Jeff Fecke concurrently writes at the TC Daily Planet and at Moderate Left:
Someday, one of the sides on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will wake up and realize that the eternal cycle of retaliatory violence isn’t working for either side.
The Jews unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in compliance with the cries of Land for Peace(tm). The Arabs then commenced an unending barrage of rocket fire into Israel. There have been over 12,000 rockets launched against Israel on an almost daily basis over the past seven years. Between January and November 2008, Hamas fired 1,212 rockets and 1,290 mortar bombs from the Gaza Strip and hit southern Israel.
The sad thing is that both sides can use this to make their argument. Israel’s “friends” can say that they were provoked into the attack, never mind that the attack was so disproportionate as to be ludicrous.
Disproportionate??? After 12,000 rockets and the attendant dead and injured? And the suicide bombings? And the arms smuggling? And the calls for the murder of the Jews?
Whose side you on? Who do you sympathize with, Mr. Fecke? Who do you believe is right, and who is wrong?
Until one of the sides (or heck, both) wakes up and realizes this is madness, the madness will continue unabated.
Choose a side, Mr. Fecke.
Filed under: Anti-Semitism, Decline of Western Civilization, Twin Cities Daily Planet | 2 Comments
Tags: Gaza, Hamas, Israel
To date, the latest Hamas strikes into Israel have killed one civilian, and the latest Israeli offensive has killed ~400 civilians. Even if one believes in an eye for an eye (and I’m with Gandhi on that one), the Israeli response has been disproportionate at a rate of 400:1.
My side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is with those on both sides who desire a lasting peace, with peaceful coexistence in a stable, two-state system. That’s nether Hamas nor Kadima, and frankly, a pox on both their houses. Until Israelis and Palestinians of good conscience work together to stop the cycle of violence, Israel will not have stability and peace, and Palestine will not have a viable nation-state.
Oh, and for what it’s worth, I resent like hell your insinuation that I’m somehow anti-Semitic because I don’t believe that what the Israeli government is doing is in the best interests of Israelis. It is precisely because I want Israel to have a long, peaceful existence that I am challenging this. And I’d demand you retract the statement.
Mahatma Gandhi’s “An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind” is an ignorant misreading of the Law as stated in Torah. Exodus 21:23 (Shemos 21:23, Parashas Mishpatim) states the general rule that punishment shall be in proportion to the offense. The Sages have understand the punishment to give monetary recompense to the aggrieved. Along with Leviticus 24:19-20 (Vayikra 24:19-20, Parasha Emor) and Deuteronomy 19:21 (Devarim 19:21, Parashas Shoftim), the general rule is also set down not to exact excessive punishment.
Your stated moral equivalence between the Jews and Hamas is abhorrent. It is the official policy of the Arab Islamists – noted in the Hamas covenant – that “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it” (Stated in Preamble). This is a statement of Muslim imperialism and aggressive war. I ask you: how do the Jews negotiate with people whose aim is to obliterate them?
You may resent all you want, the fact remains the Jews have a right to self-defense, you have constructed an equivalency between Israel and murderous Jew-haters, and the Israeli government is doing what is the primary duty of all liberal democracies: defend their people.
Which side are you on Mr. Fecke?