The Israeli government has killed over 200 Palestinians so far in its latest war against that impoverished people. Supposedly one Israeli who was giving food to occupying troops in the West Bank has been killed. The men who claim to represent the “chosen people” of the Old Testament apparently haven’t taken the David vs. Goliath story to heart. A ground invasion of Gaza seems likely. I’m sure this offensive will prove decisive, the great wonderful State of Israel will prove victorious, and there will finally be Peace in the Middle East!
The Israelis claim this is all in self defense. Some hitchhiking teenagers were killed! (Imagine if the USA went to war every time that happened in this country?) But 200 killed vs. 1 doesn’t seem very defensive to me.
Take a look at these “rockets” that have managed to kill one whole person:
I don’t want to make light of these, but they’re not exactly up to Lockheed’s standards. Look at the firepower the Israelis are working with:
Maybe that’s why Palestinian rockets have killed a whopping 22 Israelis in the past 14 years, while the Israelis have killed over 200 in the last few days’ worth of airstrikes. Fair fight huh?
What disgusts me almost as much as the needless loss of life are the US politicians who compete for who can suck up to the Israeli government the most:
“The restraint of the Israelis, in my view, is admirable,” – John McCain
“I cannot condemn strongly enough the actions of Hamas in so brazenly firing rockets in multiple numbers in the face of a goodwill effort to operate a cease-fire,” “Israel has right to defend itself.” – John Kerry
“Israel is one of our nation’s strongest democratic allies and its security is directly tied to our own, Hamas’ outrageous and unprovoked war against Israel must end. Until Hamas accepts the Quartet principles, abandoning violence and recognizing Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, there will not be peace.” – Eric Cantor
On Palestinians: “They have leadership that is committed to resistance and violence and therefore their actions are mostly about how do we get new and better missiles to launch them at Israel instead of saying how we’re going to help make your lives better.” – Hillary Clinton
“Nobody should be surprised that a terrorist organization is once again resorting to terror to harm innocent Israelis, and exposing Palestinian civilians to danger while doing so, Hamas is a terrorist organization that rejects a two-state solution and celebrates the kidnapping and murder of innocent civilians; it cannot be a partner in a Palestinian unity government.” – Bob Menendez
“The Israeli government has shown great restraint, and went to great lengths to try to avoid this confrontation, However, Hamas was intent on starting this conflict.” – Marco Rubio
I could go on and on. Pretty much every politician you’ve ever heard of has come out in support of Israel while condemning Palestinians as terrorists. The House has passed a resolution declaring its support for Israel, and the Senate is working on their own statement of ass kissing.
And of course, let’s not forget the Emperor himself, Nobel Peace Prize winning, Lord God Almighty Barack Hussein Obama:
“Israel has a right to defend itself. There’s no country on Earth that can be expected to live under a daily barrage of rockets,”
at the end of her acceptance spceeh, “I’d like to dedicate this to the women and men in the military who risk their lives on a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world and may they come home safe.”Suppose Bigelow’s former husband, James Cameron, had won Best Director for Avatar. There is surely no way Cameron would ever have dedicated his Oscar to any soldiers, American or Canadian, serving as members of the imperial coalition – volunteers all – in Iraq or Afghanistan, unless they had defected to the other side or mutinied and been put in the brig or were facing a firing squad for treason. There is also surely no way that any movie about a serving unit in Iraq would have been in the running for an Oscar back in Bush time.I hoped Avatar would get a big Oscar rather than the consolations ones for cinematography and special effects. It would have honored a truly uncompromising anti-war, anti-American-Empire movie. I haven’t seen The Hurt Locker and don’t plan to, having endured more than one bomb-disposal films in my movie-going career. Also, the circumstances of the movie’s filming seemed distasteful, with scenes shot in a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan. “We had these Blackwater guys that were working with us in the Middle East and they taught us like tactical maneuvers and stuff – how to just basically position yourself and move with a gun,” Hurt Locker actor Anthony Mackie told the New York Times’ Melena Ryzik. “We were shooting in Palestinian refugee camps. We were shooting in some pretty hard places. It wasn’t like we were without enemies. There were people there looking at us, cuz we were three guys in American military suits runnin’ around with guns. It was nothing easy about it. It was always a compromising situation.”