The United States waged war on Afghanistan and Iraq after terrorists killed so many innocent civilians on 9/11. Israel waged war on Hamas after rockets landed deep within its borders.
But despite evildoers (those who would kill innocent civilians) provoking the retaliation they deserve and over time in the court of global public opinion, more and more people see America and now probably Israel as the wrongful aggressors for beating up on much smaller, weaker foes.
How come?
One explanation may be that good vs. evil is a matter of interpretation. And it may be that just like beauty, evil is in the eye of the beholder. From the P.O.V. of Islamic terrorists a very distorted picture of America as the greedy, oil gabbing infidels can be painted clearly enough so as to be believed. And of course it takes no imagination for Americans to view the Osama bin Laden and the Taliban as perpetrators of evil bent on destroying America and all Americans. Similarly it takes little for the Hamas and Israelis to paint similar evil portraits of each other.
On the other hand, big vs. small is more concrete and something you can wrap your hands around. Therefore after the initial terrorist attacks of 9/11 or rockets in Israel fade somewhat into the memory of all but those directly affected, what seizes people's attention is that a overwhelming force is fighting a much smaller and weaker one.
At that point, since the majority of people view themselves as small and oppressed by those in power, there is a great temptation to identify too much with the Islamic fundamentalists and Hamas and react against the much stronger Americans and Israel based merely on the fact that they are much smaller.
For larger powers like America and Israel to say, "But they started it," seems almost as if we "protest too much" and doesn't seem to have much effect in dissuading those who root for the underdog to stop doing so.
I don't have an answer for this tendency of human nature to believe the concrete (big vs. small) over the abstract (good vs. evil) other than to have the victims and their families keep telling their stories* so that people don't forget who the bad guys truly are.
Victims of the holocaust have done just that and although the immediacy of that event is fading into history as the last survivors die off, it has kept that awful memory alive for sixty years.
* While I'm on the topic of stories, there is much more to telling one than a plot and characters and two great resources to finding out more are Peter Guber, Hollywood uber producer and icon and Stephen Demming, the brand in business story telling.
I think it's those Palestinian children being blown to bits with U.S. weaponry and the kill ratio of 100/1 that has some of us with a conscience bothered.
BTW, Israel broke the ceasefire on 11/4/08. See it in the LA Times and Guardian. Just a little fact ignored in the press.
Needless to say, in my opinion, nothing good will come out of Israel nor America until the people of the world take back the power from these greedy war mongers that plot and plan to do everything they can to enslave us so they can have their New World Order.
Other wrong claims are those whom blame Israel for allowing the Arab Palestinians to build mosques and universities. Why shouldn't Israel let the Arabs build their own symbols of new nationality? The fact that the Palestinians, both Fatah and Hamas betrayed and used those facilities as a shelter to build the infrastructure of terror teaches only on the bad intentions of the Arabs regarding their view of the future of the conflict. Before 1967 there wasn't any university in the WB.
Another mistake of Oxi, the Mossad doesn't operate in the occupied territories but the Shabak, Israel Security Agency (ISA), Shin Bet.
First of all Israel didn't created the Hama. Israel created the "Villages union" in late 70th, which mainly operated between Jerusalem and Hebron. In early 80 that movement shrank and disappeared. The Hamas was created in Gaza in 1986 with the help of the extreme Islamic brotherhood movement.
People generally intend to blame the victim when they know nothing in that issue, including the 20th century historian Ze'ev Sternhell. In this occasion let me clear another wrong idea which claims that Israel invasion to southern Lebanon in June 1982 caused the creation of Hizbullah. That is also a great mistake which derives from the meeting in timed of both phenomena: Israel invasion and the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. The Islamic Shiite regime organized export of the revolution to Shiite societies and the main target was Lebanon (the other was Kosovo and the Persian Gulf emirates). Because most of the Lebanese are Shiites, the Iranian effort overwhelmingly succeeded. This export of terrorism wasn't dependent on the Israeli invasion but was the fruit of its own Iranian tree.
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Aparently you don't! Pass the koolaid!
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I don't know the definition of terrorism??
"Terrorism is defined as ongoing and systematic attacks of violence specifically targeted against innocent civilian persons or property for the purpose of furthering a political, economical or ideological agenda."
That's a definition borne of over 2 decades of working it, training for it, breathing it and living it.
And according to that definition, Hamas is NOTHING about "justice"..
Now, if you have a definition that you want to share that shows that Hamas has ANYTHING to do with "justice" by all means, share...
"Psssst.. This would be the time that you run away."
-Shrek
Michale
The Islamists set up orphanages and health clinics, as well as a network of schools, workshops which created employment for women as well as system of financial aid to the poor. And in 1978, they created an "Islamic University" in Gaza. "The military authority was convinced that these activities would weaken both the PLO and the leftist organizations in Gaza." At the end of 1992, there were six hundred mosques in Gaza. Thanks to Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad (Israel’s Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks) , the Islamists were allowed to reinforce their presence in the occupied territories. Meanwhile, the members of Fatah (Movement for the National Liberation of Palestine) and the Palestinian Left were subjected to the most brutal form of repression.
And who has killed more innocent civilians, Israel or Palestine? If you're trying to argue that Hamas have killed more civilians than the Israeli bombardment and invasion has, it would be nice to see some stats on that, because it's not what the media - eg, the BBC - are saying. Hamas are obviously in the wrong too, but there's an issue of proportionality of response. What Israel is doing is the equivalent of beating to death a kid throwing stones at your windows.
Michale.....
By your understanding and interpretation you have to blame the US for being the villain aggressor in WWII and NOT Nazi Germany !!!!
I, as a grain of sand on this co-opted beach of lore and hype, seek not to demonize Israel. I do not say that Israel does not have the right to defend itself. I do say, stop killing children, stop killing innocent men and women. I know some Israelis think that one Israeli life is worth ten-thousand Palestinians. I cannot believe that is the prevalent view. If it is -- God will smite Israel and public opinion will not matter after that. Any Godly people know this to be true -- be they Muslim or Jew.
According to this poster, "terrorism" is when a superior force attacks an inferior force...
I admit, it gave me pause... I hadn't really believed that there were people in this world who were actually and truly THAT unaware as to what constitutes terrorism...
It was mind boggling and showed me exactly how a terrorist organization such as Hamas can actually generate supporters..
Michale......
What is your point??
Michale.....
No, the above is false. According to the western media most if not all of the rockets fired by Hamas fell in and around empty fields causing no damage. The rest of the world and a large minority of Americans support the Palestinians not only because they are small and Israel is big, but also because they have justice on their side. Good and evil are not so neatly divided as you suggest. Uprooting communities from their homeland, forcing generations of innocent civilians into a virtual open-air prison called Gaza, building illegal settlements on land captured by force, imposing sub-human conditions on the indigenous population, cutting off basic supplies, bombing civilian neighborhoods with absolute and callous disregard for civilian casualties -- these are evil acts. So are suicide bombing against innocent Israeli civilians, but it is explainable as desperation. The vast majority of the civilized world is against Israeli actions not just because the victims are weak and the perpetrator is powerful, but mainly because the perpetrator is doing evil against the defenseless and weak.
Hamas has "justice" on their side??
Tell me, do you even KNOW what the definition of terrorism is???
Michale.....