The lovely Mr. UN Secretary General conflated the attitudes of world in one concise position. He stated that while Israel has the right to defend itself (Bush administration position), he condemns the use of "excessive force" (position of almost all non US governments, laughably including Russia, China, Iran and other paragons of war moderation). I suppose that he means by this that if Israel kills 20 civilians in trying to kill 400 Hamas soldiers hiding behind them, and Hamas kills only a handful of civilians among the hundreds that they are trying to kill, this is disproportionate. In other words, you may defend yourself as long as you don't win, or make too big a mess. What the heck is "disproportionate", shooting more, killing more? That used to be called "winning".
But new rules of engagement need to be drawn for the Middle East to suit the UN. Israel may defend itself by asking the missile crews of Gaza to "please" stop shooting at their kindergartens. However, "pretty please" would be disproportionate.
Official UN counters should be placed to count every missile shot toward Sederot and Ashkelon. The Israelis would then be allowed to take an equal number of shots, from an equal distance at Palestinian civilian centers.
Official UN counters should count every "Death to Jews" chanted in Gaza. Jews in Israel would then be allowed to chant an equal number of "Death to the Arabs", until the UN watchdogs told them they must stop.
When a Palestinian steals a bulldozer and runs over 6 people in a crowded city street in Jerusalem, Israel would be allowed to go to Khan Yunis, steal a bulldozer, and indiscriminately run over 6 and only 6 civilians.
When Iran vows to wipe Israel off the map, Israel may vow to wipe Iran off the map. Promising, intimating, and certainly, threatening are excessive. Actually possessing the arms with which to do it is unthinkable barbarianism. If Iran threatens to kill every man, woman and child in Israel, Israel must count that number of people, say 6 million, and then they may threaten to kill 6 million Iranian men, women and children, certainly not more.
If Iran threatens to attack Jewish communities around the world, Israel may threaten an equal number of Iranians living around the world.
For every news story falsely claiming that dozens of Palestinians were killed, Israel would be allowed to publicize and exactly equal number of false claims.
Notably, Obama has shown the backbone expected. His position is not to take a position. Fortunately, as he keeps telling us, there is only one president at a time. I guess he is just a guy in the neighborhood. I suppose he has right not to condemn either side, or make stupid comments like the UN SG. But just which side are you on Mr. President Elect? The side that you fundraised for and the side that openly endorsed you in the election, or the side that produced 78% of its adherents to actually vote for you, the side with which you professed to empathize? Is there a spine anywhere in your past of future or are you just a devolved invertebrate? You cannot be both a Zionist empathizer and a Hamas booster. Pick a side! Maybe you should have looked into this before the campaign!
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::::::Top 5 Lies about Israel's Assault on Gaza
Lie #1: "Israel is only targeting legitimate military sites and is seeking to protect innocent lives. Israel never targets civilians."
The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated pieces of property in the world. The presence of militants within a civilian population does not, under international law, deprive that population of their protected status, and hence any assault upon that population under the guise of targeting militants is, in fact, a war crime.
Moreover, the people Israel claims are legitimate targets are members of Hamas, which Israel says is a terrorist organization. Hamas has been responsible for firing rockets into Israel. These rockets are extremely inaccurate and thus, even if Hamas intended to hit military targets within Israel, are indiscriminate by nature. When rockets from Gaza kill Israeli civilians, it is a war crime.
Hamas has a military wing. However, it is not entirely a military organization, but a political one. Members of Hamas are the democratically elected representatives of the Palestinian people. Dozens of these elected leaders have been kidnapped and held in Israeli prisons without charge. Others have been targeted for assassination, such as Nizar Rayan, a top Hamas official. To kill Rayan, Israel targeted a residential apartment building. The strike not only killed Rayan but two of his wives and four of his children, along with six others. There is no justification for such an attack under international law. This was a war crime.
Other of Israel’s bombardment with protected status under international law have included a mosque, a prison, police stations, and a university, in addition to residential buildings.
Moreover, Israel has long held Gaza under siege, allowing only the most minimal amounts of humanitarian supplies to enter. Israel is bombing and killing Palestinian civilians. Countless more have been wounded, and cannot receive medical attention. Hospitals running on generators have little or no fuel. Doctors have no proper equipment or medical supplies to treat the injured. These people, too, are the victims of Israeli policies targeted not at Hamas or legitimate military targets, but directly designed to punish the civilian population.
Lie #2) "Hamas violated the cease-fire. The Israeli bombardment is a response to Palestinian rocket fire and is designed to end such rocket attacks."
