Remember earlier this year when– during another Israeli response to Hamas rocket fire– the “socialist” Richard Seymour mocked the suffering those rockets were causing the largely working-class residents of Sderot:
Poor old Sderot. Poor, wretched Sderot. Gaza is a place where “rage” boils and bubbles over, especially since the “Hamas takeover” (the failed Fatah putsch, in other words), and Sderot pays the price. Rockets, empty streets, fleeing mattresses, the dog not getting walked. Poor, miserable Sderot.
…..
Oh, but the luckless Sderot happens to be located nearby, thus copping a few miserable Qassam rockets that leave potholes in the streets and damage the walls. Poor, woebegone Sderot.
He’s at it again:
I warned you months ago: the magic word is ‘Sderot’. Any amount of barbarism can be justified by the frankly risible rocket attacks on southern Israel.
Risible. As in ludicrous. Laughable. Those poor Israelis stuck in or near shelters for days at a time. Parents unable to earn a living. Children unable to get to school. Ha ha.
And even if Seymour (whom I strongly suspect has never been in Sderot during a Qassam barrage or any other time) considers these rockets risible, Hamas clearly treats them with great seriousness. Jerusalem Post reporter Khaled Abu Toameh wrote shortly before Israel’s latest military action about a leaflet issued by Hamas’s armed wing, Izzadin Kassam:
Boasting that it had fired dozens of rockets and mortars at Israeli towns in the past few days, the group pointed out that Israel was “hopeless and desperate” because it doesn’t know what to do to stop the attacks.
“The enemy is in a state of confusion and doesn’t know what to do,” the leaflet read. “Their fragile cabinet has met in a desperate attempt to stop the rockets while thousands of settlers have found refuge in shelters which, by God’s will, will become their permanent homes.”
Hilarious.
Update: Pay special attention to what happens starting at about 1:25.
Frankly risible, isn’t it?
(Hat tip: Mordechai.)
