First I saw a young protester telling a CNN reporter in Trafalgar Square, "Every single day, as soon as we turn on the TV, we see children there die in the hospitals, adults dying, children dying on the floor. Why, why, why? Why do children have to die? Why do innocent children have to die on the floor? Why?"
And I thought, She's right, those children in Gaza are innocent, every human life is precious, civilians aren't combatants. Doesn't everyone deserve basic human rights like food and water and life itself?
But then I thought, Where was she when 80 or 90 Hamas rockets a day were raining down on Israel? Where were all the television cameras when innocent children in Ashkelon and Sderot were being maimed and killed?
But then I saw pictures of massive devastation in Gaza on the front pages of the newspapers, and I thought, What good does it do if Israel appears to act like its enemies?
But then I heard Shimon Peres tell George Stephanopoulos that Hamas "did things which are unprecedented in the history even of terror. They made mosques into headquarters. They put bombs in the kindergartens, in their own homes. They are hiding in hospitals." Where were all the people of Gaza rising up in outrage when Hamas used them as human shields?
Then I heard Palestinian negotiator Hannan Ashwari say that Gaza was a secondary issue, that the real imperative was to reach a lasting political agreement, not a temporary military outcome, and I thought, She's right, there will be no peace and security for Israel unless a viable two-state solution is reached.
But then I read a blog by Atlantic writer Jeffrey Goldberg recounting his interview with Nizzar Rayyan, the Hamas leader who was killed by Israeli bombs last week. "This is what he said when I asked him if he could envision a 50-year hudna (or cease-fire) with Israel: 'The only reason to have a hudna is to prepare yourself for the final battle. We don't need 50 years to prepare ourselves for the final battle with Israel.' There is no chance, he said, that true Islam would ever allow a Jewish state to survive in the Muslim Middle East. 'Israel is an impossibility. It is an offense against God... You [Jews] are murderers of the prophets and you have closed your ears to the Messenger of Allah.... Jews tried to kill the Prophet, peace be unto him. All throughout history, you have stood in opposition to the word of God.'"
And I thought, How can you negotiate with people who reject your nation's right to exist, and whose version of religion calls you a murderous race? If someone claimed that the best way for America to deal with Bin Laden is to reach a political agreement with al-Qaeda, I'd say that they're nuts, that there can be no negotiation or accommodation with people lusting for a final battle to rid your people from the earth.
But then I heard an Arab diplomat railing against Israel's continuing tolerance of illegal settlements, and I thought, As long as Knesset coalition governments are dependent on ultra-Orthodox parties who have no respect for the law, how can anyone expect Arab moderates to gain enough political power for Israel to negotiate with them, when Israeli moderates can't muster that clout either?
Then I reminded myself that the people of Gaza overwhelmingly voted for Hamas in a democratic election, and I thought, What good is democracy, if it can put terrorists in charge of governments?
But then I read that tens of thousands of Israeli Arabs in the Israeli town of Sakhnin had rallied against Israel's Gaza offensive, and I thought, What Middle East nation except Israel would ensure that anti-government protesters had the right to hold such a demonstration?
And then I remembered reading that former Israeli army chief Moshe Yaalon warned Israelis not to delude themselves about Israel's Arab population, that Israeli Arabs - a fifth of Israel - constitute a potential fifth column.
Then I saw a Teleseker Institute poll saying that 95 percent of Israeli Jews support Operation Cast Lead against Hamas. But then I saw a Rasmussen poll saying that while 44 percent of Americans think Israel should have taken military action against the Palestinians, 41% say it should have tried to find a diplomatic solution - essentially a tie, within the poll's margin of error. And I wondered, How long does diplomacy have to keep failing, how many bombs have to keep dropping, before self-defense finally trumps talk?
I wish I didn't believe that the events now unfolding in the Middle East are too complicated for unalloyed outrage. I wish the arguments of only one side rang wholly true to me. I am the first to accuse myself of paralyzing moral generosity -- the fatal empathy that terrorists prey on. But ambivalence is not the same as moral equivalence, and holy war, no matter who is waging it, makes my flesh crawl.
In Milton's poem Samson Agonistes, Samson - blinded, in chains -- cries out, "Promise was that I / Should Israel from Philistian yoke deliver; / Ask for this great deliverer now, and find him / Eyeless in Gaza at the mill with slaves." But when Samson shows the strength to shun Delilah, God restores his power, enabling him to pull down the temple and kill the Philistines, though along with himself.
