The aphorism “numbers never lie” is accurate when dealing with mathematical equations, sport stats, and other concepts that don’t have mixed opinions or narratives. However, when dealing with the current conflict and Operation Protective Edge, this requires some rethinking.

The current numbers are that the death toll in Gaza crossed 170. Of these deaths a high amount are women and children. When one looks at the death toll in Israel and realizes it’s a miraculous zero, the automatic reaction is to accuse Israel of unfair and disproportional response to Hamas in Gaza. Yet, is it too radical to say Israel’s death toll is currently at zero because of its defense and caring of its civilians?

Thanks to funding from the United States and Israeli high-tech innovation, Israel has developed the Iron Dome. This missile defense system has stopped many rockets from landing in Israel’s urban densely populated areas, such as Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Be’er Sheba. The Iron Dome has been performing at a great rate of 87%. It is important to note that the Iron Dome does not discriminate who to defend and who not to; the defense system defends all Israelis, from Jewish to Christian to Arabs, the purpose of the Iron Dome is to protect the state of Israel, the land of Israel, and all those who inhabit it.

Now, when addressing the number of 170 deaths in Gaza one may ask, why is the death toll so high comparable to Israel? The answer is simple. Israel uses missiles to defend its civilians, while Hamas uses civilians to protect its missiles! That is why the numbers are so different; the two sides have different views on life. Hamas even went the distance to warn Israel that “We love death more than you love life”. This encouragement of Islamic Jihadist and culture of celebrating martyrdom is directly related to the high deaths of Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel does not choose to target civilian locations such as mosques, schools, homes or playgrounds. Nonetheless, Hamas uses these locations as military-terrorist command post to store weapons and launch missiles. It’s important to note that Israel receives an attack from Gaza and then responds by bombing the launch site or command post. Take a look at where Hamas’s missiles are being launched at, solely urban centers. That’s called targeting civilians. On the other hand, Israel although firing missiles in areas that are densely populated, it does so because that is where Hamas is centralized. If Hamas were targeting IDF bases or military checkpoints, maybe we would be talking about this conflict in a different manner but this is not the case.

The IDF is regarded as the most moral army in the world as it notifies its enemy when and where it is going to strike. What other nation would go to this extent? Israel drops leaflets, sends text messages and notifies the people of Gaza to evacuate before an attack. So now you may be asking yourself: if the Palestinians know when Israel is going to retaliate, why is the death toll 170? The answer is once again simple.  Since Hamas, the democratically elected government of Gaza, is able to know when the attack is coming it uses human shields (civilians) in order to escalate deaths in order to paint Israel as the aggressor and the Palestinians as the victim. Anyone in their right mind would be thinking that no government and people would tell or buy into this nonsense; however Hamas and the Palestinian people have installed in their society a concept of martyrdom; so to them they are doing the right thing. The goal of Hamas is to create vicious propaganda that would fuel the media in an anti-Israel attack. Although this idea is atrocious, it’s true.

So next time the media releases numbers of deaths, casualties, rockets, or anything else; remember it’s all about perspective. Numbers never lie but their delivery do confuse.