Sean Rayment, a defense correspondent for The Telegraph, writes in his blog that Israel is “addicted to violence,” that its attack on Hamas installations in Gaza is “both disgraceful and disproportionate,” and that it is responsible for “[s]laughtering 155 civilians.”
At least he acknowledges, almost as an aside, that “Hamas is not without blame.”
So, Sean:
–If the UK had been subjected to days of constant rocket fire by, say, the Irish army, making ordinary life impossible in large parts of the country; if the British government had repeatedly warned of the consequences if it continued; and if it the British military had finally responded by attacking Irish military installations, would you accuse the UK of being “addicted to violence”?
–Do you really believe that all, or even most, of those killed in the targeted Israeli attacks are civilians? I don’t think even Hamas is claiming that. Of course it doesn’t trouble Hamas to locate its installations in highly-populated areas. And if Israel really wanted to “slaughter” civilians, I can assure you– the death toll would be many times higher.
–Finally there’s that lovely word again: disproportionate. Would you be satisfied if Israel responded by launching a barrage of more-or-less random rocket and mortar fire at neighborhoods in Gaza. That, after all, would be a “proportionate” response.
Here we go again. The reactions are all so sadly predictable.
I’ll reluctantly keep the comments box open, but I’ll close it if the comments get overly hysterical.
Update: Bradley Burston, a leftwing but non-pacifist columnist for Haaretz, is a frequent and sharp critic of the Israeli right. But here he writes about the oh-so-predictable response of the anti-Israel left to Israel’s strikes against Hamas in Gaza.
He promises to write in next week’s column about “the Alpha-male displays of the Israel-bashing right, the group which constantly berates the government and the IDF for not bombing Gaza into a parking lot, for not shooting and starving and freezing innocent civilians to death.”
Further update: More news on Israel’s “genocide” against the people of Gaza:
Defense Minister Ehud Barak allowed crossings into Gaza to be opened on Sunday for humanitarian aid to go through, signaling to the world that Israel was fighting a war against Hamas in Gaza but not against the civilian population.
Thirty humanitarian aid trucks were set to pass into the Gaza Strip Sunday. Defense officials said that the number of trucks was decided upon in coordination with international aid groups.
Israel also planned to allow some Palestinians wounded in Saturday’s offensive on Hamas to enter Israel to receive medical treatment.