Israel never observed the cease-fire to begin with. From the beginning, it announced a “special security zone” within the Gaza Strip and announced that Palestinians who enter this zone will be fired upon. In other words, Israel announced its intention that Israeli soldiers would shoot at farmers and other individuals attempting to reach their own land in direct violation of not only the cease-fire but international law.
Despite shooting incidents, including ones resulting in Palestinians getting injured, Hamas still held to the cease-fire from the time it went into effect on June 19 until Israel effectively ended the truce on November 4 by launching an airstrike into Gaza that killed five and injured several others.
Israel’s violation of the cease-fire predictably resulted in retaliation from militants in Gaza who fired rockets into Israel in response. The increased barrage of rocket fire at the end of December is being used as justification for the continued Israeli bombardment, but is a direct response to the Israeli attacks.
Israel's actions, including its violation of the cease-fire, predictably resulted in an escalation of rocket attacks against its own population.
Lie #3) "Hamas is using human shields, a war crime."
There has been no evidence that Hamas has used human shields. The fact is, as previously noted, Gaza is a small piece of property that is densely populated. Israel engages in indiscriminate warfare such as the assassination of Nizar Rayan, in which members of his family were also murdered. It is victims like his dead children that Israel defines as “human shields” in its propaganda. There is no legitimacy for this interpretation under international law. In circumstances such as these, Hamas is not using human shields, Israel is committing war crimes in violation of the Geneva Conventions and other applicable international law.
Lie #4) "Arab nations have not condemned Israel’s actions because they understand Israel’s justification for its assault."
The populations of those Arab countries are outraged at Israel’s actions and at their own governments for not condemning Israel’s assault and acting to end the violence. Simply stated, the Arab governments do not represent their respective Arab populations. The populations of the Arab nations have staged mass protests in opposition to not only Israel's actions but also the inaction of their own governments and what they view as either complacency or complicity in Israel's crimes.
Moreover, the refusal of Arab nations to take action to come to the aid of the Palestinians is not because they agree with Israel’s actions, but because they are submissive to the will of the US, which fully supports Israel. Egypt, for instance, which refused to open the border to allow Palestinians wounded in the attacks to get medical treatment in Egyptian hospitals, is heavily dependent upon US aid, and is being widely criticized within the population of the Arab countries for what is viewed as an absolute betrayal of the Gaza Palestinians.
Even Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been regarded as a traitor to his own people for blaming Hamas for the suffering of the people of Gaza. Palestinians are also well aware of Abbas' past perceived betrayals in conniving with Israel and the US to sideline the democratically elected Hamas government, culminating in a counter-coup by Hamas in which it expelled Fatah (the military wing of Abbas' Palestine Authority) from the Gaza Strip. While his apparent goal was to weaken Hamas and strengthen his own position, the Palestinians and other Arabs in the Middle East are so outraged at Abbas that it is unlikely he will be able to govern effectively.
Lie #5) "Israel is not responsible for civilian deaths because it warned the Palestinians of Gaza to flee areas that might be targeted."
Israel claims it sent radio and telephone text messages to residents of Gaza warning them to flee from the coming bombardment. But the people of Gaza have nowhere to flee to. They are trapped within the Gaza Strip. It is by Israeli design that they cannot escape across the border. It is by Israeli design that they have no food, water, or fuel by which to survive. It is by Israeli design that hospitals in Gaza have no electricity and few medical supplies with which to treat the injured and save lives. And Israel has bombed vast areas of Gaza, targeting civilian infrastructure and other sites with protected status under international law. No place is safe within the Gaza Strip.
We can refer to your comment as the five bald faced lies that Hamas would like to convince the world of.
Your lies one by one:
1) Hiding within a civilian population and shooting missiles at civilians as Hamas has done 3000 times in 2008, before the Gaza invasion and throughout the six month ceasefire does not give Hamas terrorists the right to hide from attack behind their own population.
The US, EU and the UN all consider Hamas a terror organization. Maybe it has something to do with the Hamas charter which calls for the killing of Jews throughout the world.
2) So those exploding things that were falling from the Sederot skies were UFO's?
3) In point 1, you yourself admit that you are lying.
4) Other Arab nations see Hamas as a stain on the Arab world. They know that Hamas has killed Arabs just as readily as Jews, and has terrorized its own population.
5) Gaza borders Egypt fully along its Western border. Oh, I forgot, Egyptians don't want terrorists in their country either. Rats, I guess if the Hamas are truly the governemnt of choice for Gaza Arabs, they need to take up the issue with their democratically elected leaders on why they provoked this war.
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