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July 25, 2006
Fool Me Once...
To most objective observers, it's becoming clearer with each passing day that the Israeli government is out of control. A full scale invasion isn't enough... now they're bombing UN peacekeepers.
The Israeli government is aided and abetted, of course, by it's weak-willed brother Fredos in the US administration, who lack the courage or will to put a stop to this onslaught, and who have the audacity to criticize Syria for arming one side while openly arming the other in the conflict. Do as we say, but not as we do; just yet another example of Bushian hypocrisy. And by the way, if the Bush Doctrine is that the US has the right to invade nations whose efforts threaten their neighbors and destablize the region, when does the US invasion of Tel Aviv begin?
To borrow an analogy from Linkmeister... okay, we get that the neighbors' dog has snuck into your yard over and over again, pooped on your lawn, and badly bitten you and your children. No one's saying the neighbor's a good guy. But is the solution really to take a bulldozer to his house after walking into his children's bedrooms with a can of gasoline, a lighter, and an acetylene torch? This is an overreaction on a tragic and historic scale. From 1947 through about 1980, the blame for the conflict in the middle east lies squarely on the shoulders of the Arab countries... but since then, the Israelis have done their damndest to even things up in the blame department.
Oh - and to any US citizen who would outright dismiss the Arab argument about Israel's rights ... I hope you're willing to give your house, your land, and everything on it to Native American tribes. See, the land you live on historically belonged to them... and they have been victims of hatred, persecution and genocide too. So if we're going on a people's historic presence in a place, and their people's history of victimization at the hands of the rest of the world, then your house now belongs to the Cherokee Nation, or the Sioux, or the Seminole or the Narragansett. You've got a week to move. What's that you say? You don't think that's fair? You sympathize with the Native Americans' plight, but you didn't personally steal any land from them, and you've worked hard for your home? Too bad. You have nowhere to go? Not the Native Americans' problem. Get out. You have a week.
Now tell me that the Arab/Palestinians have no cause to resent Israel's presence. Much of it is rooted in religious or ethnic hatred by the Arabs, yes. But not all of it. Not all.
And no, I am not suggesting that Israel should or must tolerate terrorist incursions and attacks from hostile organizations that take refuge with Israel's neighbors. But the sad thing is, Israel's conduct has now ensured the creation of the next generation of terrorists in Lebanon, the Palestininan territories, and elsewhere in the middle east. When a nation is doing this to your people, it's all too easy to listen to the voices of hatred.
This is a lesson the US has learned all too painfully in Iraq; due to our short-sighted and foolhardy invasion there, we have succeeded in breeding an insurgency that shows no signs of slowing, and created a new generation that hates us even more fiercely and desperately than the last. We bungled in Iraq, badly, and we will be paying for that mistake for decades.
Rather than observing and learning from our mistakes, the Israeli government has chosen to repeat them in bulk in the supersized 256 ounce jar. Their conduct in the past month has ensured that a new generation of Arabs will have blood vendettas against Israel, having lost their families to Israeli bombs while the US stood idly by, fiddling while the last chance for peace in a generation burns. And don't think our inaction is going unnoticed... that generation of haters will fix on us as well. We're letting it happen, and they will not forget.
We do not owe the Israeli government blanket support for any action they choose to take, no matter how badly it inflames the situation or harms international peace. You love your brother, sure... but if he is stealing from your wallet, sleeping with your wife, and punching neighborhood children, you don't say, "Well, he's had a hard life, and he's my brother, so it's okay."
It's time for the US to take our first stand against Israel's government since the 1956 Suez War. Rarely, if ever, has the need to do so been more clear.
Comments
wow.. guess Israel isn't allowed to fight "real" terrorists.. huh
Posted by: Shari at July 28, 2006 07:37 PM
Oh, right - I forgot... we're supposed to support Israel no matter *what* they do, no matter *how* brutal their reaction is. Because after all, Israel can do no wrong, isn't that right?
Sorry. Invading a country and bombing the s*it out of civilians in response to three kidnappings is an overreaction. It's *creating* terrorists, not fighting them.
Posted by: Curmudgeon at July 28, 2006 08:18 PM
By the way, the Israelis killed 37 children in Qana over the weekend. How is killing small children "fighting terrorists?"
Posted by: Curmudgeon at July 31, 2006 03:11 AM
Say what you want about this horrible war. Blame Israel. Blame Hezbollah. Blame anyone. But these two sentences are true:
If Hezbollah and other Palestinians agreed forever to end violence, there would be no more violence.
If Israel agreed forever to end violence, there would be no more Israel.
Posted by: Scott at August 2, 2006 10:43 AM
