Weighing in on Gaza attacks, Part VI
And it keeps coming ...
Jimmy Carter (Washington Post): I know from personal involvement that the devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided.
Nicholas Kristof (New York Times): When it is shelled by its neighbor, Israel has to do something. But Israel’s right to do something doesn’t mean it has the right to do anything. Since the shelling from Gaza started in 2001, 20 Israeli civilians have been killed by rockets or mortars, according to a tabulation by Israeli human rights groups. That doesn’t justify an all-out ground invasion that has killed more than 660 people (it’s difficult to know how many are militants and how many are civilians).
Roger Cohen (New York Times): Since 1948 and Israel’s creation, retribution has reigned between the Jewish and Palestinian national movements. I have never previously felt so despondent about Israel, so shamed by its actions, so despairing of any peace that might terminate the dominion of the dead in favor of opportunity for the living.
Daniel Finkelstein (The Times of London): The origin of the state of Israel is not religion or nationalism, it is the experience of oppression and murder, the fear of total annihilation and the bitter conclusion that world opinion could not be relied upon to protect the Jews ... So when Israel is urged to respect world opinion and put its faith in the international community the point is rather being missed. The very idea of Israel is a rejection of this option. Israel only exists because Jews do not feel safe as the wards of world opinion. Zionism, that word that is so abused, so reviled, is founded on a determination that, at the end of the day, somehow the Jews will defend themselves and their fellow Jews from destruction. If world opinion was enough, there would be no Israel.
Yossi Beilin: What can be done now? First of all, a ceasefire. If it proves impossible to agree, then Israel should initiate one unilaterally. After all, we are the elephant and Hamas the fly; we can declare that if, after several days of ceasefire on our part, firing does not stop in Gaza, we'll be free to take renewed action.
Ha'aretz (editorial): As long as the initiative is still being considered, in indirect Israel-Egypt-Hamas talks, it is Israel's right and obligation to ensure the security of its soldiers in the field and its citizens on the home front, who are still under rocket fire. In the immediate future Israel should not be expected to limit its military action as needed -- especially not from the air and in the captured areas on the ground. Wisdom nevertheless dictates against sending in brigades and divisions, including reserves, to occupy more territory.
Ari Shavit (Ha'aretz): The exit ramp proposed by France was initially torpedoed by Tzipi Livni. An exit opportunity following the aerial assault has passed. On the table now is a last chance for an exit before the operation turns into an all-out war against Hamas. If no agreed-on diplomatic formula or suitable political mechanism is in place by this weekend, Israel is liable to find itself in a war it did not desire: a war to topple Hamas.
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(I’ll try again.)
Liberal pundits like Cohen and Kristof are among those criticizing Israel for a ‘disproportionate’ reaction to the thousands of rockets shot by Hamas from Gaza in the direction of Israel’s nearby civilian areas for the purpose of instilling terror and related traumas on the population by both lethal direct hits as well as misses. These journalists are both morally and intellectually confused. What is proportional? They do not say. Should Israel have shot back at random an equivalent number of missiles aimed at Gaza’s civilian populations? And would it, even then, be alright only if the same number of casualties are inflicted (dead and wounded)? Was the American bombing and invasion of Afghanistan in response to 9/11 ‘disproportionate’ because it killed and wounded far more than to the 3,000 murdered Americans that day? Or for that matter was the U.S. destruction of Japan (and Germany) in World War II an over-reaction to the attack on Pearl Harbor? What Cohen and Kristoff and their fellow traveling ilk consistently ignore is that the Jew-hating radical Islamists, including Hamas, are today’s Nazis trying to kill as many Jews as they can, starting with Israel. And like the Germans who brought Hitler to power through a democratic process, Palestinians in Gaza elected Hamas whose agenda was well known. These Palestinians support Hamas in its murderous aspirations and have the same culpability as the German people bore for Nazism. There is no negotiating with Hamas, or any other radical Islamists. The only cure for the radical Islamist disease is the one that cleansed Germany and Japan. And like the Nazis, radical Islam may start with the Jews but does not stop there, as Al Qaeda (and Iran) have made very clear. Israel is defending all of western civilization today,including the delusional Cohens and Kristoffs of the world.
David says much of what I feel. This military operation most likely will not end up stopping the rockets. But then nothing will. We know that the world community is not capable of dealing with the so called radical Muslims. They will continue to wage war as long as there is one alive. Look what they did in India. Look at what is goiong o n in Africa and in Indonesia.. What does the UN do? Is Pakistan going to rid itself of the terrorists. I doubt it. They offer safe haven for l them hoping that their country will be safe from their onslught. Death and destruction is their modus operendi and that has to bae the way others retalliate. They are not capable of living in peace with people who differ from them. It is sad but evil cannot be approaced with h umanity. because it is taken as a sign of weakness and fear. If you retalliate then they will try to avenge the retalliation. It is a lose lose situation because of the kind of mentality you are engaging.. I think a heavy hand is needed to perhaps make them think about the consequences of their destructive behavior.
zzzzzzphyllis
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david schimel
01/08/09 10:06 PM
How come my comment was not posted?