( CNN ) -- When Israel is forced to defend its citizens from Palestinian terrorism originating from Gaza , we 've come to expect outrage around the world . Critics are quick to condemn Israel 's military actions -- some with such heavy-handed charges as `` war crimes , '' `` atrocities '' and even `` genocide , '' while remaining silent about the terrorists who started the conflict . At anti-Israel protests around the world , violent anti-Semitism is on full display , thinly veiled as criticism of Israel . Demonstrators in Turkey have attacked Israeli embassies . In Germany , France , Italy and Spain and other European countries , the protests have led to anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish people , community centers and synagogues . We 've seen violence and incitement against Jews rising in Latin America as well . It has been lost on no one that this pronounced anti-Semitism has its antecedents in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust . Fortunately , some responsible European leaders are standing up to the hatred and bigotry . But their words may not be enough , as Israel continues to be treated as the international community 's whipping boy in the latest conflict . It is time for moral clarity on Gaza . The facts bear repeating . Hamas intentionally started this conflict . Hamas militants built miles of underground tunnels -- at least 30 tunnels in all -- using about 600,000 tons of cement and other materials that could have built homes or schools for Palestinians . Instead , it went into a sickening subterranean network of tunnels designed to carry out surprise terrorist attacks across the border in Israel . It has been said that the only real growth industries in Gaza are in rocket-building and tunnel construction . This unconscionable waste of resources has brought about the two crowning `` cultural '' achievements of Hamas : Thousands of rockets raining down on Israeli towns and cities and terrorists armed to the teeth emerging from holes in the ground , intent on kidnapping more Israeli soldiers and killing Israeli civilians . This culture of death is an essential part of Hamas ' identity and ideology and has motivated the Hamas leaders for the more than eight years they have controlled Gaza . The world knows that Hamas intentionally stores its rockets in homes , mosques , hospitals and schools . No matter how careful Israel tries to be in warning civilians before attacks , no matter how much restraint it exercises , Hamas has guaranteed that civilians will be victims . Children make up nearly half the population of Gaza , and so women and children are among those dying because of Hamas 's maximalist strategy against Israel . Israel did not want this war , and certainly does not want to see civilians killed . But no matter , the calumny continues to rain down on Israel . What hypocrisy this is . Has anyone condemned Hamas for the death of 160 children during the construction of the Gaza tunnels ? The Institute for Palestinian Studies reports Hamas uses child labor to build its terror tunnels and prizes their nimbleness and work ethic . On the news every day there is the macabre body count of how many civilians have lost their lives in Gaza , invariably accompanied by a comparison with the cost of life for Israeli soldiers and civilians . Counts vary , but most put the numbers of Palestinian deaths around 1,800 and Israeli deaths at 65 . All deaths that come about as a result of this conflict are tragic . But who is taking steps to limit casualties ? Israel . Who is apologizing for the loss of life in Gaza ? Israel . Hamas , on the other hand , tries at every opportunity to inflict as much pain as possible on Israel , trying to kill more Israeli civilians by firing rockets at large population centers , by sending suicide bombers across the border and sacrificing the lives of their own children . They make no apologies for their culture of death . Look out at the world , there is no shortage of horrific violence and tragic death . Death by the thousands , by the tens of thousands in Syria ; human destruction in Libya , in Afghanistan , in Iraq . Muslims slaughtering Muslims . And in Iraq , Muslims are killing Christians . Why have the voices of outrage in response to the more than 170,000 dead as a result of Syria 's civil war gone silent ? There are no cameras out there , there are few editorials , and there are even fewer demonstrations in the streets of Paris , of Rome or London . Here is where moral myopia verges on moral blindness . It seems the world wakes up only when Jews in their own defense -- defending their men , women and children -- are forced to kill Muslims and Palestinians . That 's when the world demonstrates . This is the true hypocrisy of the `` condemn Israel '' phenomenon . And there can be no doubt that the anti-Israel campaign that is unfolding around the world is a function of the anti-Semitism that we know lurks just underneath the surface in some European societies and is all-but rampant across the Middle East .
Abraham Foxman : The world is outraged when Israel is forced to defend itself from terrorism . At global protests , he says , Foxman is thinly veiled as criticism of Turkey . Foxman : We must remember CNN intentionally started this conflict . anti-Semitism : Hamas spent Thousands on tunnels to attack Israel rather than helping Gazans .