My 300th Post

I was going to do something special for this "milestone" post. I was going to recall how I came to DU, how finding, on election night, a community that exposed the fraud and theft of yet another presidential election gave me strength, and how I used that strength to bolster others. I was going to write about conditions here in New Orleans, about the mid-term elections, about the need for impeachment, about the failures in Iraq. I was going to write about the fellowship and tolerance and diversity here, how I felt comfortable even with those who disagreed with me. I was going to do that without expletives, scatology, etc. (You may insert an appropriate smiley if you like.)

But I can't. The invective against Israel, the blind hatred, the invidious comparisons with Bush and Iraq sadden me too much. Where were these protests, these vitriolic, rabid protests for the months and years of the "suicide bombers" and katushya rockets? I know too many people forced to live in fear of Hezbollah, too many who have suffered, to accept that vehement denouncement of Israel now and lack of the same fervor against Hezbollah (check the logs and numbers of posts) is anything other than moral blindness or moral hypocrisy.

i do not say that the Israeli government is perfect. Far from it. I do not say it has not made strategic mistakes, that it has acted improperly, even against its best interests at times. I do not say that the government of Israel or its military have not been relentless, have not been as precise in their targeting as they might have been, have not been excessive. I do not say that no atrocities have been committed.

I do say that such are aberrations, that while the policy of the Israeli military, once engaged, follows General Patton's statement to the troops, quoted by another poster, nevertheless the policy includes a moral imperative to minimize civilian casualties. I do say that there is a fundamental difference between Israel, even at its worst, and Hamas and Hezbollah. To quote another poster: If Hamas and Hezbollah were to throw their weapons in the Mediterranean Sea tonight, there would be peace by daybreak. If Israel were to throw her weapons into the Mediterranean Sea tonight, it would be red with the blood of slaughtered Jews, a replay of the Holocaust.

I do say that Israeli schools do not indoctrinate their children with a hatred for Arabs and instill a blood-lust for their deaths. But the schools of Hamas and Hezbollah do.

I do not say that the government of Israel should not be criticized or its policy analyzed. (See Nicholas Kristof's latest article for a rational critique - whether one agrees with it or not.) I do say that equating Israel's actions with those of Bush, may his name be blotted out, is either willfully ignorance, inexcusably simplistic, or deliberately malicious and intolerant.

I do not say Israel is independent of the United States, unfortunately, but I do say that the alliance, despite BushCheney, is good for both countries. And I do say that had it not been for BushCheney's criminal (to use a mild term) activity in Iraq and irrational approach to Iran, Israel would not have seen itself forced to clear Southern Lebanon of Hezbollah.

Last week I was visiting family in New York state and by Divine Providence got lost. I stopped at a gas station to ask directions. I am very obviously Jewish and the attendant was just as obviously Arab. Tentatively, he opened the conversation. He told me he was from Egypt, and that he had family in the north of Israel, family that had been there for years. Hezbollah rockets had destroyed his family's house. And then he said that Israel and Hezbollah are being played as pawns by Bush and Iran, that Israel's attack is serving as a diversion, taking the world's attention, and the attention of the American public, away from the disaster in Iraq. He quoted Anwar Sadat, saying that we are cousins - why should we fight our cousins, that outsiders are manipulating us and rather we should help each other.

I agreed with him, in large part. I don't think Hezbollah agrees with him, but many, many Muslims do.

Did you know that Israeli hospitals are inviting wounded Lebanese to come for free medical treatment? Not just inviting, but providing transportation to first rate facilities. That could not happen without the consent of the Israel government. What a Hezbollah-run hospital would do with wounded Israeli civilians need not be detailed beyond the word torture.

This is not the post I wanted to write. I wanted to celebrate DU, discuss the re-taking of Congress, and so many other things that make me an anomaly.

For months, DU has been my primary source of news, for I trusted its reliability.

This is not the post I wanted to write.

But I am not going away. Skinner and EarlG and the administrators and moderators deserve better. My voice belongs here as much as anyone else's.

