The last this editor saw on X, the body count of the IDF's hostage rescue mission a couple of weekends ago was 274 innocent Palestinians, with more than 700 injured … the majority of them children, of course. There was a lot of hand-wringing over the "ratio" — so many innocent lives to save just four hostages? Is that ethical?

Comedian Dave Smith breaks it down for people who don't understand.

If you're holding hostages in your town/house you're putting those babies at risk. It's their fault - don't take hostages and hold them. You can't do that and hide behind civilians.

— David Palmer (@GPalmerRI) June 11, 2024

If there was a hostage situation at a school and your local police just blew up the school and killed all of the children and then said “hey, it’s not on me. It’s the guy who took the hostages fault.” Would you accept that?

It’s the exact same logic. https://t.co/BVJISo9a4H

— Dave Smith (@ComicDaveSmith) June 11, 2024

It's really not. This is like the guy who compared the mission to the "trolley problem," with the exception that the Palestinians were voluntarily lying on the train tracks while the hostages were tied down.

This is possibly the worst analogy anyone has ever made.

— Breaking Norfolk (@breakingnorfolk) June 11, 2024

Do...do you know what "logic" means?

— AmishDude (@TheAmishDude) June 12, 2024

The biggest difference between your fantasy and reality is the people killed aren't the hostages, but those who held the hostages then fought to prevent their rescue.

War criminals and enemy combatants died, hostages were rescued, and I'm fine with that.

— Uncultured Purrl (@AmericanPurrl) June 12, 2024

Wow. No. No it’s not. Not even remotely.

— Florida Dad (@FloridadadD) June 11, 2024

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If the school voted for the hostage takers and the students were willingly holding hostages and cheering when corpses are paraded through the halls, then they aren't really innocent are they

— Louis vil LeGun 🍌 (@LouisvilleGun) June 12, 2024

Did the kidnappers kill 1200 people before using the children as human shields?

— Castem Ember (@CasteMember) June 11, 2024

Holy shit, this is the absolute worst analogy ever.

— Rich F (@RichFGeorgia) June 12, 2024

That really doesn't work my man.

— SonofGeo (@sonofgeo) June 12, 2024

I’m not going to try and take either side on this one but for the sake of argument, let’s try to make this analogy work — because in current form it doesn’t.

Are all of the teachers and admin staff plus many of the students themselves also involved in the hostage taking?

— Canada’s Gun Gnome (@GunGnome) June 12, 2024

pic.twitter.com/px09hIHb2e

— A 🌷 (@AThinksAloud) June 12, 2024

Can’t wait to hear your take on the latest ceasefire refusal by Hamas

— Jacques (@glasskann0n) June 12, 2024

So were the teachers holding the hostages and most of those in the building were providing support to the teachers? Trying to get an actual apples to apples comparison.

— Dot (@Dot2TrotBlog) June 12, 2024

As with all the ridiculous analogies used in this situation, I have to ask, why not just discuss the actual case? In the alternative, simply use better analogies. We have endless amounts of wartime history to draw from.

— Lex Jurgen (@Lex_Jurgen) June 12, 2024

You don't blow up the school that's holding the hostages, genius. You go in to rescue the hostages. And if the kidnappers start shooting around the kids instead of evacuating them, then yes, it is their own fault.

— Jeremy E. Neuman (@JerOHMee) June 12, 2024

pic.twitter.com/1g9vpDmdDK

— Steve Dallas (@hodgepodge80s) June 12, 2024

I have no sympathy for those who take hostages, support those who take hostages, and then whine that they got attacked for taking hostages when they knew without a doubt that taking hostages would bring violence towards them.

— Scott Malensek (@author_Malensek) June 12, 2024

Maybe don't take more than 230 people hostage and then spread them around to civilian homes to be kept in captivity.

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