Saturday, January 3, 2009

Israel and Gaza

I've tried to stay on the sidelines on this one.  I'm not a big fan of Israel.    It always seems to me that their military responses end up killing ten to a hundred times the number that the insurgents do.  Israel is reporting 4 dead from rocket attacks.  So far, they've killed over 400 with their bombing.  Seems like a fair exchange.  Not.

Bush and the US have been fairly non-committal during this whole escapade.  Now we've gone so far as to block the UN Security Council statement calling for a cease-fire.  Their excuse?  Hamas won't adhere to the resolution so it would make the Council look bad.  Does that seem backwards to anyone else?

Seems to me calling for a cease-fire is the responsible thing to do.  If Hamas doesn't abide by the cease-fire, it only strengthens the perception that they're terrorists.  I suspect the real reason that the US didn't want to see this statement become official is because they're afraid that Israel won't abide by it, thus making our putative ally look like the bully.   Which one could argue they are.

6 comments:

Sidhe said...

I've been wondering about US involvement in this issue since I was about 14 years old. Since that time, I've asked a ton of questions and even visited Israel and Palestine and still don't have an explanation that makes any logical sense to me. In fact, I bet if you presented the entire history and just changed the names of the countries involved a lot of other people would also wonder why the US continues to support one at the expense of the other...

I think you picked a hot-button here and it will be interesting to see how things unfold (both in Israel and in your blog).

skyewriter said...

I feel like you do, trueblue.
I have been trying not to blog about it, but I am composing one as I take a break to read others' thoughts.

It's a sad thing.

PS and completely not related: I actually got a real word from my verification: gazed.
Wow.

Chris said...

I agree also...I've even had a hard time watching any news about it, especially this time....I hope there will be a cease-fire, but I'm losing faith in the peace process with these people...the extremists are in charge now, and I don't know if the younger generation even knows what the fight is anymore. It's like gangs...just about retaliation at this point....

Anonymous said...

I'm trying to stay away from blogging about this, but I am more than willing to make a comment about how horrible this situation is... and the sides are very much polarized. Sickening.

Btw, I love how we're down to 14 days on the countdown clock till Bush is out. Yay!!

Arizona Ranger said...

Are you serious? Are you aware that Hamas is responsible for the deaths of nearly 500 innocent Israelis since 2001 by way of suicide attacks, shootings, anonymous bombings and kidnappings that resulted in homicides? And in the course of 500 people dying, another 4,000 have been wounded.

If someone breaks into your house and points a knife at you, are you really going to grab another knife from your kitchen to make sure it's a fair fight? I'm not. I'm gonna pull out a shotgun and defend myself. That guy has no right to be in my home, has no right to my belongings, and certainly no right to threaten or harm me and my family.

Same principal here. Hamas is famous for using these cease-fires to restock and regroup so that they can resume firing as soon as the cease-fire is over. As Golda Meir once said, "there will be peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate the Jews."

Stacy Hackenberg said...

I am not absolving Hamas of all responsibility. However, Israel has killed and wounded an equivalent number of Palestinians over the course of just a few weeks. It took Hamas 8 years to kill 500. It took Israel 8 days. There is a basic non equivalency there. It's always the same with Israel. Palestinians throw rocks; Israel shoots back with Uzis.

I don't think your analogy really works. It's more like I picked up a grenade launcher to defend myself against your hypothetical intruder. Yes, I'll kill him. I might just take out every one around me at the same time.