Monday, January 5, 2009

The bully on the block

Ten days into Israel's attack on Gaza and 550 Palestinians have been killed, with the UN estimating that one-quarter of those are civilians. Many newspaper and television reports note that many children are among the dead. Meanwhile, Hamas rocket attacks have killed five residents of Israel. Nearly as many Israelis died in a friendly fire incident, when a tank killed three soldiers accidentally.

Rocket attacks by Hamas are dangerous, but their weapons are minuscule compared to the Israeli Defense Force. This response by Israel is extremely disproportionate, yet no American politicians (including Barack Obama) are stepping up to condemn Israel's actions -- actions with weapons purchased by US military aid. The American media is filled with officials telling us that Israel has a right to defend itself, but none with the courage and sanity to renounce what is going on right now.

I don't condone the actions of Hamas, but the Palestinians have had their land occupied for decades, have been treated like dogs by Israel, have had shortages of food and medicine in Gaza becuase of Israel's blockade in recent months, and now Israel is acting like a bully again, hoping to teach the Palestinians a lesson by kicking the crap out of them.

Glenn Greenwald is a blogger at Salon.com who I agree with on most issues. Recently he's weighed in on the attacks on Gaza.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

unfortunately the Palestinians have been used and abused by their own leadership through the years,including the present regime.
However no nation can allow itself to be fired upon by rockets as Israel has,a clear violation of the cease fire they(the Palestinians) agreed to.Israel has had no choice but to defend itself.Why Muslims from all over the world do not denounce these fanatical savages is disheartening.

Anonymous said...

F*** Hamas!