Gaza

[Deckard]

Originally Posted by Sean

First, let me clearly state that I personally feel the breadth of Israel's current military action is over the top and counter-productive. But in a three day span alone before the attack was begun, it was even reported on Al Jazeera that there were 30-some-odd rockets fired randomly into Israel from Gaza. The 6 month truce ended, and the rocket attacks ramped up. I say "ramped up", because they never stopped to begin with.

And of course Hamas blames these rocket attacks on Israel because of the blockades Israel has imposed.

Not to mention the Israeli assassinations which didn't stop during the ceasefire. Also when it comes to selective rewinding, I've yet to see Israel's response as to why the crossing points never fully opened to allow essential supplies freely in and out of Gaza, despite the fact that Hamas kept its side of the bargain in suspending the rocket attacks. But I don't doubt there is an answer somewhere that only begs another question - and following that chain is not the route to peace.

Originally Posted by Sean

So while I definitely don't agree with the scope of Israel's current attacks, I simply can't jump on board with those of you who appear to be placing practically full responsibility on Israel for this conflict.

Just to be clear: killing an innocent Israeli is just as bad as killing an innocent Palestinian. The point is that, by my reckoning, Israel only wields more responsibility by virtue of its astronomically more powerful position - with those advantages should come greater responsibility. It shouldn't bear "practicallly full responsibility" but certainly it should bear more responsibility than the UK or US are ever willing to attribute to it. I think that's where a sizeable chunk of the overseas anger originates.

Originally Posted by Sean

If missiles were constantly dropping randomly in my neighborhood, I'd want to see some action taken to stop it too.

Completely understandable. I don't think anyone here doubts that, and I think we all take it as read that firing rockets into civilian areas is a crime against humanity. The key point though is in your phrase "action taken". Not only is this not the action that will stop it, this is action that will greatly exascerbate it - I think you accept this anyway, but here's the crux - the reason Israel comes in for more criticism in my eyes is because:

(a) I have a hard time believing that Israel is DUMB enough not to see that this is completely counterproductive as far as "action taken" goes, or to recognize the threat posed by 3 quarters of a million young people growing up in Gaza with an inexorable hatred of those who have starved and bombed them. For me, the "self defence" reason goes straight out the window. It's not even credible.

(b) I'm starting to question how realistic (/naive) it is to believe that military action of this order is ever executed by a state as advanced as Israel purely for an emotional reason like vengeance (bearing in mind the absence of "self defence") so I don't think it's unreasonable to start asking what might really lie behind this, even if there are no immediate satisfactory answers - just as the notion of Afghanistan and Iraq as "vengeance" for 9/11 never really sat well with me. It is possible that we don't know the full story behind the actions and timing here.

I think what angers me most is that, with 500 Palestinians killed and another 2,000 wounded (at the time of writing), the news ticker tonight is still reading "Gordon Brown: Gaza has reached its darkest hour..... Obama: Gaza and Israel is a source of deep concern for me..." - like some passive commentary on a fictional soap opera. You can bet they wouldn't be so goddamned "Oh dear what a dreadful shame it all is"-passive if this was happening the other way round. We all know Hamas terrorists get condemned, and rightly so. But I feel like this murderous response by Israel is getting the greenlight from MY country - as it always does - and honestly that makes me livid.

Just what the hell is it with our three nations, the US, UK and Israel? What if we really are the world bullies?