A military source involved in the investigation told Haaretz, "It's clear to us that in a small portion of the combat sectors immeasurable damage was caused, and that is very difficult to justify from a legal perspective, particularly if such justifications are called for in legal proceedings with international organizations."Call me hard-hearted callous evil and mean, but I'm not overly perturbed by this. Lost human lives are lost forever; buildings can be rebuilt. That's what Iranian funds are for, not to mention the PA being one of the top recipients of international aid worldwide. After Israel left Gaza in 2005 the Palestinians held democratic elections and a majority chose Hamas, a stridently antisemitic party that proudly calls for the anihilation of Israel; its men then shot thousands of rockets and mortars at Israeli civilians from among the populace. The citizens of Gaza never voiced any noticeable objections.
Whenever the Palestinians decide they'd like to live normal peaceful lives alongside us, we will reciprocate. If they prefer war, we can supply that, too. Though unlike them, we will try not to kill their civilians, and we'll painstakingly and meticulously publish the results of our post-war investigations. NATO, the British and the Americans don't investigate and publish, nor does anyone expect them to. As for the Russians, the Sri Lankens, the Ugandans, the Thais, the Rwandans, the Congolese, the Sudanians - to give a partial list of countries which killed larger numbers of civilians than the Israelis in 2008 - most people can't even say anything about them at all.
Why do you worry -- Hamas is holding a victory party...in London!!! Nu???
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/02/15/muslim-brotherhood-leaders-hold-hamas-festival-in-london-today/
I think the link got screwed up, here it is again:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/02/15/muslim-brotherhood-leaders-hold-hamas-festival-in-london-today/
This could be both pragmatic (see below), and collective punishment all at once. The case of the Palestinians voting for Hamas seems to be complicated by the fact that Hamas is an intimidating gang, so voicing opposition is not as easy as in western democracy. I am inclined to agree with you Yaacov, that the Gazans deserve a lot of what they have received, but I am far from able to defend this viewpoint.
ReplyDeletefrom another blog I read, called h2oreuse: "As the details of the latest Gaza operation are filtering out to the public, we hear about military bulldozers ordered to raze blocks of buildings - not because they were booby-trapped, but because they were blocking the forces' "line of vision."
Nicely put. One standing on a low hill on the Israel-Gaza border cannot see the Mediterranean because the City of Gaza is blocking the line of his vision. Alo, hayal (soldier), you on that Bulldozer, got it? "
More specifically, I am fully confident in defending Operation Cast Lead, but it is another thing when the opposition conveniently separates the actions of Hamas from the rest of Gaza's population.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, "collective punishment" was not a goal which was acted upon. The destruction of houses is questionable, but there could be legitimate, pragmatic military reasons for it.