So far, around 1,000 Palestinians are dead, the UN estimates 40% of those are women and children; 4,400 have been injured and 90,000 fled their homes... (to where i don't know).
13 Israelis are dead... 3 of them civilians (and some of the other 10 by friendly fire).
And all my government can say is that Israel has a right to defend itself from Hamas rockets.
The ONLY western leader to have openly criticised Israel is Zapatero from Spain; he summed it up by saying that sometimes you even have to tell your friends when they're wrong. So clearly he's a raging anti-semite yeah?
Hamas is a democratically elected entity. Israel has said it's goal is to topple it. Gaza has been blockaded since they were elected; is there any wonder there are tunnels galore used to smuggle not just weapons but daily necessities into Gaza? Given previous examples of Israel's treatment of her neighbours, Hamas would be insane not to want to be armed to the teeth.
No journalists are allowed inside Gaza still. There seems to be much evidence of depleted uranium, cluster bombs and white phosphorous being used against a civilian population.
The UK press is full of articles explaining Israel's behaviour as a reaction to the holocaust, how no other country ever stands up for Israel so it has to do it alone... what a load of fucking horseshit. The rest of the world bends over fucking backwards to keep excusing their despicable behaviour, to ignore their violation of numerous international laws and how fucking long will they hold the holocaust to our heads as a historical gun?
I am embarrassed to be part of a country that does not have the backbone to stand up to these cunts and say "look, enough is fucking enough now... behave."
Is there any wonder that Arabs hate Israel when they continue to act like this? Any wonder that Britain and the USA are lumped into the same boat when we ply them with essentially free weapons and then stand aside and let them slaughter innocent people?
Anti-semite? Fuck off... I don't want to round up and burn jews... I don't want Israel wiped off the face of the map... I just want a bit of perspective and a bit of justice for the Palestinian people who have been horribly wronged for over 60 years now... who got pushed off their land, who got ousted from their homes, who have lived as refugees in and out of their own country and who have been forgotten by a world because it feels guilty for something that had nothing to do with the vast majority of us back in the 1940s.
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Any country throughout history that’s colonised, annexed or invaded another will always maintain its right to defend itself against the people it’s displaced when they fight to get their land back. Support or condemnation by other countries is based on political expediency (and natural allegiances) rather than absolute values. We shouldn’t expect otherwise.
ReplyDeleteFor us the obvious analogy would be Ireland, more recently Northern Ireland. Once you decide to ‘settle’ a country with your own people you’ve sown the seeds for this kind of thing. All you can say in the case of Israel is “Couldn’t anyone have predicted this?” It was, after all, only sixty years ago. You’d have thought the Israelis would have learned the lessons of history. No one ever does though.
Horrific. Most of these folks are just trying to make a life for their families.
ReplyDeleteI am certain that there are people on both sides who believe this is wrong and they do the best they can to care for their fellow man. It has to be frightful working under the sound of gunfire.
That is a very hot spot
Bobby
An ex-girlfriend of my brother used to work for a lobbyist firm in New York City that represented Israel. She could not be convinced that Israel was in any way wrong, and when I pointed out to her that the Palestinians are using tactics they learned from the Israelis in the 40's, she thought I was lying. Apparently, it's not taught in Israeli schools that when Palestinians refused to move from land that the Jews wanted, the Jews reacted by destroying the village and killing its inhabitants.
ReplyDeletetoo sad.. good post.
ReplyDeleteA thought occurred to me...if, in your past reasoning, it is senseless to be proud to be of a certain country (simply by accident of birth), isn't it as equally senseless to be embarrassed to be of a country based on that same accident?
ReplyDeleteYou'll be thinking of that the next time you light up a spliff.
Hmmm, yes, bombing civilian homes and killing families...that will prevent rocket attacks.
ReplyDeleteI blame the Canadians.
ReplyDeleteBut anyway, ballsy post kid. You don't hear that angle very often. At least I don't.
Finally, someone that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteTwo wrongs don't make a right - one of the only wise things my grandmother ever uttered out of her mouth.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that Hamas had sworn to destroy Israel too?
ReplyDeleteMaybe if they stopped indescriminately firing rockets into Israel, then this wouldn't have happened?
They cynically use the Pallestinian people as human shields for their own political points scoring.
If you keep sticking pins in the gorilla-next-door's ass, it's no good wanting sympathy when he turns around and rips your head off!
they did stop firing rockets into Israel until the Israelis broke the ceasefire, assassinated a few people and bulldozed some houses...
ReplyDeletethey don't cynically use palestinians as human shields... have you seen the size of the Gaza strip? do you know how many people live there? it is one of the most densely populated areas of the planet....
if you're relaxed with the slaughter of hundreds of children, then so be it Groover
No I'm not relaxed with it, but nor am I relaxed with the shocking anti-Israeli media bias I see pretty much everywhere.
ReplyDeleteHamas most certainly ARE using the Palestinians as human shields. Why else would you build arms supply tunnels under residential areas and fire rockets from those same residental areas?
Simple answer; they WANT civilian casualties. As many as possible. Perfect anti-Israeli propaganda, broadcast the world over.
I don't agree with the tactics that the Israelis are using, but what other option do they have?
Anti-Israel bias in the media? you're smoking crack... the media wasn't even allowed in Gaza... and all we hear in the media here is 'to stop hamas rockets'... every time we see a report, there's someone in Israel doing 5 minutes on the threat of the rockets... 3 civilians dead... 3...
ReplyDeletethe gaza strip is 23 miles long... 1.5 million people live there, the tunnels serve to bring food and medical supplies in as well as weapons because the place has been blockaded for ages.
anti israeli propoganda? they do a fine job of painting themselves in a shabby light themselves.
the other options they have include disabling illegal settlements, returning to previous borders, sticking to ceasefires, keeping the geneva convention, showing a little sympathy for a people who's land they stole and who they cleansed from what is now Israel...
Yes, anti-Israeli media bias.
ReplyDeleteHave you watched the BBC, ITN and Channel 5 news lately? I've seen more balanced, non-judgemental reporting on Fox News!!!
I must have different TV stations here in 'Dudlay'.
You said it yourself there; "the tunnels serve to bring food and medical supplies in AS WELL AS WEAPONS".
Yes, the Israelis over-react, but what would YOU do in their situation? You have nutters blowing themselves up on your buses and rockets being fired randomly over the border by an organisation that's vowed to destroy you. It takes 2 to tango, you know?
One question; where do you propose the Israelis actually GO? If they stole their land, presumably you want them to hand it back, so where would the population of Israel move to?
What do you think the Arab's answer to that question is?
move back to 67 borders, simply... stop building illegal settlements, comply with UN law, stick to ceasefires...
ReplyDeleteof course they can't hand all the land back
in their situation i might stand back and ask myself why nutters are blowing themselves up on busses etc... not just carry on with policies that have done nothing but inflame the situation.
do we still have paddies trying to blow us up? and why is that? because we went in and blew the fuck out of dublin? because we barricaded the paddies into refugee camps and treated them like the jews were treated in the holocaust?
or because we realised that maybe we were in the wrong?