What makes Samson Agonistes a tragedy is the self-destruction that victory entails. I passionately assert Israel's right to exist in peace with its neighbors and within secure borders. But I can't help fearing that its military success in Gaza, should it come, will also entail a tragic cost.
This is my column from The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. You can read more of my columns here, and e-mail me there if you'd like.
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Israel Assaults Hamas In Gaza
SCROLL DOWN FOR SLIDESHOW ***UPDATE*** 12/29 11:45PM Israel continued to pound Hamas targets in Gaza for a fourth straight day: Israeli warplanes killed 10 Palestinians...
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Israel Masses Troops, Tanks For Possible Ground Invasion
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel widened its deadliest-ever air offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers Sunday, pounding smuggling tunnels and government strongholds, sending more tanks...
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Axelrod: Obama Understands Israel's Urge To Respond
One of Barack Obama's chief spokesmen repeated on Sunday that it would be counterproductive for the president-elect to weigh too deeply into the crisis between...
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Hamas Calls For Martyrdom After 280 Palestinians Die (VIDEO)
Israel has continued airstrikes on Gaza for the second day. The death toll has risen to 280, reports Al Jazeera. It also reports that Hamas...
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Gaza Crisis Complicates Obama's Policy In Mideast
CRAWFORD, Texas — The deaths of hundreds of Palestinians in Israel's deadliest-ever air assault on Hamas further complicate President-elect Barack Obama's challenge to achieve a...
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Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinian militants sent a deadly barrage of missiles flying deep into Israel on Monday, demonstrating that Hamas still had firepower...
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Progressive Jews See Potential Conflict With Obama Over Gaza
The flaring of tensions and violence in the Gaza Strip has created more than just another sensitive foreign policy crisis for Barack Obama to juggle....
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Why Did Israel Attack Gaza?
Why has Israel launched the deadliest attacks on Palestinian territory since the 1967 Six Day War? Israel's onslaught is a reprisal for a week-long barrage...
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US, UN, EU and Russia urge immediate Gaza truce
UNITED NATIONS — Key world powers trying to promote Mideast peace urged Israel and Hamas on Tuesday to immediately stop fighting in Gaza and southern...
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Israel weighs 48-hour halt to Gaza air campaign
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel, under international pressure, is considering a 48-hour halt to its punishing four-day air campaign on Hamas targets in Gaza...
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Israeli airstrike kills a top Hamas leader
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — An Israeli warplane dropped a 2,000-pound bomb on the home of one of Hamas' top five decision-makers Thursday, instantly killing...
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Israel Invades Gaza: Info, Updates, Video
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO ***UPDATE*** January 4th, 9:38PM The Times of London reports that Israel's rain of fire on Gaza is thought to be caused...
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Israeli troops and tanks slice deep into Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Thousands of Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships surrounded Gaza's largest city and fought militants at close range...
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Diplomats Converge On Israel In Push For Truce
Scroll down for video GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israel seized control of high-rise buildings and attacked houses, mosques and smuggling tunnels as it pressed...
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Diplomatic Pressure On Israel, Hamas Intensifies
UPDATE 6 pm Heavy fighting broke out in Gaza's populated streets Monday night as Israel dismissed calls for a truce, reports the Telegraph. Explosions were...
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Day Four: Gaza War Postings
I've been zigzagging my way between Israel and the West Bank to avoid IDF checkpoints. When we enter the Palestinian territories where emotions ran high, my Palestinian driver almost has a fit when he finds out that my cameraman is an Israeli.
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Photos From Israel That You Won't See on the News
Israel is not media savvy -- we have installed warning systems and bomb shelters. No casualties means no photos, which means that many incidents aren't even covered by the media.
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To Succeed in Israel/Palestine Where Clinton Failed, Obama Needs a History Lesson
If Obama limits his negotiating horizons to the failed visions of his Clinton-era Mideast team, the situation in Israel-Palestine is going to get a lot worse in the coming years.
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The CNN-NPR-NYT Middle East Conspiracy
When people complain about bias in the media, it's always bias against their own point of view, and never in favor of their side. Nowhere is this more true than in coverage of the Middle East.
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No Exit for Civilians in Gaza in the Midst of War
In similar situations around the world, civilians caught in the midst of conflict would have the option of seeking safety in neighboring countries as refugees. Gazans have no such option.
