pbel
Gold Member
- Feb 26, 2012
- 5,653
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Israeli warmongering is nothing new...The reasons are obvious, drive all Palestinians from their homes and steal their homes and land...
Israel Provoked This War - Henry Siegman - POLITICO Magazine
There seems to be near-universal agreement in the United States with President Barack Obamas observation that Israel, like every other country, has the right and obligation to defend its citizens from threats directed at them from beyond its borders.
But this anodyne statement does not begin to address the political and moral issues raised by Israels bombings and land invasion of Gaza: who violated the cease-fire agreement that was in place since November 2012 and whether Israels civilian population could have been protected by nonviolent means that would not have placed Gazas civilian population at risk. As of this writing, the number killed by the Israel Defense Forces has surpassed 600, the overwhelming majority of whom are noncombatants.
Israels assault on Gaza, as pointed out by analyst Nathan Thrall in The New York Times, was not triggered by Hamas rockets directed at Israel but by Israels determination to bring down the Palestinian unity government that was formed in early June, even though that government was committed to honoring all of the conditions imposed by the international community for recognition of its legitimacy.
The notion that it was Israel, not Hamas, that violated a cease-fire agreement will undoubtedly offend a wide swath of Israel supporters. To point out that it is not the first time Israel has done so will offend them even more deeply. But it was Shmuel Zakai, a retired brigadier general and former commander of the IDFs Gaza Division, and not leftist critics, who said about the Israel Gaza war of 2009 that during the six-month period of a truce then in place, Israel made a central error by failing to take advantage of the calm to improve, rather than markedly worsen, the economic plight of the Palestinians in the [Gaza] Strip.
Read more: Israel Provoked This War - Henry Siegman - POLITICO Magazine
Israel Provoked This War - Henry Siegman - POLITICO Magazine
There seems to be near-universal agreement in the United States with President Barack Obamas observation that Israel, like every other country, has the right and obligation to defend its citizens from threats directed at them from beyond its borders.
But this anodyne statement does not begin to address the political and moral issues raised by Israels bombings and land invasion of Gaza: who violated the cease-fire agreement that was in place since November 2012 and whether Israels civilian population could have been protected by nonviolent means that would not have placed Gazas civilian population at risk. As of this writing, the number killed by the Israel Defense Forces has surpassed 600, the overwhelming majority of whom are noncombatants.
Israels assault on Gaza, as pointed out by analyst Nathan Thrall in The New York Times, was not triggered by Hamas rockets directed at Israel but by Israels determination to bring down the Palestinian unity government that was formed in early June, even though that government was committed to honoring all of the conditions imposed by the international community for recognition of its legitimacy.
The notion that it was Israel, not Hamas, that violated a cease-fire agreement will undoubtedly offend a wide swath of Israel supporters. To point out that it is not the first time Israel has done so will offend them even more deeply. But it was Shmuel Zakai, a retired brigadier general and former commander of the IDFs Gaza Division, and not leftist critics, who said about the Israel Gaza war of 2009 that during the six-month period of a truce then in place, Israel made a central error by failing to take advantage of the calm to improve, rather than markedly worsen, the economic plight of the Palestinians in the [Gaza] Strip.
Read more: Israel Provoked This War - Henry Siegman - POLITICO Magazine
