This Gary Varvel cartoon was published earlier this past week in the Indianapolis Star. While it is a humorous take on the events that are taking place at this time in Gaza, it speaks the truth of the situation.
Most that read this blog have no trouble seeing this for what it is. But there are many out there in la-la land, who see this as unprovoked Israeli aggression and are calling for it to stop. They do not take into account that Hamas has no desire for peace. They do not consider the fact that all Hamas had to do to prevent this reaction was to stop firing rockets into Israel.
This has the EU divided.
Sarkozy is condemning the Israeli response, which is what you would expect a French President to do (because it is tradition). But surprisingly enough, the Czechs are calling it what it is, defensive. And as you would guess, there are some vocal critics from the entertainment community calling for the end of hostilities.
London - Singer Annie Lennox and other celebrities are calling on Israel to stop its air attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Lennox said violence could never be a solution to conflict.
My questions to Ms. Lennox:
- Where the hell are you when the rockets are flying out from Gaza?
- Where are you when the rockets get dangerously close to nuclear facilities, threatening the entire region?
- Why is that you and others in your business are blind to the decades-old aggression of Hamas, but open to Israel's actions to defend itself?
But that's not all.
The ex-Eurythmics singer attended a press conference in London on Friday alongside activist Bianca Jagger, comedian Alexei Sayle and politicians including former London mayor Ken Livingstone.
Jagger called on President-elect Barack Obama to condemn the Israeli air strikes. Israel says it is responding to rockets fired from Gaza by the Hamas militant group.
Nice try Bianca, but Obama isn't President yet. Even he realizes it and is respectful of that fact.
"The president-elect is closely monitoring global events, including the situation in Gaza," his national security spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said in a statement after the ground assault got underway.
But she offered no further comment on the violence in Gaza and used a phrase repeated often by Obama and his aides: "There is one president at a time and we intend to respect that."
Senior advisor David Axelrod said Sunday that Obama is "committed" to achieving peace in the Middle East, in the only extended comments from the president-elect's team so far.
"Obviously, this situation has become even more complicated in the last couple of days and weeks... But it's something that he's committed to," Axelrod told CBS television.
Obama transition team officials told AFP the president-elect would not comment publicly in the coming days on the Gaza offensive, and the future president will likely keep silent on the issue until his January 20 inauguration.
As we read on, we see this silence is not sitting well with some people.
His muted response has already drawn the anger of some in the Middle East.
"The start is not good," said Khaled Meshaal, leader of the Hamas Islamist movement that has ruled Gaza since June 2007.
"You commented on Mumbai but you say nothing about the crime of the enemy (Israel). This policy of double standards should stop."
I can understand Meshaal's frustration. Hamas contributed to Obama's Presidential campaign and now they want a return on their investment. But it all leads back to the basis for all of this, which is the rocket attacks.
All it would take is a strongly worded statement which commits to halting them, and then actually living by that commitment. But keeping agreements is not part of the Hamas legacy and it never will be, as long as their charter calls for the destruction of their neighbor. So, why is anyone surprised when that neighbor wants to take out the infrastructure that is being used to advance violence against their civilization?
The same people have no trouble condemning Hitler's attempt to rid the world of Jews, but seem to lack the courage to condemn Arabs who want the nation of Israel eradicated.
5 comments:
Hi
Nice post LA but I certainly wouldn't waste my time asking champagne Liberals who sit in million + dollar homes with remote heat and air control what they plan on doing for the peace process other than giving lip service on their way to the next recording session or manicure. When they have lived under the bombs or have gone to protest in Gaza then maybe we can give them their 15 minutes of fame.
But let's look at the hard facts of this whole situation and I admit it is tragic. Having lived in Israel for a year and speaking the language at that time in the late 70's I can say the following.
1. The Israelis are not the easiest people to get along with. They are extremely suspicious and rightly so. (see Holocaust) They don't automatically take to people.
2. Practically every family in Israel has lost a family member either in war or through Gas Chambers. Many still have their concentration camp number tattooed on their arms
3. In general they are not a bellicose people (which most leftists can't comprehend) but will stop at nothing and proceed with a steel fist to protect themselves as we have seen since the founding of Israel. Fear of annihilation is always present in the Israeli and Jewish mind.
4. In Israel, you can't go north, you can't go south and you can't go east or west. That is how small the country is. Only about 25 miles separate the West Bank from the Mediterranean.
I heard one Palestinian say the Israels were trying to throw them into the sea. Excuse me but isn't that what, primo the Palestinian charter under that great peacemaker Yasser Arafat said for a long time and now that gauntlet has been taken up by every radical Islamist group.
Now as per Hamas politics. What they have done is simply sacrificed their own people in order to have a lamenting voice in the world and get a nice photo op. In 100 years when they come knocking at our doors will we continue to give these groups the benefit of the doubt. I will be happy to be dead long before. Name me one country that would allow rocket attacks on it's territory and then simply do nothing. Not even France!
By the way Sarkozy condemned both sides as I heard it but the EU has come up with a different appreciation of the situation as you mentioned. This is another story that I may develop longer later but the French have always taken the middle ground in order to further their own interests.(see every minute of French history)In the case of Sarkozy he is so concerned about his imprint on history that he is willing to be everything for everybody. It's a totally different mindset and may be hard for one not familiar with French thinking and language to understand.
The Hamas knew perfectly well what they were doing and they knew that the Israelis would react to the incessant, the thousands of rockets that have landed in southern Israel for the past several years. They knew that civilians in Gaza would be killed but that only furthers their cause in the eyes of the extremists. A few days ago Tzipi Livni came to Paris and Sarkozy said that Israel had a right to defend itself; Today he says differently. More moderate Arab countries as you may have noticed know exactly what Hamas is doing. See my last post.
There will be no lasting peace until:
1. The Mullahs are run out of Iran on a rail
2. The Arab world understand the democratic world will no longer accept their extremist ways and that we will fight fire with fire and an eye for an eye even if we have to close our borders.
Unfortunately we are nowhere close to that.
I cannot fully expand on my opinion on this subject now because NFL football takes precedence over war and it's game time. What a sorry excuse for an individual I am!
PS - Sorry for your colts. I went to bed at 6am Paris time this morning.
But best wishes to you and your family for 2009
Clarification by Sarkozy
http://tinyurl.com/6thsze
Rocket, you make some good points. Thanks for taking the time to elaborate on them. Thanks for the condolences on the Colts, they have no one to blame but themselves.
oh fuck the eurotrash and their thinly veiled jew hatred. fuck them to hell.
if i ran israel, "palestine" wouldn't exist and the "palestinians" would be in their real homeland, whether that be egypt, syria or lebanon. i'd proceed to flatten every friggin building in gaza until hamas came out with their hands up or everyone was dead. then i'd claim every inch of that territory for israel. i'd tell all israel's enemies that they're next if they continue attacking.
i'd also come out and say any country that participated in the holocaust can shut the fuck up. that means you france. smarmy international officials from, say, the UN would only be met in places like ashkelon, where random hamas terror weapons fall aimlessly. "oh, you'd rather not meet there? why would that be?" pfff.
shit, if i ran israel, the world's anti-semitic, terror-sympathizing caviar-munching left would REALLY have something to whine about.
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