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Evidence Grows That Israel is Using White Phosphorus in Gaza
Today, at least two UN officials have flatly declared that three or more white phosphorous shells were part of the attack today that set a UN building and compound ablaze in Gaza City.
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Gaza Death Toll: 375 Palestinian, 4 Israeli
Israeli politicians continue to labor under delusions that this military operation can "clean up" their "problem" once and for all.
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Israel, Stop! Just. Stop.
Killing lots of people on the other side is not only ineffective, it is counterproductive. It hurts your cause. It gets more of your own people killed in the long run. Israel, you are so better than this.
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Israel and Gaza: Stop the Violence Now!
Israelis and Palestinians have been trying to prove to each other that they can survive never ending violence, an eternal occupation, and a perpetual cycle of denial that the two cannot exist together.
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Changing the Reality in Gaza
Counting on international pressure to bring a quick end to the Israeli onslaught may prove to be misplaced as Israel is now determined to never allow a return to the status quo ante.
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Understanding the Gaza Catastrophe
The people of Gaza are victims of geopolitics at its inhumane worst: producing what Israel itself calls a 'total war' against an essentially defenseless society.
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Gaza: Lessons We Should Have Learned
The horrors that are unfolding in Gaza are but a tragic replay of past confrontations.
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Arab-Israeli Rage
More than anything, it seems that the Arab world needs to produce it's version of Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi that can smartly and gracefully lead their people to a dignified future.
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Hamas and the Death of a Better Future
To me, Gaza is personal. As an Israeli infantry officer, I served in Gaza before, during, and after the 2005 Disengagement.
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In Gaza, A Doctor's Voice Tells of Shaking Houses, Breaking Windows
Four days after Israeli air attacks against the Gaza Strip began, hospitals are already overwhelmed by the influx of wounded patients.
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Al Jazeera English Beats Israel's Ban on Reporters in Gaza with Exclusive Coverage
Some may call it propaganda but I call it hardcore reporting. If you are not watching Al Jazeera English's coverage of the War on Gaza, you are missing much, if not, most of the story.
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Why Aren't More Americans Dancing To Israel's Tune?
The surprising trend in American opinion on Gaza may be because the same pundits who are cheerleading Israel's assault once sold the occupation of Iraq, and with a nearly identical set of arguments.
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A Minnesota College Newspaper Editor on Israel-Hamas Conflict, from Tel Aviv
There are 6 sets of parents in America right now who might be wishing that their kids weren't college newspaper editors.
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Israel as Mini-Me
We are both settler states -- the Puritans, who escaped oppression in the Old World only to mete out oppression in the New, unfolded their Zionist project in the 17th century with their "city built upon a hill" as the New Jerusalem.
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Maybe Hamas is Not so Stupid
Judged as a piece of political theater, Hamas has succeeded in presenting Israel as the golem on the block.
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Israel: Attacks on Gaza will Likely Backfire
If you're a civilian living in Gaza and an Israeli missile strikes your home killing your loved ones what are you to do? . Chances are you're going to take up arms and attack anyone and everyone you feel is responsible for the death of your family.
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Gaza: The War On Children
Israel has accused Hamas of intentionally attacking from civilian-populated areas, driving up casualties among non-combatants to provoke anger against Israel. But do children have to pay the price?
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The Future of Civilization
No war, no military action, no act of self-defense or revenge has a legitimacy that exempts the perpetrators from responsibility for the consequences they create.
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What Was Israel Supposed to Do?
Every day now, I hear someone saying, "What was Israel supposed to do? Hamas keeps firing rockets into their country." So, here is a quick list of the things they were supposed to do.
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Jews are Soul-Searching About Madoff -- What About Gaza?
The future of Judaism and the moral standing of the US Jewish community are being threatened. It is happening in Gaza. And unfortunately there is far too little handwringing about it in the Jewish leadership.
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Did Israel Use Disproportionate Force?
The tide of public opinion seems to invariably side with the underdog, regardless of who's to blame. Hence, Israel now finds itself in the awkward yet familiar position of defending its actions.
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More Birth Pangs in the Middle East?
Israel finds itself in a similar position the United States found itself in Vietnam: The more it flexes its military muscle the politically weaker it becomes vis-à-vis a determined, largely civilian enemy.