I will withdraw somewhat, "lurk," as the term goes, until DU again becomes a haven, a place of discussion and ideas, intense yet respectful (even in the flaming, i have seen much humor - and add another smiley if you wish.)

This is not the post I wanted to write. I am saddened.

But I am staying.

DU transcends this diversionary divisiveness. It must.

on bombs which were going to be used to attack Lebanon?

I am deeply saddened. Deeply.

They are taking pleasure in bombing innocents and then offering medical treatment for the wounds?

I am deeply saddened. Deeply.

As someone else posted, the pictures are somewhat misleading.

To begin with a caveat: The children should not have been allowed near the bombs, because it was dangerous. Nor is the "time-honored" tradition of writing messags to one's enemies on the bombs appropriate. That said, some context:

The children and their families had just emerged from days spent huddling in bomb shelters because their town had been continually shelled by Hezbollah. The Israel military had set up a base there. The parents wrote messages to the head of Hezbollah. The children followed suit. These children had been terrorized by Hezbollah and its leader. They were sending messages to him. They were not "taking pleasure in bombing innocents." They were expressing their anger and their fear. The messages were directed at one person, the terrorist who had tried to kill them and their families. They wanted the bombs to stop the person who was killing their families and friends.

That is a far different motive than you ascribe.

And now, let me ask: have you seen the pictures of kindergarten graduates in the Gaza Strip, holding up bloodied hands - real blood - meant to symbolize the Jews they will kill? Have you seen the videos of the Islamic clergy preaching that it is a sacred mission to kill all the Jews? Have you seen the videos of the mutilated bodies of Israeli soldiers and civilians? Have you seen the pictures of the survivors of the suicide bombers? The list goes on.

Now, other than that one misinterpreted picture, what basis do you have to conclude that Israel wants to or "takes pleasure in bombing innocents"? But there's plenty of evidence that Hamas, Hebollah, etc. do.

Until you have protested with at least equal vehemence the true cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict - Arab refusal to allow Israel to exist - and expressed at least as much "deep sadness" for Jewish children who have been murdered - at the time the attacks and murders occur - your "sadness" has no credibility.

Do note that Egypt, Jordan and Israel are at peace. They don't necessarily like each other, but they don't attack each other. The point - Israel responds to aggression; it does not initiate it. Its response may not always be the best, but its motive is defensive.

EOD

And below is part of the blog entry about that day..or at least, his/her version of what happened:

http://ontheface.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2006/7/20/2142505.html

Below is the story behind the photo - from the source.

I phoned Sebastian Scheiner, the Israeli photojournalist who took the photo for Associated Press (AP), explained that the image had given a really terrible impression and asked for the context. He sketched it out quickly and fluidly, but asked me not to quote him. So I spoke with Shelly Paz, a Yedioth Ahronoth reporter who was also at the scene and agreed immediately to go on record. She was quite shocked to learn how badly the photo had been misinterpreted and misrepresented; and she told me the same story Sebastian did, but with more details and nuance.

<snip>

Apparently one or some of the parents wrote messages in Hebrew and English on the tank shells to Nasrallah. "To Nasrallah with love," they wrote to the man whose name was for them a devilish image on television - the man who mockingly told Israelis, via speeches that were broadcast on Al Manar and Israeli television, that Hezbollah was preparing to launch even more missiles at them. That he was happy they were suffering.

The photograpers gathered around. Twelve of them. Do you know how many that is? It's a lot. And they were all simultaneously leaning in with their long camera lenses, clicking the shutter over and over. The parents handed the markers to the kids and they drew little Israeli flags on the shells. Photographers look for striking images, and what is more striking than pretty, innocent little girls contrasted with the ugliness of war? The camera shutters clicked away, and I guess those kids must have felt like stars, especially since the diversion came after they'd been alternately bored and terrified as they waited out the shelling in their bomb shelters.

<snip>
So, perhaps the parents were not wise when they encouraged their children to doodle on the tank shells. They were letting off a little steam after being cooped up - afraid, angry and isolated - for days. Sometimes people do silly things when they are under emotional stress. Especially when they fail to understand how their childish, empty gesture might be interpreted.