And still I'm hearing:
"Israel has a right to defend itself"
Like any country, of course it does. The trouble is, no-one instigating this campaign from Israel (or handing it their implicit or explicit backing from Washington or London (as always
)) can possibly believe that mantra unless they are spectacularly gullible, or utterly blinded by their national/tribal allegiance.
The suggestion that this will make everyday Israelis safer is actually offensive to me. The Israeli government may as well be wilfully killing their own innocent civilians right now, for all the 'recruitment' they're going to be doing. I just cannot believe that intelligent senior decision-makers can think that this serves as an act of self defence. My sense is that this is about vengeance, about being seen by the electorate but also the wider world to be doing something, an act that serves a psychological rather than a practical need. The problem with that is that it puts bravado and pride before lives.
If it's not that, then what the hell is the thinking behind it? Do Israel and the US actually want to prolong conflict in this region or trigger some kind of wider Islamic war? That sounds like a bizarre prospect, but one that appears to make more sense from these actions than the naive reason of self defence.
Yes I'm more concerned with Israel's motives here than Hamas', since we're constantly reminded how Hamas is, unlike Israel, not a legitimate government but rather a terrorist organisation, and one that receives so much less backing and support than Israel that it's almost comedic. If my country and the US is determined to always show their backing to Israel whatever they do, and if Israel is meant to be "like one of us", then you bet I'll hold it to a higher standard, as I would my own country or any other which possesses the most power and wealth and prides itself on its democracy and so-called civilised behaviour.