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Israel's Extensive PR Campaign
Last Friday, at the height of the attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced without a hint of irony: "We are peace seekers."
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What Was Hamas Thinking? Understanding the Events in Gaza
So what are Hamas's strategic imperatives? Hamas still behaves like a traditional guerrilla or terrorist group -- such groups are interested in relative, not absolute, victory.
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Accused of Funding Hamas, Controversial Charity Collects Money in Lebanon for Palestinians in Gaza (VIDEO)
On Beirut's waterfront road, young men dressed in green jackets with the Etelaf Al-Khair logo on their backs are handing out fliers with images of bloodied Palestinian children and holding donation boxes.
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Georgetown Newspaper Editor Reports on Sderot-Gaza, and Recording With Rockets
In a recording studio in Sderot, a few miles east of Israel's Gaza strip, Sergio Arditi felt the steady pulse of Rock and Roll give way to the sporadic vibration of bombs.
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Israel: There Has To Be A Better Way
The war between Israel and Hamas is not as two-dimensional as the United States Senate would like to believe. This is a complex and asymmetric war that will not end favorably for either side.
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Where Is Israel Going?
Does the Gaza war improve Israel's long-term (or even short-term) situation? I am not questioning Israel's right to respond. But that is the wrong question.
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Israel's Blitzkrieg on Gaza Proves Politically Expedient, Disproportionate and Unstoppable
While the threat of rockets launched from Gaza can seem menacing, or even "terrorizing," it is incomparable to the terror that millions of Palestinians endure on a daily basis.
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Famed Israeli Journalist Decries Civilian Casualties in Gaza -- But Who is Amira Hass?
Hass is not only an Israeli but both of her parents are Holocaust survivors. She has become the most prominent Israeli journalist to make it her mission to report as often as possible from Gaza and the West Bank.
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Defending Condi: Olmert Shames Himself in Kick-in-the-Teeth Attack on Rice
Olmert's statements certainly send a signal to many in the incoming Obama administration that while there are convergent American and Israeli interests -- friendship and trust are eroding.
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The Phony War Crimes Accusation Against Israel
If Israel were ever to be charged with "war crimes," that would mark the end of international human rights law as a neutral arbitrator of conduct.
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Palestine's Guernica and the Myths of Israeli Victimhood
After hundreds dead and counting, it is Israel who refuses to re-enter talks over a cease-fire. They are not intent on securing peace as they claim; it is more and more clear that they are seeking regime change -- whatever the cost.
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Israel May Win in Gaza, Hamas Won't Lose and Moderate Arab Leaders and Obama Will Worry
With or without intention, Israel has incited millions across the Arab world to praise Syria and Iran, both dedicated to the Palestinian cause, and perhaps just as many to condemn Egypt and more moderate countries.
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Christmas Spirit Shattered in the Holy Land
A tense atmosphere in anticipation of more bad news and an air of sadness has engulfed East Jerusalem in the aftermath of the Gaza attacks. The spirit of Christmas has all but died.
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Calling Out Bush's War in Gaza
Is it in the interest of humanity that we Americans engage in the charade that the Israeli government is an autonomous actor in this matter?
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Fanaticism and Contempt
Once the master of revolutionary war, Israel cannot seem to grasp the essential nature of asymmetrical warfare.
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IDF Photos of Hamas Targets in Gaza Before Strike
Israel Defense Forces released aerial photos of the Hamas facilities targeted by fighter pilots on Saturday's Operation Cast Lead. The red outline indicates the Hamas facilities targeted.
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America is Primarily at Fault for the Conflict in Gaza
The Bush administration demanded -- against the advice of nearly every expert in the field and the Israeli government -- that the Palestinians hold elections. They did. Hamas won.
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Bomb A Ghetto, Raise A Cheer -- The Video
On January 11, an estimated 10,000 people rallied in front of the Israeli consulate in New York in support of Israel's attack on Gaza. The event was a festive affair that began and ended with singing and joyous dancing.
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Gaza on YouTube: Film at 11!
In lieu of actual reporting, all you have to do is log on to the Israel Defense Forces' YouTube Channel and you can see images of Israel pummeling Gaza, and sit in on "the first ever" Twitter press conference.
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NY Times Responds Weakly Today to Israel's 'Incursion' -- As Shells Kill Dozens at U.N. School
It takes until paragraph #8 for the Times, to mention that, by the way, Israel "must" allow foreign journalists access to Gaza, especially since its highest court so ordered.
