Those Fake Civilians

There is just no such thing as a non-weaponized civilian in the Middle East. That's how war's passions make humans strangers to their own sanity.

For the most part, Israeli spokespeople have been saying that civilians in Southern Lebanon should simply get out of the way, adding that those who remain may be presumed to be assisting Hezbollah. One variant of this is repeating over and over how Hezbollah shamelessly uses civilians as human shields. The redoubtable Alan Dershowitz, never at a loss to make Israel blameless, has gone furthest in developing the theory of the fake civilian.

What Israel and its apologists do not say, but what anyone in the region can see plainly, is that Lebanese civilians who lack money cannot get out, and that even some who can afford transport are courting death as Israeli bombs continue to rain down on anything that moves--Red Cross ambulances included.

But never mind such trifles. Once civilians have been appropriately laden with responsibility for their own fate, any deaths that follow are their own fault.

By this twisted reasoning, even the children killed in that basement in Qana brought their deaths upon themselves. "This is a village with a Hezbollah headquarters," said Israeli cabinet minister Gideon Ezra. "Civilians were warned to leave there." Israel's UN ambassador, Dan Gillerman, reinforced the theme: the dead "may have been killed by Israeli fire," said Gillerman, "but they are the victims of Hezbollah."

Gillerman's line could end up becoming the defining false memory of this new war for those who prefer to have their common morality anesthetized. It keeps things nice and simple. Israel didn't actually kill any civilians. Either the Lebanese who died horrible deaths were enemy combatants, actively aiding terrorists, or they effectively killed themselves by hanging around too long.

I suppose it's possible to go further than Dershowitz and say that so-called civilians are even more culpable than the Hezbollah fighters who launch the rockets. Why? Because by dying so dramatically they are giving the enemy a propaganda advantage. The bastards. If they weren't dead already we'd have to kill them.