Slaughter from the Skies

The despicable Israeli aggressors are at it again, doing what they do best, murdering from the safety of the skies Palestinian civilians or people engaged in maintaining the societal infrastructure in Gaza. Latest reports from the Gaza Strip indicate that almost 300 people have now died in the latest bout of Israeli terror. 900 people have been injured, 180 of whom are said to be in a serious condition. Having today viewed footage of what Jewish people underwent as the Nazi Operation Barbarosa swept through the Soviet Union from the summer of 1941, it seems a bitter irony that a people steeped in such a violent history should either direct or permit the same thing being hurled at another civilian population.

The disproportionate nature of the Israeli response to what it claims are attacks on its territory from the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip is evident in figures provided by the Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem. 9 Israeli civilians have been killed by rockets fired from Gaza since Israeli occupiers withdrew from the territory in September 2005. In the same period around 1,400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza.

The upsurge in Israeli violence comes after the collapse of a truce between Hamas and Israel a week before Xmas. There are grounds for suspecting that Israel was waiting the opportunity given that a general election is due to be held in the country in February and the government does not want to be seen to be going soft on Hamas. Clearly it is still playing to the most militaristic and aggressive elements within Israeli society. Given the pounding it took in Lebanon 2 years ago, the government of Ehud Olmert was reluctant to send in ground troops opting for a slaughter from the air policy which it considered would minimize its own casualties and by extension enhance its chances in the electoral contest.

The Arab world is in uproar after the murderous assault. For once there seems to have been a remarkable display of unity. Egypt, which often negotiates between Israel and Hamas, has summoned the Israel Ambassador in Cairo. Syria condemned the attacks as a heinous crime and convicted terrorist act.’ The Libyan Foreign Ministry exhorted Arabs to act ‘in response to the Israeli brutality.’ Fouad Seniora, the prime minister of Lebanon, a country pounded by Israeli Einsatzgruppen two years ago before being repulsed by Hezbollah, denounced Israeli attacks as ‘tragic and criminal.’ He called for a ‘united Arab stand to face the aggression’ and for the United Nations to adopt ‘deterrent and necessary measures against Israel for it's continuous violations of Palestinian and Arab human rights.’ Little chance of that happening. The UN has abdicated responsibility time and time again. Whatever moral standing it could lay claim to was completely devalued after it stood and scratched its nuts while genocide unfolded in front of its eyes in Rwanda 14 years ago. The UN stands for the particularism of Western hegemony and aggression not the universalism of human rights.

Elsewhere, Finland, Argentina, Brazil and Switzerland hit out at the murderous assault. Typically, the US backed the Tel Aviv death squads it has sustained for decades. Hamas was blamed for the violence by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice:

The United States strongly condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and holds Hamas responsible for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence in Gaza.

And when US citizens are made to pay a terrible price for the heinous stance of their government Condi will stand mouth agape wondering why. Does she really have to compete with the country’s president for the dunce’s hat?



4 comments:

  1. Sadly, there's a few more dunces than the two mentioned you've mentioned here stateside. In the latest presidential campaign, no candidate would ever venture a comment of criticism for a history of untoward actions by Israel against their neighbors.

    Macraghnaill

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anthony, first Happy New Year, second, there was a demonstration today in BF at what is occouring in Palastine, unfortunatly few turned up.
    Unlike, when once the apartheid regime in South Africa terrorised the indigeneous population and held hostage their leader on Robyn island, the world united in hitting this regime in their pockets, we do not do the same with the Zionist, we could on principle refuse to shop in Tesco, Sainsbury's and M&S, instead we seem to tolerate it because, once we condem their agression we are tarred as holocaust sympathisers.
    Afraid I shall continue my lone campaign of bouycotting the Zionist stotes and their outspan oranges.
    Le gach de mhein.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry, not 'outspan' Jaffa

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think it is a problem that too many of us lapse into. We avoid M&S but end up in Tescos. I recall in Belfast protesting outside M&S and then getting groceries in Tesco before heading up home. It makes the isolated stance of those highlighting these issues all the more lonely.

    ReplyDelete