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Gazans in Peril
The human tragedy that has befallen Gaza's Palestinians -- Hamas supporters or not -- warrants every American to take cognizance because of its consequences for a durable Middle East peace.
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Hold Your Fire: Children and Civilians In Gaza
If the killing of unarmed civilians by terrorist groups is wrong, Israel's killing of unarmed Palestinian civilians and our defense of Israel's conduct cannot be right.
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War Diary from Sderot
Not in my name and not for me did you go into this war. The bloodbath in Gaza is not in my name nor for my security. Behind this accursed leadership of Hamas live human beings.
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Overwhelming Force Is the Only Way to Fight Terrorists
The destruction of Hamas benefits the Palestinians far more than the Israelis. It is they that must live under the cruelty of an organization that terrorizes its citizens even more than its enemies.
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Israel's Invasion Inspires One-Sided Commentary in U.S. Media
The invasion, to no one's surprise, did begin today -- so any further criticism will now come too late. But as in the past, U.S. media coverage and commentary has overwhelmingly backed Israeli actions.
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After Years in Exile, My Grandfather Returns to Gaza
My family had been trying to speak with my grandfather since Saturday, after Israel began its onslaught on Gaza. But we haven't managed to reach him.
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Gaza and the Obama Effect -- Ending the War
It might be pushing the envelope to call Obama the peacemaker here, but it's hard to deny that his impending entrance to the world stage has an effect.
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Killing the Messenger: Targeting the Press in Gaza
As is with the current situation with Gaza, when Israel is performing air strikes, everyone is vulnerable -- militants, civilians, and journalists alike.
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Obama's Silence
As January 20 approaches, Obama will have to make a lonely decision - to remember his 2007 words about Palestinian suffering and his campaign pledge to talk unconditionally with adversaries.
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How Propaganda Hijacked Israeli Strategy in Gaza
While Israel's explicit goal is to cease all attacks on southern Israel, senior IDF and intelligence officials have privately signaled that this is unrealistic, even with a ground invasion.
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Jordanian MPs Burn Israeli Flag
Nationalist MPs shared together in a clear act of national consensus as they torched the Israeli flag at the outset of the parliament's session Sunday.
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Video Reveals that a Lack of Moral Center Is Central to Hamas's War Strategy
The whole world is quick to condemn Israel for civilian deaths in Gaza, but there is utter silence over Hamas's blatant disregard for the lives of its own citizens.
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Israel/Palestine Debate Is Shifting
With each fresh round of bombing, Israel's reputation gets worse, allowing growing numbers of people who might never have said a critical word about that country to finally speak up.
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Goodnight My Love, See You in Heaven -- Diary From an Aid Worker in Gaza
The situation has now reached such a critical point that doctors frequently confront dilemmas such as these -- to treat the child who is bleeding to death or the baby who has severe head injuries?
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The U.N.'s Richard Falk: Gaza a Victim of Geopolitics
The people of Gaza are victims of geopolitics at its inhumane worst: producing what Israel itself calls a "total war" against an essentially defenseless society that lacks any defensive military capability whatsoever.
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Israel in Gaza: Three Wrong Arguments
The Reid/McConnell resolution is a perfect articulation of one voice in the American debate over Israel's actions in Gaza. Here are a few objections that should be raised.
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Dead Children In School Uniforms In Gaza City: A Nagging Thought About 'Collateral Damage'
I wish I could parse the politics and figure out where I stand on this shiny new conflict, but I'm stuck on its opening act.
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Israel, Gaza and Iran: Trapping Obama in Imagined Fault Lines
While there certainly is an underlying rivalry between Israel and Iran that has come to fuel many other otherwise unrelated conflicts in the region, not every war Israel fights is related to Iran.
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The True Story Behind This War is Not the One Israel is Telling
The Israeli government wants peace, but only one imposed on its own terms, based on the acceptance of defeat by the Palestinians.
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Weighing Proportionality in Gaza
The losses on both sides will be all in vain if the final outcome of the war does not substantially improve both the prospects for an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace.
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I've Seen This One Before
The only thing more predictable than a Jets football season is the ongoing saga that is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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Reportage from Israel/Gaza
We can't ignore this fact: Gaza is becoming not the embryo of the so-desired Palestinian State, but the advance base of a total war against the Jewish State.
