Rockets are launched by Palestinian militants into Israel, amid Israeli-Palestinian fighting, in Gaza August 7, 2022. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

Several Palestinian groups and activists took to social media over the weekend to blame Israel for the deaths of several Palestinian children in Gaza, after Israel launched a counter-terrorism operation Friday against Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

After Israel arrested Bassam al-Saadi, the head of PIJ in the West Bank last Monday, the group threatened to fire rockets toward Israeli civilians. Anticipating a major terrorist attack, Israeli officials targeted PIJ leaders and infrastructure in Gaza.

“I can’t process that all these children are dead … And more will keep dying as long as the Zionist state exists,” Nerdeen Kiswani wrote on Instagram stories. “The only way to get justice for these children will be to end israel [sic].”

Kiswani, the founder of an Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)-offshoot called Within Our Lifetime (WOL), has called for violence and the death of Zionists, routinely advocated for Israel’s destruction, and expressed support for terrorists.

Kiswani also shared a Quds News post reporting the death of Khaled Mansour, leader of the PIJ Jerusalem Brigades in Gaza.

“Palestinians constantly face preconditions for support: Are you antisemitic? Are you assadist [sic]? Are you pro-Hamas? Are you gay friendly? Support us as we are, not as you want us to be,” the shared Instagram post read. “Either way, save your interrogations for the oppressor.”

The Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) joined Kiswani in condemning Israel and expressing support for terrorists.

PYM attached an image to the tweet listing the names of the “martyrs,” one of which included Taysir al-Jabari, a top PIJ commander killed by Israel.

“The Israeli government is massacring Palestinian children in Gaza and playing victim,” antisemitic Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour wrote on Facebook. “The Israeli government has the most expensive and state of the art artillery and equipment. They have computerized precision missiles, yet they target apartment buildings with families and areas with civilians.”

This accusation couldn’t be further from the truth. While the deaths are lamentable, video evidence shows that many of the civilian casualties were caused by Palestinian rockets which misfired.

One Palestinian rocket misfire in Jabaliya left at least four children dead.

The weekend-long conflict showed that Israel has learned, adapted, and continues to implement new methods to minimize civilian casualties.

During “Operation Breaking Dawn,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) delayed or aborted strikes on PIJ targets after seeing civilians were nearby. The IDF also continued its roof knocking tactics — light explosions which notify civilians a building is about to be struck, giving them time to evacuate the area.

As the group Aurora Intel noted, photojournalists were able to focus on a target before it was struck after witnessing the roof knocks.

It was later reported that of the 1,100 rockets fired by PIJ, 200 landed in Gaza. Meanwhile, of the nearly 1,000 remaining rockets that made it into Israel, 380 were stopped by the Iron Dome and all other rockets landed either in the ocean or in open spaces.

Kiswani, Sarsour and other Israel-bashers have said nothing about the role PIJ played in creating the conflict with incessant terrorist plots against Israel. Nor have they called for the group, and the larger and deadlier terrorist group Hamas, to move its rocket arsenals and operations centers away from densely populated neighborhoods to minimize the risk to civilians.

Their goal is clear: to destroy and defame Israel at any cost.

The author writes for The Investigative Project on Terrorism, where a version of this article first appeared.