Today in my inbox I got one of those emails that make the rounds to shore up the faithful. It was typical self-righteous crap, whose basic argument boils down to; “Arabs bad, Jews good.” One of the main self-righteous themes that runs through these types of screeds, is that Palestinian insurgents deliberately kill civilians while the “most moral army in the world” does everything it can to protect civilian life. The second theme is that Jewish leaders condemn the killing of civilians, while the Arab holy men egg on the murderers.
I have covered this issue in depth in the past before. But in today’s Ha’aretz, there was a quote of such shocking directness, it’s is worthy of broad dissemination:
“The chairman of the Yesha rabbinical council, rabbi Dov Lior, on Wednesday said that the Israel Defense Forces are allowed to hurt so called innocent civilians during warfare.”
“‘The law of our Torah is to have mercy on our soldiers and to save them. This is the real moral behind Israel’s Torah and we must not feel guilty due to foreign morals,’ he said.”
At least Dov Lior deserves praise for his candor. By contrast, the “official” Israeli story is a sickening mixture of lies and hypocrisy. On CNN in the space of three minutes Israeli officials gave about ten different explanations: there were armed men amongst the protestors, the Palestinians probably booby trapped the area like they did in Jenin and its likely that the booby traps killed people, the tanks fired into an empty building where gunmen were located, the helicopter didn’t fire a missle, the helicoper did fire a missile, just not at the protestors, and only to warn them. And of course, the Israelis expressed great sorrow at the loss of innocent human life.
Not to be outdown by their Israeli buddies, Bush & Co had some choice statements. “The Bush administration said it deeply regretted ‘the loss of life of innocent Palestinian civilians today in Gaza,’ and said the deaths ’serve as a grim reminder of the wisdom’ of Israel’s pulling out of Gaza.” What wisdom? What pullout? If the story wasn’t so tragic I would be laughing out loud.
Secretary Powell: “I believe the activities of the Israeli defense forces in Gaza in recent days have caused a problem and have worsened the situation.” In recent days? A problem? As for what the U.S. is going to do about this “problem,” one need only observe that this quote is cited in an article headlined: “Israel Defies World Outcry, Expands Gaza Offensive.”
Why should Israel care what the world thinks when Emperor Bush has this to say yesterday as he addressed AIPAC, the anti-Israel, pro-Sharon “Israeli lobby”: “The United States is strongly committed – and I am strongly committed – to the security of Israel as a vibrant Jewish state. Israel is a democracy and a friend and has every right to defend itself from terror.” In reaction to the murderous terrorist attack today, he “urged restraint” from both sides. If Bush really wanted to, he could stop the Israeli war on Palestinians in 30 seconds. With one phone call, he could restrain his buddy Sharon. But apparently he doesn’t want to antagonize the anti-Israel, pro-settler, pro-Sharon, Jewish and Christian “Zionists.”
Worst of all, unlike after terrorist attacks on Israelis, Bush did not offer condolences or express deep sorrow. This hypocrisy, along with the murderous attack by the US army in Iraq which left 40 Iraqis dead, is certainly not lost on the Iraqi people, whose “hearts and minds” Bush claims to be concerned about.
Tags: Moral Equivalence, Nationalism, Settlers