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Proportionality and Disproportionality: A Guide to Arguments about Gaza
Even if the guns fall silent the charges and counter-charges of violations of international law will continue. Already the airwaves are full of talk that Israel's "disproportionate" response is a violation of international law.
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Obama -- Please Say Something!
In just over two weeks Obama will be unable to avoid saying something and the world will be looking to him and demanding to hear his opinion on the crisis in Gaza.
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Reading The Pictures: Is That A Snuff Film The Israeli Air Force Has Posted On YouTube?
 What troubles me most is how the IDF, in the name of transparency and smart public relations, has not only posted quite a few videos of bombing runs, but continues to show one in question.
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How Israel is Wrong and the Palestinians are Misguided
Israel is occupying the West Bank (and effectively Gaza because they control the borders, the airspace, etc.). What are they going to do with it -- hold on to it forever?
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Lessons Learned from the 2006 War Being Implemented in Gaza
While many have spoken about the lessons Hamas has learned from Hezbollah over the years, it appears the Israeli political and military establishment has learned one or two of its own.
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It's Overtime for Hamas' Leaders and Time for Them to Go
As long as Hamas rules its Gaza roost with its iron fist, any hope for a two state solution is just not in the cards. Hamas plays with a crooked deck.
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Kuwait's Political Machinations Lower U.S. Stocks as War on Gaza Raises Oil Prices
As the American dollar declines and bombs drop on Gaza, the likeliness of regional countries becoming drawn into the conflict are mounting.
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Has Israel Revived Hamas?
It is abundantly clear that Hamas movement has been brought back from near political defeat while moderate Arab leaders have been forced to back away from their support for any reconciliation with Israel.
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American Jewish Responses to Gaza: Old & New
In the past several years, the emergence of pro-peace American Jewish organizations has provided an alternative voice on critical Middle East issues.
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Hamas Is Largely to Blame for Israel's Gaza Offensive
How is it that Hamas, a terrorist organization that refused to extend the truce and fired rockets at civilians on a daily basis, gets so much sympathy, with Israel condemned for defending itself?
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Israel's Risk
What we're watching in Gaza is not so much low-intensity warfare as the continued fracture of the post-Soviet international order.
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Why Do So Few Speak Up for Gaza?
Why is it that there is such widespread acceptance, beginning with the apologetic arguments of George Bush, that whatever Israel does is always justified as necessary to the survival of the Jewish state?
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Why Israel Was Right to Invade Gaza
How should Israel attempt to protect its people, long-term, if it merely acts defensively in a tit-for-tat manner? That would be a horribly naïve response given its history.
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Brzezinski: Obama Must Press Agreement on Israelis and Palestinians
In order to get beyond the superficial analyses one might find on Morning Joe, I called up Zbigniew Brzezinski to offer him a serious opportunity to talk about Obama and the Israeli-Hamas conflict.
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Gaza Clouds Obama's Prospects
Clearly, Hamas and its hard-line supporters in the region reject the goal of an Israel at peace with its neighbors and secure within its boundaries.
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Gaza, Qaddafi, And Starbucks
Along with the images of bloodied children, scenes of destruction and carnage in Gaza, debates on Arab disunity have increased in the Arab media.
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Obama's Silence on Gaza is Deafening
Obama has massive political capital, and could have injected himself into the crisis before it happened and could have lent his credibility to a situation that has spiraled dangerously out of control.
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Attack on Gaza: As Usual, U.S. Media (And Most Liberals) Silent -- As Israeli Newspaper Raises Doubts
The foreign press, and even Haaretz in Israel, carries more balanced accounts than the American media.
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Israel's President Shimon Peres, On the Attacks in Gaza
Peres: "It is the first time in the history of Israel that we, the Israelis, cannot understand the motives or the purposes of the ones who are shooting at us. It is the most unreasonable war, done by the most unreasonable warriors."
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My Kuffiyeh Says I Care
It's New Years Eve in Beirut, and everyone is wondering what to do. In times of war, going about one's usual business can be a form of protest. In times of solidarity, the code of conduct is vague.
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Israel, Hamas, Gaza: Plenty of Us in America Just Need to Shut Up
Something labeled "Subject: Fwd: Some Differences Between Hamas and the Nazi Party" showed up in my inbox Monday night.
