We know that Israel is lying about the timing and the reason for the Gaza offensive, as this Haaretz article points out. NOTE: The clip that currently plays in that link (3:00AM PST) also shows what appears to be a cluster bomb exploding over Gaza.
Israel has launched a major PR campaign in an attempt to project only one side of the battle. You may think you are getting both sides, but they are choosing the words you hear. This may be due to the particularly vicious and evil tactics they are employing in Gaza.
Whatever the reason, every single US offical is towing the same line, and that is great cause for worry.
First, the number of Israeli citizens killed by rockets fired from the Gaza strip in the last two years is 7 people.
Seven is also the number of people who died in auto accidents within 1 mile of my house last year, and I live in a sleepy town of 6000. I am aware there is a difference in quality and impact, but from a dead-is-dead point of view, I face a greater risk of being killed while driving to work, than Israeli's face from rockets.
In response, Israel is:
- Destroying universities
- Destroying mosques
- Destroying the personal homes of government officials
- Targeting clearly marked emergency vehicles
- Forced over 10,000 to evacuate homes which are being destroyed
- Blocking humanitarian relief
- Firing artillery into dense urban areas
For some reason, our entire political apparatus is buying into the very behavior that makes Israel qualitatively no different than a terrorist state, and supports a government unmatched in stupidity. Israel has promised to stop the rockets attacks, which sort of ensures they will continue. Each rocket is now a victory over Israel in the minds of the Palesinians.
It has also ensured that Israelis will soon be dying in suicide attacks again, and their behavior probably has squashed whatever sympathy they might otherwise have gained throughout the world. If I were an Israeli citizen, I would be outraged knowing what comes next.
Why would we encourage the continuation of violence there? What possibly makes anyone think that this will do some good? Does anyone really think that Israel is going to end up saying, "Man, do we feel stupid. All this time we just needed more bombs."
How stupid do you have to be?
How stupid do you have to be?
How stupid do you have to be?
Now, for the kicker: take a look at this article.
Illegal Jewish settlers are now vandalizing Muslim graveyards by spray painting Stars of David on the headstones, beating Palestinian farmers in their fields, and threatening to shoot Israeli soldiers for trying to force them off the settlements which they are illegally on.
Think about that for a minute. Just let that whole thing seep in. There are 9000 settlers there, or about half the size of the Hamas 'terrorists'.
The Israeli government is not doing right by the Jewish people. They are not doing right by anyone.
The US turned around the Iraq situation not by the surge, but by good, smart counter-insurgency tactics. What was core in those tactics? Dignity, jobs, and heaps of money to the local leaders. That's all they wanted. It was Death to America until we did the smart thing.
The Palestinians are not just going to go away. They can't be wished away, and they can't be ethnically cleansed away. Figure it out, because it pisses off the whole region, and when that happens, America is stuck with the bill.
What on God's green earth will it take for our elected officials to get even one thing right anymore, and when did Harry Reid become a hawk, and why does he use the same exact language as all the other automatons in Washington?