Earlier this week, Israel blew up a tunnel built by Islamic terrorists. The explosion resulted in the death of seven of those terrorists. In response, the terrorists claimed that Israel engaged in an act of terrorism. Their response is as telling as it is bizarre.

As reported by Peter Beaumont for the Guardian, “Seven Palestinians, including an Islamic Jihad commander and two members of Hamas, have been killed and nine others reportedly wounded after Israel blew up a tunnel leading into the country from Gaza.”

The tunnel, which “was detected less than two miles from the Israeli village of Kissufim,” was detonated on Israel’s side of the border. But the resultant explosion killed the terrorists who were working in the tunnel along with those who entered the tunnel to rescue their co-workers.

So, a tunnel built by Islamic terrorists for the purpose of terrorism was blown up by Israel, thereby stopping a potential terrorist attack. The tunnel was detonated on Israel’s side of the border. Which means that the workers had encroached on (or, under) Israel’s territory. As noted by Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, the tunnel was a “grave and unacceptable violation of Israeli sovereignty.”

Accordingly, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, “Those who try to harm us, we harm them … Today we detected a tunnel and destroyed it and we will continue to do so.”

Clearly, Israel was acting within its own rights. The terrorists, tragically, got what they deserved.

Since When is Self-Defense Terrorism?

Well, not according to the terrorists. They believe that terrorist acts against Israel are their sacred right. Anyone who tries to thwart their efforts is — dare I say it? — a terrorist. In the words of Daoud Shehab, the spokesman for Islamic Jihad, Israel’s bombing of “a tunnel of the resistance is a terrorist aggression.”

Did you get that? Shehab fully acknowledges that this is a “tunnel of the resistance.” It was built to resist Israel. But the cause of Islamic Jihad is a just cause. Resisting Israel is always the right thing to do. So Israel’s counter-resistance action “is a terrorist aggression.”

Yes, not only is Israel’s action described as “terrorist,” but it is also an “aggression.”

Talk about turning reality upside down. Palestinian terrorists dig a tunnel into Israeli land with a view to kidnap or kill Israelis. Israel responds by blowing up the tunnel. Yet Israel is the aggressor.

This is like an armed home intruder branding the homeowner an aggressor because he safely defended his family. Or like a rapist protesting that the woman he assaulted acted aggressively when she successfully fought back. Or like a murderer calling a policeman violent because the cop shot and wounded the murderer before he could kill others.

In the same way, evil Israel is guilty of a “a terrorist aggression” because it stopped an act of terror before the terrorists were able to carry it out.

The True Terrorist Aggression

Recall that in 2013, a spokesman for Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades tweeted in Arabic that “The will engraved in the hearts and minds of the men of resistance is much more important than the tunnels dug in the mud. The former will create thousands of the latter.”

And recall that it was in 2013 that Israeli soldiers “uncovered a mile-and-a-half-long tunnel running between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and ending near an Israeli kindergarten, underscoring concerns that the Iran-backed terror group is seeking to rebuild its fractured credibility with a spectacular terror attack.”

Yes, the tunnel “contained rails to rapidly transport terrorist squads, as well as lighting. IDF Spokesman Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai told Ynet that ‘it is one of the most advanced terror tunnels to be uncovered in recent years.’”

And to think that it appeared to target an Israeli kindergarten. Who can imagine what these terrorists were planning?

It is this type of madness against which Israel is defending itself. Consequently, to brand Israel’s actions, which are both justifiable and commendable, “a terrorist aggression” is to brand oneself the true terrorist.