The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, told an audience in New York that he believed the Israel Defense Force went to “extraordinary lengths” to limit civilian casualties in this past summer’s military conflict in Gaza.

The military leader was speaking to the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

In addition to praising the IDF’s efforts to limit civilian casualties, Dempsey also said that the Pentagon sent a team to Israel to see what lessons could be learned from the IDF’s expertise during Operation Protective Edge. This included observing the measures taken by the IDF to prevent civilian casualties and the way in which the Israeli military dealt with the terror tunnels.

The reason this is such extraordinary news is that Israel was criticized harshly and repeatedly for failing to prevent the heavy loss of civilian life during the conflict, which saw more than a thousand Gazans die, including many civilians and children. Various human rights entities accused and continue to accuse Israel of committing war crimes. Even the White House and State Department repeatedly claimed Israel failed to do enough to prevent civilian casualties.

But when asked to address the alleged “callous indifference” by Israel to the extensive damage and civilian deaths, Dempsey told the audience that he though the IDF “did what they could” to avoid civilian casualties.

“I actually do think that Israel went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties,” Dempsey told the group. “In this kind of conflict, where you are held to a standard that your enemy is not held to, you’re going to be criticized for civilian casualties,” he added.

Dempsey said Hamas had turned Gaza into “very nearly a subterranean society” with tunneling throughout the coastal enclave.

“That caused the IDF some significant challenges. But they did some extraordinary things to try and limit civilian casualties,” Dempsey said, which included “making it known that they were going to destroy a particular structure,” Dempsey said.

In addition to dropping warning leaflets, Dempsey said, the IDF developed a technique called “roof-knocking.” This involves dropping a low-yield explosive or non-explosive device on a rooftop. This “knocking” is a warning to residents to leave the building before it is shelled. Of course, even this effort to limit civilian casualties was criticized for not being gentle enough.

Dempsey said civilian casualties during the summer’s conflict were “tragic, but I think the IDF did what they could” to avoid them.

“The IDF is not interested in creating civilian casualties. They’re interested in stopping the shooting of rockets and missiles out of the Gaza Strip and into Israel,” Dempsey said.

The International Criminal Court at The Hague has decided not to investigate the 2010 incident involving clashes between Israeli commandos and IHH terror activists aboard a “humanitarian” flotilla headed for Gaza.

The clashes took place aboard one of six vessels in the flotilla, the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara ship, which was found when searched to be carrying no aid supplies whatsoever.

It did, however, carry armed activists who were itching for a fight and more than prepared to start one. As soon as the Israeli soldiers began to board their vessel to take control and bring the ship to Ashdod port – since the flotilla had ignored Israeli orders to change course and avoid Gaza on its own – the activists attacked the commandos with crowbars, knives, chains and other weapons. Some soldiers were hurled overboard into the sea. Several were tied up.

But the soldiers who were behind and following saw the attack and realized what was happening, and they launched a counter attack. Ultimately, nine of the terror activists died in the clashes, including eight Turkish nationals and one American.

Prosecutors at the ICC found that although there was a “reasonable basis” to believe the Israeli commandos may have committed war crimes during the incident, they did not fall under the jurisdiction of the court.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who at the time was the country’s prime minister, has milked the incident to distance his government — and his country — from  its regional ally, Israel.

Until the 2006 Second Lebanon War, the two nations were close allies, but Erdogan flew into a rage when Israel launched a counter terror operation in summer 2006 against the Hamas terrorist organization, created by the radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group which Erdogan strongly favors.

Since that time, Erdogan has constantly sought excuses to slap at Israel and to dissolve the close economic, military and strategic relations that have been developed between the two countries over the years.

Two Gazans were caught on Saturday morning after infiltrating into Israel.

The IDF caught the two in the Eshkol region. They apparently went through/over/under the security fence.

The two Gazans were not armed, and have been taken in for interrogation.

A rocket from Gaza hit an open area in the Eshkol region on Friday night.

Initially, the IDF claimed the rocket fell short and landed in Gaza, which is why the siren didn’t go off, but the IDF later updated the report, and said the rocket fell in the Eshkol region.

Subsequently, it is not clear why the Red Alert siren didn’t go off.

The rocket remains haven’t yet been found.

The army is also indicating that it is not clear if the Hamas terrorist organization or a different terrorist group launched the rocket, not that this makes much difference, as Hamas is supposedly in charge of Gaza.

Residents in the Eshkol region say it is only a matter of time before the next round of fighting with Hamas.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai has announced she is donating all of the $50,000 she received as the recipient of the World’s Children’s Prize. The money is being donated to help rebuild United Nations Refugee and Works Agency schools damaged during this past summer’s fighting in Gaza.

No mention was made during the ceremony about whether the Gazan schools to be rebuilt with Malala’s money include ones in which Hamas rockets were stored, or whether any special efforts will be made to ensure that Hamas does not use the schools from which to launch rockets at Israel.

Malala is known the world over for her courageous stand in favor of the education of girls even in the dark areas of the world where extremist Islamists have pledged to prevent girls from attending school.

This is what Malala said in Stockholm, upon receiving the World’s Children’s Prize.

I am honored to announce all my World’s Children’s Prize money will go to help students and schools in an especially difficult place – in Gaza.

I am donating these funds to The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, which is performing heroic work to serve children in Gaza, in very difficult circumstances.

The needs are overwhelming – more than half of Gaza’s population is under 18 years of age. They want and deserve quality education, hope and real opportunities to build a future.

This funding will help rebuild the 65 schools damaged during the recent conflict. Innocent Palestinian children have suffered terribly and for too long. We must all work to ensure Palestinian boys and girls, and all children everywhere, receive a quality education in a safe environment. Because without education, there will never be peace. Let us stand together for peace and education because together we are more powerful.

UNRWA was created in 1949 and is devoted exclusively to “assisting and protecting” what it claims are approximately “five million registered Palestine refugees.” These hapless people, of course, are the Arabs and their descendants who were displaced or chose to leave their homes due to the Arab war against the Jewish State when Israel was reborn in 1948.

Despite the billions of dollars which have been poured into this UN agency serving a single ethnic group, the agency’s deficit currently stands at $56 million.