'll make a mistake at some point, but let's remember, Hamas has put the Palestinian people in jeopardy by having leaders behind innocent civilians.”
If there was ever any doubt why Hamas hides behind civilians, Blitzer’s Tuesday guilt trips should make the reason crystal clear.
Here is are transcripts for the October 31 show:
CNN News Central
10/31/2023
1:31 PM ET
WOLF BLITZER: So can you confirm it was an Israeli attack that destroyed a chunk of that Jabalia refugee camp?
RICHARD HECHT: Yes, I can. We were focused again on a target, a senior -- senior commander, Wolf and we'll be updating you with more data as the hour moves ahead.
BLITZER: But, even if that Hamas commander was there amidst all those Palestinian refugees who are in that Jabalia refugee camp, Israel still went ahead and dropped a bomb there, attempting to kill this Hamas commander, knowing that a lot of innocent civilians, men, women, and children, presumably would be killed? Is that what I'm hearing?
HECHT: That's not what you're hearing, Wolf. We, again, were focused on this commander, again, who, you'll get more data who this man was, killed many, many Israelis. We're doing everything we can -- this a very complicated battle space. There could be infrastructure there, there could be tunnels there. We're still looking into it and we'll give you more data as the hour moves ahead.
BLITZER: But, you know that there are a lot of refugees, innocent civilians, men, women, children in that camp as well, right?
HECHT: This is the tragedy of war, Wolf. I mean, we, as you know, we've been saying for days, move south. Civilians are not involved with Hamas. Please move south.
…
CNN News Central
10/31/2023
2:10 PM ET
BLITZER: Joining us now, retired U.S. Army Major General Dana Pittard. General, thank you so much for joining us. First of all, what's your take on this Israeli air strike hitting Gaza's largest refugee camp earlier today?
DANA PITTARD: Well good evening, Wolf. Very, very difficult and complex. I've been in a strike cell making that kind of a call against a high value target in a populated area. You know, Israeli forces are extremely good, but in something like this, sometimes it may call for tactical and operational patience. Once you have a target then you track that target.
Now, you track him with your manned and unmanned aerial equipment and all sorts of systems and sensors and maybe that was the only shot they had and had to take it. So, it's a difficult call to do, but I've seen it where once we have that high value target, we're able to track that target to a location away from a populated area because they'll make a mistake at some point, but let's remember, Hamas has put the Palestinian people in jeopardy by having leaders behind innocent civilians.