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Selective Memory Is a Problem when dealing with the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict
Irrespective of time and chronology, trading land for peace continues to be the most logical and appropriate way to address the conflict which has bridged the 20th and 21st centuries.
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Obama Camp "Prepared To Talk To Hamas," Says the Guardian
The Obama administration's emphasis on "talk" with Hamas will bring a significant moral shift in U.S. policy -- but it will not do away with some of the core grievances vis-a-vis U.S.-Israel relations.
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Mitchell Bard is Wrong On Israel
Hamas did not start this conflict. Here's an extensive time line of events, making clear that Israel broke the ceasefire, not Hamas.
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AP Reporter Watches Own Home Destroyed, via YouTube, in Gaza
In one of the most moving accounts of the war in Gaza, Ibrahim Barzak, the AP's chief correspondent there for 17 years, today wrote of watching his own home destroyed on YouTube.
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Protesters in Beirut Demand Action from Arab Leaders on Gaza, Focusing on Egypt as Demonstrations Rise (VIDEO)
Millions across the Arab world are demonstrating, demanding that Arab governments do more to support Palestinians trapped in Gaza.
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Ceasefire
The first reason for a ceasefire now is to stop the killing. The second is to ensure that a year or two from now we are not all wishing that Hamas was still in charge.
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Livni and Barak's Gaza Calculus
If hundreds of innocent deaths helps secure a real security mandate for the moderate-to-dovish Kadima/Labor and Israeli-Palestinian peace, that's political calculus Livni and Barak were willing to take.
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Iraqi Parliamentarian to His People: "It's Not Between Palestinians and Israelis, it's Between Terrorists and Moderates"
I spoke over the phone with Iraqi Parliamentarian Mithal al-Alusi, head of the Iraqi Nation Party in Baghdad -- he says, interestingly, a significant number of Iraqis are not reflexively anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian.
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What's Next on Gaza/Israel and Why Americans Should Care
So here we are, in a dangerous escalatory cycle that is already sweeping the region, with scores of Palestinian dead, horrific images, a highly-charged blame-game and no obvious exit-strategy. What needs to happen next?
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Was Israel Punked by Hamas? Are Progressives Attacking Israel Being Punked too?
The only way the Israeli and Palestinian people have a shot at peace is for outsiders to put pressure on both sides to make it happen and to stop the violence. It can be done.
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Israel and Hamas: Two to Tango
What is going on in Gaza is that it is not the result of a sudden decision or an immediate and intolerable provocation by one side or the other -- this thing has been in the planning by both sides for months.
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Even in Sderot, Israelis Say No to Endless War
The people I met in Sderot were not calling for war, they were calling for negotiation. They knew that they would be the ones to catch the brunt of an attack on Gaza, not Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem.
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Hamas Is Responsible for the Civilian Casualties in Gaza
By choosing tactical advantages over the safety of its citizens, the terrorist organization chose its military goals over the safety of its fellow Palestinians in Gaza.
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Indifference to the Dead and Dying
Collectively punishing the mothers and children of Gaza does not just violate international law, it does not just kill the people of Gaza, it kills any chance of a future peace.
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The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Is An Ancient Story
I've been living in Israel now for almost a decade, and have survived biological warfare threats from Saddam, Intifada #2, terror attacks targeting Israeli civilians, and the war with Lebanon. But today, I feel pissed off.
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Self-Deception and the Assault on Gaza
From the civilian deaths in Gaza will spring more hatred and terrorism. Yet no people are so prone as Americans and Israelis to think admiringly of our own good intentions.
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Letter From Beersheva
I am here in Beersheva -- on the "almost" frontlines of the conflict with Hamas -- to tell you the first thing to go when missiles start to fall nearby, is your diet.
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How to Defeat Hamas -- Face Up to the Truth
Making Hamas into a unique demon is pure propaganda. But no form of Islamic extremism will end until moderate Muslims stand up for their religion.
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Two Paths Ahead for the Palestinians: Nonviolence vs. Violence
There are only two paths ahead, one for Hamas and one for the Israelis, that each must take in order to solve this conflict once and for all.
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In the Shadow of Airstrikes in Jerusalem
With the coming war and intifada on my mind, I realize that thousands of rockets have been fired into Israel in recent years, yet because we in Jerusalem don't get hit by them, it has always seemed removed.
