Israel: There Has To Be A Better Way

Let me be crystal clear: Hamas is a terrorist organization that commingles themselves among the civilian population in Gaza. They fire rockets into Israel knowing that eventually Israel will provide a mammoth military response that will kill many innocent Palestinians. This exacerbates anti-Semitism in the Middle East and recruits more terrorists for Hamas' cause.

It's very intentional and the Israelis are playing into the hands of Hamas.

Israel needs to be a lot more selective and discriminatory of their military targets. The IDF is taking no prisoners and killing entirely too many women and children. And despite outcries from the world community for a cease-fire, the Israelis are pressing on blowing up homes, hospitals, Mosques, and schools said to be harboring Hamas militants.

And while the blood flows Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell joined forces yesterday pushing through a bipartisan resolution in the Senate affirming U.S. support for Israel's military actions in Gaza. However, 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 -- if it ever ends.

I've heard nonsensical dramatics from Harry Reid attempting to make the U.S. Senate's case for Israel by asking his colleagues to " imagine that happening here in the United States. Rockets and mortars coming from Toronto in Canada, into Buffalo New York. How would we as a country react?" Reid's co-sponser, Mitch McConnell said "The Israelis ... are responding exactly the same way we would."

That's fine if they want to use those platitudes, but they should also ask "how would the United States react to an occupying force?" That's just the beginning of properly analyzing the plight of both sides in the conflict.

I've always been a fan of "Give 'Em Hell Harry," but his Beavis and Butt-Head time with Mitch McConnell is too much for me.

I fully support the state of Israel, but not at the expense of hundreds of dead defenseless Palestinian children. Where is the pro-life movement in America on this one?

Once a man's wife and children are brutally murdered human nature allows him nothing to live for except revenge. When it happens in Gaza, and that man kills those who killed his family, we call him a terrorist. In this case what should we call the Israeli Defense Forces?

Our allies, the Israelis need to take the high road and devise a better military strategy in confronting Hamas -- a strategy that minimizes collateral damage.

How can we ever expect peace in the Middle East when both sides are killing the innocent?

In Steven Spielberg's 2005 film Munich there is a very moving scene involving the characters Robert and Avner -- two members of the Mossad. Robert tells Avner "We're Jews Avner, Jews don't do wrong because our enemies do wrong." Avner replies " We can't afford to be that decent anymore." Robert then says to Aver "I don't know if we ever were that decent. Suffering thousands of years of hatred doesn't make you decent. But we're supposed to be righteous. That's a beautiful thing. That's Jewish. That's what I knew, that's what I was taught and I'm losing it. I lose that and that's everything. That's my soul."

What a powerful perspective.

Comments

[DavidfromEugene]

John

You ask “How can we ever expect peace in the Middle East when both sides are killing the innocent?” that is not the question we need to ask. The question is: How can we expect peace in the Middle East if both sides believe they are in a position to prevail? One of the less obvious problems with war is that end a war requires at least one of the sides to believe that it has lost or will soon do so. Wars do not end with some one winning; they end with some one loosing.

As to the problem of innocents dying, that unfortunately is the biggest of war’s many negative points.

One last question to ponder: Will more innocents die if the current fighting in Gaza continues, then would die if the war between Israel and the Arabs continues for another 60 years?

[John Bruhns - Huffpost Blogger]

DavidfromEugene,

Fair points and analysis. However , your last question:

"Will more innocents die if the current fighting in Gaza continues, then would die if the war between Israel and the Arabs continues for another 60 years?"

The obvious answer is no, but what is currently going on in Gaza is not going to stop violence against Israel, I think it will create more enemies.

Thanks for sharing.

V/R
John

[joebiz]

What other choice does Israel have?

Consider the neighborhood: Syria, Lebannon, Iraq, Lybia, and Iran, Hizbollah, Hamas, PLO, Al Qaeda, Abu Nidal Organization, al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades among many others. The sole purpose for all of these oragnization and nation-states is the destruction of Israel.

Do you want Israel to "love their enemies"?

Israel has become the target for every terrorist organization, including the fascist, now departed, Saddam Hussein, for rocket and missle attacks. Does anyone remember SCUD missiles from Iraq during th First Gulf War?

Two-years ago, Hizbollah launched rocket attacks on the northern border of Israel from southern Lebannon. Israel retaliated killing upwards of 500 terrorists and about 1,000 civilians. Hizbollah chooses and the Lebanese "state" allowed and legitimized guerrilla warfare to be launched and perpetuated within its territory.

