Soccer Dad

Fixing the world means killing jews

There's a blogger named Richard Silverstein, a "progressive" who blogs under the name of "Tikkun Olam" or "fixing the world." He's a funny guy. He has plenty of invective for others, but the moment he gets criticized he goes to a newspaper and cries about how he's the subject of so much hate. (He's done this with the NY Times, the Forward and Ha'aretz. The first two published nearly identical articles about him and didn't publish critical letters. The last, gave him op-ed space.)

Anyway, he defends Hamas for shooting rockets at Israel.

For anyone naive enough to ask why Hamas is showering southern Israel with rockets when it's so apparently counter-productive in terms of the impact on their Gaza constituents, you only have to look at the political situation. No one wants anything to do with Hamas–despite the fact that 64% of Israelis appear to be much brighter than their woeful leaders and have embraced direct talks with Hamas– so what better way to tweak the world's nose than by refusing to roll over and play dead as Israel and the U.S. would prefer? With a relatively small number of rockets, Hamas has proven that the road to resolving the conflict goes not just through Ramallah, but through Gaza as well.

OK so if 64% of Israelis are so smart, why doesn't Hamas reach out to them instead of killing them? It's because the negotiations they are advocating are only in the context of getting back Gilad Shalit. Just as Israel (mistakenly) has negotiated to get the remains of soldiers back from Hezbollah (in exchange for freeing terrorists), the Israeli public is saying in polls that they want the government to do the same with Hamas. To read anything more into the poll is dishonest.

I add for the 100th time here that I'm not condoning or defending the rocket attacks which are a clear violation of international law. But with both sides in the wrong on that score it's hard to say which one is worse.

Please spare us your phony disclaimer. You are giving support to Hamas. You are supporting their attacks on Jews. Go find the Hamas charter. Tell me that Hamas isn't operating according to its founding principles.

Why certainly. Killing 70 Palestinians in a day or two with half of them civilians definitely qualified as acting in "self-defense." Saying, as Matan Vilnai did, you will bring a "holocaust" on the Gazans certainly qualifies as self-defense.

The Geneva conventions state explicitly that there is no immunity to civilians when military targets are nearby. The fault for the casualties (to the degree that the reports from Gaza are accurate) lies with Hamas and its terrorists for hiding among civilians. So yes, the death figures may be high, but it is self defense. No matter how you contort the results to your ends.

Abbas was so "understanding" of the Israeli position that he broke off all talks with Olmert. This is a perfect example of knowing next to nothing about your negotiating partner. How well does this bode for the long-term success of Olmert-Abbas talks?

You mean, obviously that Abbas knows nothing about Olmert. Olmert waited too long to launch this counterattack. And Abbas also said that he reserves the right for "armed conflict." Abbas is no more committed to peace than is Hamas.

How does Egypt become a surrogate for Hamas, which it hates? This again points to the utter bankruptcy of U.S. policy. We think Egypt can help us talk our way out of this mess when Hamas' ties to the Muslim Brotherhood make it a natural enemy of the Mubarak regime.

Egypt is wary of Hamas because of its ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. However the recent escalation of Hamas is the direct result of Egyptian complicity. Egypt ought to be working against Hamas, but it doesn't. I hardly agree that Egypt is a surrogate for Hamas, but for much different reasons.

Silverstein's stuff is vile and hateful. But his hate of Israel is only matched by his ignorance. He not only supports evil, he's also a fool.

I'm sorry for linking to him.