ITAI BARDOV

As Israel has gradually resumed control and cleared the border areas flooded with terrorists, the extent of the Hamas massacre has been revealed.

As of today, we have counted more than 1,400 people murdered, among them babies, children, women and elderly people. Entire families were butchered in their homes. Infants were mutilated and children gunned to death with their parents. Approximately 260 young men and women were slaughtered, most of them shot to death, at a music festival. More than 3,500 people were injured, many of them still vacillating between life and death. Over 150 have been abducted to Gaza, their fate unknown. In addition, the enemies of Israel launched thousands of rockets against its civilian population.

The Hamas attack in the south was the premeditated mass murder of innocent civilians. The launching of rockets against the Israel's population is a further attempt to terrorise and kill innocent citizens.

It is time to dispel myths and come to reality.

The first myth is the unholy equation made by many mainstream media outlets, in a futile attempt to preserve a non-existent balance, to deceptively describe the conflict as "violence on both sides."

However, while Israel seeks peace and coexistence, the Palestinian terrorist organisations, including Hamas, choose death and devastation.

While throughout the conflict Israel has made great efforts to minimise harm to civilians, the militant Palestinians aim at innocent civilians as their primary objective. Hamas commits a double war crime - targeting Israeli civilians while using the residents of the Gaza Strip as human shields.

There can be no comparison. There is no equivalence between those attacking innocent civilians and those defending themselves against such attacks.

The second myth is one, repeated by many, that the use of force is ineffective or inherently immoral. This is false. There are times when the use of force is a necessity, an obligation and the only moral course of action. Facing the depth of evil of terrorists like those in Hamas, who set out to murder babies and slaughter innocent people in their beds, it is the obligation of every state or entity to stop them from accomplishing their goals and to prevent such atrocities by any available means.

It is unacceptable that the right to use force in self-defense is questioned in relation to Israel. Like every other state in the world, Israel has the right and the obligation to protect its citizens and to take all necessary measures to defend its people.

It is abhorrent that there are those who question that right. When media personalities and others question Israel's right to self-defense, the people of Israel ask: how many Israelis must be killed in order for that right to be recognised, as it is for any other nation on this planet?

The third myth to be highlighted is one that touches on the essence of the conflict between Israel and the extremist Palestinians. The falsehood that needs to be dispelled is that the conflict is only about tangib