Israel: Baby Killers

I hope people don't find this too inflammatory but I must say that the following is extremely disturbing and makes my blood boil. From todays' AP:


"An Israeli warplane attacked a crowded, rundown Gaza City neighborhood early yesterday, killing a leading Hamas militant and at least 11 other Palestinians, including several children...Shifa hostipal in Gaza City released a list of 11 dead...[it] included two babies, aged 2 months and 18 months, six children ages 3-11 and three adults..."


Simply sickening. Even if one agrees that political killings are warranted in Israel (I don't), this went beyond the bounds of decent behavior. There is certainly no moral high ground in this conflict.


KJS

Suicide bombers have been killing children for 2 years. Why didn't you complain about those deaths?

Could it be you are a terrorist sympathizer?

.....war has no moral high ground. Our government always tells us they try their best to avoid civilian casualties when attacking enemies. Obviously, we don't always succeed. Israel makes similar claims, however, today they let the target take precedence over common sense and decency (not that war can ever be "decent"). However, to be fair, and as pointed out by Harold, suicide bombers, organized almost exclusively by Hamas, the group this terrorist was a leader for, have been killing Israeli children and non-military personnel regularly. Note: Suicide bombings are supported by 68% of Palestinians according to [gasp!] Amnesty International. The god news is this down from 74%. However, after today's tragedy, the good Dr predicts the SBAR (Suicide Bombing Approval Rating) will go up to over 85%.


So the bottom line is: Did Israel feel that anybody in Palestine is worthy of a "decent" act on their part - by decent, I mean holding off on a death strike of a known terrorist to avoid killing innocent? We know the answer - NOPE.


Unfortunately, the death of these innocent Palestinian children are as much at the feet of the Palestinian terrorist ass-holes as they are at the feet of Israel. War sucks. Hate sucks. But sadder yet, Arabs suck. Unless, of course, you think they are our friends or something. I don't. And think about this: If we didn't use Arab oil, would we even care about what happened today? Atrocities worse than this are happening everyday with black-on-black crime in a lot of the African states. Guess what? Nobody cares. Know why? They don't sell us oil. We don't need their monkeys and zebras - so we don't give a rat's ass about what's going on in the dark continent. And surprise, surprise - neither does Reverend Jesse of Fat Al Sharpton, phony black crusaders. But I betcha if we needed African oil we'd be all over these horror stories. So unfortunately KJS, I feel your outrage is very selective. While I applaud you for posting, I do not feel you have thought this all the way through.

Both are equally abominable. There is no logical moral code whereby one could be a rationalization for the other. Both parties are acting with blatant disregard for the most fragile innocent members of the other population.


If you search the archives of this site you will undoubtedly find that I have made statements against those who commit suicide bombings. I think they are very very bad people. But, my government does not send them millions of dollars in aid daily. Therefore, I find it more disturbing when the state of Israel, a member state of international bodies, commits acts of war that they must know will result in the deaths of innocent children. (Acts they excuse because some of the dead were parties to killing their innocent civilians). If they are going to act with the same disregard for human life as their enemies, I think my government should treat them similarly. That means cut them off from material and financial support and condemn them publicly for their actions.


KJS

Israel has a history of committing political assassinations that result in the death of only the targeted individual (ie, shootings and exploding cell phones). I disagree with the use of these as opposed to arrest and detainment but recognize that they feel justified in using them. In this case they made an effort to take out many many more people by FIRING ON A RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBHORHOOD FROM A WARPLANE! That alone crosses a line, IMO. When I read that such actions resulted in the death of a 2 month and 18 month old I am incensed. There is no possible rationalization for such an attack, in my opinion.


KJS

"Could it be you are a terrorist sympathizer? "


This is an unfair response to KJS's post. He broght up a topic that is controversial and difficult for well intentioned intelligent people. To accuse him of being a terrorist sympathizer based on his disgust of babies being killed is wrong. One of the reasons that our country has supported Israel is that they are a modern democracy and thus can claim a higher moral ground than the undemocratic countries in the region. That aside, it is fair to hold Israel to some standards. Israelis themselves disagree on Israeli policy and actions, and those Israelis who disagree are not terrorist sympathizers. I get sick every time I see a suicide bomber killing Israelis. I tend toward siding with Israel in the whole affair. But I didn't like seeing babies blown up by Israel either. It made me a little sick. Yeah, non-combatants get hurt in wars etc..., but when that stops affecting you, you need to take a real close look at your moral outlook. Ideally we can improve civilization to the point where people don't kill one another over irrational religious disputes. For that to happen, we have to have people in the world who don't like seeing babies killed.

It is tragic but let me ask you a question: Just how is Israel supposed to get these guys who orchestrate repeated deadly attacks upon their innocent civilians, when these guys hide amongst the civilian population? It's a bit like Saddam putting missile batteries inside hospitals or under mosques, using them to shoot at US planes, then crying to the world that we are attacking hospitals and mosques.


I'm sickened by the whole thing too, but just how is Israel supposed to get the guys who keep sending out suicide attack teams???

Not a really close analogy but you get the point. Perhaps a bit better analogy would be the Taliban and al-Qaeda were employing similar tactics in Afghanistan.


The leaders of the militant arm of Hamas are responsible for a great many suicide bombings on Israeli civilians, and they are basically commtitted to continue, as they have long avowed, until Israel is DESTROYED. I don't like Israel's tactics any better than you but as everyone can see, if Israel does NOTHING, Israel gets attacked with violence. If Israel does ANYTHING, Israel gets attacked with violence. Hamas has long been publicly committed to sabotaging ANY peace process with violent attacks and they have proudly proclaimed this for a long time (the recent offer to "consider" ceasing attacks if Israel withdraws may be disingenous--they only said they would "consider" it. And the history of Hamas belies that one sheik's recent words.


So I ask you again, just how is Israel supposed to stop these guys or get them? There HAVE to be some innocent casualties in a war, but at least Israel isn't TARGETING those who are purely innocent. They TARGETED one of the worst bad guys there is who, as usual, was surrounded by his family or cohorts. That militant Hamas leader BROUGHT IT ON HIS OWN FAMILY. While I sympathize with the other victims in this case, let's put it all in perspective too.


Another point: If the Palestinians lay down their arms, the violence would cease. If Israel lays down its arms, it will be destroyed. This can be seen through the history of Israel---ever since its inception it has been attacked by Arabs, yet it has never attacked them except in response/self-defense.

KJS: "Both are equally abominable. There is no logical moral code whereby one could be a rationalization for the other."


This is, IMO, an untrue assertion.


How about in self-defense???