Injured child
Several years ago I got into an argument with a co-worker over the Israeli Palestinian conflict. I don’t recall what triggered the exchange, but he in effect dismissed my position as “typical Bay area bull shit” and said Israel should have wiped the Palestinians off the map. Looks like he’s getting his wish.
Korea, where I now live, is a long way off from the Gaza Strip, but waking up to images of grieving mothers and fathers standing over dead or injured children just brought it all home, leaving me feeling saddened and helpless to do anything about it.
This from Reuters:
“Get up, boy, get up” cried the weeping father, who lost a total of 13 close relatives when an Israeli shell hit his house east of Gaza City.
“Please get up. I am your dad and I need you,” he implored helplessly.
The oldest was 4 years old. Their mother was killed too.
An article in the Atlantic claims the latest conflict is a proxy war with Iran, one Bush and Cheney “can only have contemplated.” Viewing the world as a giant chess board, I can see how one would come this conclusion. After all, this is a battle over the “soul of the Middle East.” A Hamas victory, defined as simply surviving to fight another day, will reduce Washington’s leverage in dealing with Iran, says the author.
Personally, I would not want to live under Sharia law. I find Islamic extremism about as abhorrent as Israeli indifference to human suffering. Yet the world is not a chess board, and that father pleading for his dead son to wake up is not a pawn.
In an interview with NPR last week, a resident of Gaza condemned Hamas and Israeli violence, claiming the death of one child was the death of humanity. As a father, I pray that I never find myself huddled under aerial bombardment as my son screams out in terror. Or falls silent.
Filed under: Asia, Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged: Gaza, Israel, parenting, Politics, religion |
Korea Dispatch 
Israeli indifference to human suffering? You do know that it’s easier to get mugged or shot in New York City than it is in Israel, right? Tell me, if your next-door-neighbor was shooting a gun at your house, destroying your property, after you let them fence in some of your yard, what would you do if one of your family members walked outside and got shot? Would you fight back? Because I know I would.
Why should Israel have to sit quietly, when the entire middle east and then some is out to destroy them?
Do you know that Israel is such a small country that you can’t even find it on a digital map? To find it you would have to type in the name and zoom in for a close up. How many countries are in that same situation? and if Israel goes down, then who’s next? But israel will not go down because it is the chosen nation.
And that is all I have to say about that.
I understand the sorrow over the Palestinians right now, but it seems like a lot of people are forgetting that when (very recently) it was Israeli civilians that were being killed in their homes and neighborhoods by suicide bombers and Hamas missiles, it was just as much a tragedy.
I suppose that if I had gotten a bigger neighbor to come in and slice my neighbor’s property up so that I could live there they’d be pretty damned pissed off. I know I would be. In that scenario, the last thing I would have done would have been to pour fuel on an already explosive situation.
You have no concern over the Israeli deaths? Palestinians attacked first, violating a truce, and killing innocent civilians on purpose. It is ok for Israelis to die, but not Palestinians? Israelis have had to deal with terrorism for the past 60 years. At least Israel tries to spare the civilians by warning them to move out of the way ahead of time. Gaza does not care about its own people. They use the deaths for publicity. HAMAS is the monster here.
Israel has for decades violated agreements with Palestinians, aggrandizing land and smothering the humanity of countless lives. I do not condone Hamas violence, but they did not emerge out of a void. As for Israeli warnings, from what I understand there is no where for Palestinians to go to get away from the bombings. “Gaza does not care about its own people.” — That is not what the above picture shows.