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October 12, 2009
No sympathy for goldstone - in sderot
In Moshav Yated Journal, Isabel Kershner of the New York Times reports:
According to the Israeli military, some 3,300 rockets and mortar shells were launched from Gaza at southern Israel in 2008, compared with fewer than 300 since the end of the war.
So then you wouldn't be surprised to learn:
"People scoffed" at the Goldstone report, said Sasson Sara, the owner of a newspaper store in Sderot, the border town hit by thousands of rockets. "What does he understand? He sits in an air-conditioned room and he writes."Yafa Malka, a glamorously made-up Sderot hairdresser, said she felt "pain and humiliation" when she heard about the report.
"I am very sorry for all those who were killed in Gaza," Ms. Malka said, "but I expect my country to defend me no matter how."
Imagine that, the UN (Human Rights Council) considers it scandalous (not to mention illegal) for Israel to defend its citizens.
This was essentially the message of Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, last week:
The Goldstone Report goes further than Ahmadinejad and the Holocaust deniers by stripping the Jews not only of the ability and the need but of the right to defend themselves. If a country can be pummeled by thousands of rockets and still not be justified in protecting its inhabitants, then at issue is not the methods by which that country survives but whether it can survive at all. But more insidiously, the report does not only hamstring Israel; it portrays the Jews as the deliberate murderers of innocents--as Nazis. And a Nazi state not only lacks the need and right to defend itself; it must rather be destroyed.
Matthew Yglesias, of course, willfully misinterprets Oren. (via memeorandum) The rules of war, which are routinely invoked when Israel defends itself seem tailored (and applied) only to prevent Israel's self defense. Rarely are they ever invoked in reaction to countries who completely ignore them.
Crossposted on Yourish.
Posted by SoccerDad at October 12, 2009 8:30 AM
Hamas Economic Crisis Reveals Gaza As A Just Terrorist Group Surrounded By Human Shields
Gaza: you can never have too many snickers bars
Peter's perverse principle
Fortunately they weren't violent tea party types
It Takes Burning Down A Summer Camp For UNRWA To Notice
What's the difference between "disgraced" and a "higher ethical standard?"
The messaging or the strategy
The first prejudice
A treasure trove of terror
What if obamacare applied to state lotteries?
There are countries that have done far worse than Israel and they have never been sanctioned.
The message of Goldstone to Israel is a hypocritical and morally derogatory one. At least as far as it singles out only Israel and acquits Hamas of all responsibility for its crimes before Man and G-d alike.
That is not acceptable.
Posted by: NormanF at October 12, 2009 12:00 PMpalestinian atrocities are in the service of what the world reguards as a legitimate purpose, to end a illegal occupation. israeli atrocities are in the service of a illegitimate purpose, its perpetuation.
Posted by: sass at October 12, 2009 6:40 PMSass,
I would rephrase that. Palestinian atrocities are in the service of killing Jews, which is made acceptable by the phony claim of occupation.
What are considered Israeli atrocities are acts of self-defense.
"Occupation" is a fig leaf to legitimize antisemitism.
Posted by: soccer dad at October 12, 2009 8:06 PMi totally disagree with your logic that palestinians violence is because they hate jews. israels occupation is not phoney and has been well documented.
this is not rocket science. the israelis' own studies show that the most common reason for suicide bombing and other atrocities is a incident in the bomber's past- a bother who was killed, a father arrested and held with no charge, a mother or sister disrepected by soldiers..... every expropriation,every house demolition,every mid night break-in by soldiers who ransack homes in the search for weapons, every insult at a checkpoint,every strip-search of an elder is likelier to produce a future martyr or two.
but its easier for israeli leaders to crow about the hundreds of terror attacks they forestalled by strong measures.its easier for them to blame all the killings on hamas, fatah or islam- who must be 'taught a lesson' by each successive israeli leader. they can say its all caused by the money paid to a martyrs family from hamas or iran.... or the easiest of all- that 'those animals' simply hate jews.
why would a series of israeli governments, every one with the stated aim of making peace, maintain and enlarge the network of settlements on arab lands, continue and increase expropriations, confiscations, puntive destructions, collective punishment and targeted assasignations?
why would successive israel governments elected to 'put a stop to terror' ratchet ever tighter the vise grip of closure and a system of checkpoints guaranteed to humiliate and embitter a captive people?