I recently came out of another heated Israel-Lebanon debate...this one was in
thereisnospoon's diary. i like his writing and am usually in total agreement with anything he says, but we were in serious disagreement on the Middle East.
His diary was basically supporting Israel's actions, saying they had no other choice, and that they were justified in their actions.
There were a lot of supporters who were spouting off lots of rhetoric but were failing to convince me that Israel should get a free pass to commit war crimes because they are victims of terrorist attacks from time to time. I guarantee you ask the the families of the murdered...the thousands of wrongfully imprisoned Palestinians and they will tell you Israel is not the victim.
One theme that kept repeating within the pro-Israel group was the "hiding behind kids" technique of Hizbollah.
This is a popular talking point for the Israeli government to excuse civilian casualties.
This graphic was even used in a comment:
That bastard! The nerve of that hooded heathen! Hiding behind a baby!
Wait a minute!
That baby's got a grenade! Shit!
Babies! What do you have to say for yourselves?
Awwww.
Now look at these babies.
Imagine one of them is yours.
Imagine that baby is exploded on your lap.
There was no terrorist hiding behind your baby.
From Robert Fisk's recent article,
War Crimes?:
They are in the schools, in empty hospitals, in halls and mosques and in the streets. The Shia Muslim refugees of southern Lebanon, driven from their homes by the Israelis, are arriving in Sidon by the thousand, cared for by Sunni Muslims and then sent north to join the 600,000 displaced Lebanese in Beirut. More than 34,000 have passed through here in the past four days alone, a tide of misery and anger. It will take years to heal their wounds, and billions of dollars to repair their damaged property.
And who can blame them for their flight? For the second time in eight days, the Israelis committed a war crime yesterday. They ordered the villagers of Taire, near the border, to leave their homes and then - as their convoy of cars and minibuses obediently trailed northwards - the Israeli air force fired a missile into the rear minibus, killing three refugees and seriously wounding 13 other civilians. The rocket that killed them is believed to have been a Hellfire missile made by Lockheed Martin in Florida.
Nine days ago, the Israeli army ordered the inhabitants of a neighbouring village, Marwaheen, to leave their homes and then fired rockets into one of their evacuation trucks, blasting the women and children inside to their deaths. And this is the same Israeli air force which was praised last week by one of Israel's greatest defenders - Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz - because it "takes extraordinary steps to minimise civilian casualties".
Stop believing the spin people.
Stop drinking the Kool Aid.
Israel is the elephant in the room.
They are our spoiled children, and they are doing bad, bad things.
But they have been for a while.
We just haven't been paying attention.
I will not support them. I will not excuse these crimes.
No matter what bullshit or rhetoric is tossed around, I will not be convinced that Israel is justified in doing the things they have done.
But I'm sure people will keep trying to convince me anyway.
Until then, next time you see a baby, be careful...ya never know what might be lurking behind it...