Israel has a right to exist.
Israel does NOT have a right to continued existence as a hyper-militarized, nuclear-armed state because it has proven time and again that is does not use those weapons responsibly.
Moreover, a generation and more of hypermilitarization has not made Israelis safer but has heightened their internal sense of paranoia, even as it has created an atmosphere of fear of Israeli belligerence in the entire region.
Israel has tried militarization and it has failed repeatedly.
Attempting the same thing -- only moreso -- and expecting a different outcome is irrational.
Time to try something different.
Israel must be disarmed.
J Street’s Jeremy ben Ami is calling for an "independent" Israeli commission to investigate the incident.
A credible, independent commission appointed by the Israeli government should provide the world with a full and complete report into the causes and circumstances surrounding the day’s events and establish responsibility for the violence and bloodshed.
UPDATE/Addendum: Tom J diaried an incident in which an American peace activist lost her left eye after being shot by an IDF tear gas canister. A commenter linked to last year's death-by-tear-gas-canister of Bassem Abu Rahmeh.
Israel authorities were asked to review the death. A year passed before Israeli officials determined that there was no reason to investigate the incident. The conclusion drawn is, in the words of
The family's attorney, Michael Sfard, said the decision shows that internal Israeli probes could not be trusted.
"The military prosecution's decision provides more regrettable proof that the Goldstone Committee had been right to say we cannot rely on Israeli law enforcement and an internationally monitored investigation is necessary," he said. "Someone deciding not to investigate is someone who has something to hide.
end of addendum. back to J Street's call to action:
ben Ami urges that
"It is up to our leaders to turn this crisis into a real push to end the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians now – otherwise events will spin even further out of control. We will have more to say on how in the days ahead."
I disagree.
That ship has left the dock.
It’s time for the international community to coalesce and call Israel to account for its continued disregard of international norms and civilized behavior.
Israel must be disarmed, its nuclear arsenal must be disbanded, it must relinquish all post-1967 land, and it must pay reparations to Gaza, Palestinians, Lebanon, and, to the extent AIPAC-pursued US actions against Iranian assets, such as those put in place by Stuart Levey, US and Israel must pay reparations to Iran.
Nothing less.