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It's Time for a Sustained Focus on a Lasting Middle East Peace
What we continue to lack is the kind of real political solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that could finally make a "ceasefire" endure.
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Gaza: Fight at the End of the Tunnel?
Any ceasefire must include an ironclad commitment by Egypt to cooperate fully with Israel to shut Hamas' tunnel network once and for all whatever Hamas' political or military wings decide tomorrow in Cairo.
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The Lesson Israel Should Have Never Learned
Israel, torn in anger and exaggerated feelings of vulnerability, is unlikely to stop bombing until it realizes that is has once again shot itself in the foot.
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-- Ariel Sharon, Israeli Foreign Minister, addressing a meeting of militants from the extreme right-wing Tsomet Party, Agence France Presse, November 15, 1998.
"Everybody has to move, run and grab as many (Palestinian) hilltops as they can to enlarge the (Jewish) settlements because everything we take now will stay ours...Everything we don't grab will go to them."
-- Ariel Sharon, Israeli Foreign Minister, addressing a meeting of the Tsomet Party, Agence France Presse, Nov. 15, 1998.
"Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the State of Israel on trial."
-- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, 25 March, 2001 quoted in BBC News Online
Ariel Sharon
Prime Minister of Israel
2001 - present
THIS IS ZIONISM..THIS IS WHAT AMERICA SUPPORTS.
-- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, quoted in Associated Press, November 16, 2000.
"I would have joined a terrorist organization."
-- Ehud Barak's response to Gideon Levy, a columnist for the Ha'aretz newspaper, when Barak was asked what he would have done if he had been born a Palestinian.
Ehud Barak
Prime Minister of Israel
1999 - 2001
-- Isreali Prime Minister (at the time) Yitzhak Shamir in a speech to Jewish settlers New York Times April 1, 1988
Yizhak Shamir
Prime Minister of Israel
1983 - 1984,
1986 - 1992
"Israel should have exploited the repression of the demonstrations in China, when world attention focused on that country, to carry out mass expulsions among the Arabs of the territories."
-- Benyamin Netanyahu, then Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, former Prime Minister of Israel, speaking to students at Bar Ilan University, from the Israeli journal Hotam, November 24, 1989.
Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister of Israel
1996 - 1999
"The Palestinians are like crocodiles, the more you give them meat, they want more"....
-- Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel at the time - August 28, 2000. Reported in the Jerusalem Post August 30, 2000
-- Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, speech to the Knesset, quoted in Amnon Kapeliouk, "Begin and the 'Beasts,"' New Statesman, June 25, 1982.
"The Partition of Palestine is illegal. It will never be recognized .... Jerusalem was and will for ever be our capital. Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for Ever."
-- Menachem Begin, the day after the U.N. vote to partition Palestine
Menachem Begin
Prime Minister of Israel
1977 - 1983
"The settlement of the Land of Israel is the essence of Zionism. Without settlement, we will not fulfill Zionism. It's that simple."
-- Yitzhak Shamir, Maariv, 02/21/1997.
-- Yitzhak Rabin (a "Prince of Peace" by Clinton's standards), explaining his method of ethnically cleansing the occupied land without stirring a world outcry. (Quoted in David Shipler in the New York Times, 04/04/1983 citing Meir Cohen's remarks to the Knesset's foreign affairs and defense committee on March 16.)
Yitzhak Rabin
Prime Minister of Israel
1974 - 1977,
1992 - 1995
-- Golda Meir, Le Monde, 15 October 1971
"We walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question, What is to be done with the Palestinian population?' Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said 'Drive them out!"
-- Yitzhak Rabin, leaked censored version of Rabin memoirs, published in the New York Times, 23 October 1979.
Please note: IDF press releases do not count as evidence.
I note that the U.N. has flatly contradicted the IDF claims that Hamas was firing out of that U.N. school that got shelled. How many more times does the IDF have to lie before they lose credibility with the media?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xjsfBGt4ik
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLbZyWZI3hU
Will it ever end? I wish I could say my nation was any less morality bankupt. May in the next few years, we will recover our morality.
4:08pm
Indianapolis
My question is this:
if everybody in Israel and Gaza now suffers
from PTSD (and they probably do) then what
do you expect to happen?
Cooler heads will have to make the peace.
Shame on both Democratic and Republican congress people for passing these stupid resolutions. They do not represent me nor 50% of the American people.
The U.S. has all the responsibility.
Be sincere.