We need to see the awful face of war

This is not a call for war, or a call for gore, it is a call for transparency, so we can see what we are up against. And by “we,” I mean civilized citizens of democracies.

There is an adage in story-telling: Don’t tell me — show me.

I want to see the atrocities committed by the terror group Hamas. And others, too. 

I don’t want second-hand accounts. I want to see for myself.

Not out of any prurient interest, or to magnify a thirst for revenge. The sickening gore should be shown to prove that it did happen, and to reveal the nature of the enemy.

At the end of World War II, as the Allies liberated Nazi concentration camps, Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower requested war correspondents make a film and photographic record of what the shocked G.I.s had found. 

Why?

Eisenhower foresaw a day when the horrors of the Holocaust might be denied. He was right, because that has happened. There are Holocaust deniers even with the evidence, even though the films of piles of bodies and emaciated, stick-thin inmates have been viewed world-wide. Imagine how many deniers there might be without the evidence.

Nazis tried to hide the evidence of their crimes. Hamas terrorists recorded theirs on GoPro video cameras, and on the cell phones and Facebook accounts of their victims. Sick, and evil beyond belief.

The world has been shielded from those images, blindfolded, surprisingly and foolishly,  by the IDF — Israel Defense Forces.

The IDF has drawn the curtain, probably out of respect for the grieving families. I understand the humane instinct, but it is costing Israel in the Court of Public Opinion — a kangaroo court that starts out being stacked against it.

Last week, a group of international journalists were assembled in Tel Aviv to view a 43-minute video compilation of Hamas attacks on civilians.

A senior Israeli officer told the group: “You won’t see rape, there’s no rape in this video… We won’t show you beheaded babies,” saying such images existed but would not be shown.

That is a terrible mistake.

Like the concentration camps images, these atrocities should be shared. 

Rape victims’ faces can be blurred, as was done in one widely aired video showing a half-naked woman in the back of a pickup truck in Gaza being hit and jeered by mobs. (She was later identified, and listed as dead.) There was an unsubstantiated report of “40 beheaded babies,” which I commented upon, expressing disbelief. If there are such babies, IDF should either show them or shut up about them because it will not be believed. 

The world is not inclined to take Israel’s word.

The IDF video, according to ABC News, was cobbled together from Hamas helmet cams, mobile phone video, surveillance video, dashboard camera video and victims’ livestreams.

The journalists were relieved of their cameras and cell phones, and were told they could describe what they saw, but could not use any images.

Out of deference to the victims, the IDF sanitized the video, but it was still repulsive enough to sicken some of the journalists.

That’s not enough. I want everyone sickened.

As a former TV critic, I know why broadcast networks — and even cable, which are not regulated by the government — shy away from showing images that will horrify their audience. They are afraid of the blowback. In the service of transparency, they shouldn’t be. Sometimes the truth is horrible. 

TV has an oft-used phrase when leading into a story containing some gore: “Some of the images may be disturbing.”

But they are not disturbing, because they either edit out the “worst” images, or they blur the parts that are disturbing.

The withholding of the Hamas atrocities creates an imbalance of imagery. The world is able to view Israel’s daily bombardment of Gaza, as dead or injured civilians are pulled from rubble.

 Although Israeli policy is to strike military targets, Hamas insinuates itself into civilian areas, resulting in unavoidable images of dead civilians with no counter balancing images of Israeli citizens deliberately beheaded and  hacked to death. 

I would post the evil imagines I am talking about here, except the “worst” ones I can find are not posted by what I consider to be credible sources.

There is no question in my mind that soldiers and civilians were beheaded. There is one video of a terrorist trying to hack off an Israeli’s head with a hoe. It can’t be determined if the civilian was dead.

There are creditable reports of rape, and “torture,” without specificity,  women’s breasts being cut off, eyes gouged out, dismembered bodies, people being burned to a crisp, even a report of a baby being baked to death in an oven in front of its mother, who was later killed.

If all this were shown, would it affect public opinion?

I hope so.

Is my intent to turn people against the Palestinians?

No, only those Palestinians who are in Hamas. 

Under the same policy, I would show the bowling center victims of the Maine shooter — and every mass shooting site.

Polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of expanded gun control, such as universal background checks, raising the legal age to 21, mental health checks, and a 30-day waiting period before purchase.

But people don’t make a lot of noise when gun legislation comes before Congress. 

Had they seen the carnage, things they could never unsee, they might have been screaming at the top of their lungs.

And that’s a good thing.

Transparency is always welcome.