What nation-state harbors, trains, sponsors and then legitimizes terrorists and then allows itself to become martyred targets? The enemies of Israel.

The terrorists hide and weave and integrate themselves within its civilian populations. The terrorists are using these innocents both as human shields and as "justifications" for continued agression. The acts of these terrorists, to use civilians are human shields, is not only reprehensible and despicable but inhumane.

If the terrorists treat their own people like this, imagine what they would do to Israelis and Americans?

[John Bruhns - Huffpost Blogger]

joebiz,

I agree with most of what you said. However, read up on how Hezbollah and Hamas emerged. They emerged from the same exact thing that is going on is Gaza now. I don't want to see any more enemies of Israel created, but collateral damage (killing of innocent people) creates a lot of enemies.

No, I don't want Israel to love their enemies, just be more selective in their targeting.

V/R
John

[Paul]

Israel badly needs to revise its military doctrine.

It is hard to find a policy so spectacularly ill-suited to the achievement of its stated goals.

[John Bruhns - Huffpost Blogger]

Paul,

I agree.

V/R
John

[aemathisphd]

I think the author makes very strong points here, and I think he nails Hamas's strategy spot on. The more reactionary the gov't Israel elects in a month, the better the case for Hamas. If that weren't the case, they wouldn't have initiated suicide bombings in the wake of Oslo.

The issue of proportionate response is one that is quite difficult, however. The easiest response, and one that I think it would be difficult for any reasonable person to condemn Israel for, would be to lob a missile of equal size and proportion to a Qassam every time Hamas launched a Qassam into Israel. There would actually be fewer civilian casualties this way, and Israel couldn't be accused of being disproportionate.

Am I seriously suggesting this? When Hamas turns down a perfectly reasonable truce offer sponsored by Egypt and Syria that would end both the violence and the blockade, and when Israeli reaction to small rocket fire is so immensely disproportionate, then, yes, this is now my official position. Qassam for Qassam, and Israel can keep its nose (more) clean.

[John Bruhns - Huffpost Blogger]

aemathisphd,

Thank you for sharing your insight.

V/R
John

[Fein]

Okay John, let's hear your 'military solution' for the problem of the millions of people, who used to reside in 'Israel' and now have no place to live, except where Israel allows them to live, in concentration camps (to use the Vatican's terminology) 100% subject to the whims of an occupation with more accusations of human rights abuses than any other country, and surrounded by enclaves of religious fanatics who believe that their title to ALL the land is theirs as a birthright.

[aemathisphd]

Fein, the Palestinians in Gaza may live wherever they like. There are no more settlements there and if they are still in refugee camps (which are not concentration camps, and if you or Benedict XVI have some disagreement with this, I suggest you both tour Auschwitz and then Khan Younis and make the necessary comparisons), it is because they lack the money to move elsewhere (which is largely Arafat's fault for having embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars from the Palestinian coffers) and the fault of UNRWA, which has proved wholly ineffective at either helping the Palestinians or preventing terrorism originating from refugee camps.

Another point: Actually, Turkey has been cited more than Israel for human rights violations, according to Christopher Hitchens. And China routinely violates human rights systemically and daily, while Israel does not. China merely has a veto on the U.N. Security Council. Israel does not. And Turkey is in NATO; Israel is not.

[wild1a]

The Palestinians in Gaza are there because they were driven from their homes by the Israeli occupiers 40 years ago. The Iraelis have put settlements in Gaza(now removed but still in the West Bank), have treated them as sub humans and made life miserable for them in every possible way. Now they expect them to stay subjugated peacefully while the Israelis with generous contributions from the US live prosperous lives in Israel. Remorseless subjugation does not create friends, especially when it started with the Palestinians being driven from their homes. The Gaza strip was originally referred to as a refugee camp for displaced Palestinians. The differences in ethnicity, religion and the memories of forced expulsion from their homes make the likelihood of a peaceful solution remote.

[LillianB]

Aemathisphd: The population of Gaza have doubled or more so the last 5-10 years, because of Palestinian refugees being driven out from Israel, partly because of Jewish settlers born in other countries than Israel (the USA and Russia both come to mind) who are taking over their lands. The new settlements of Israel are placed on what used to be agricultural land owned by Palestinians, and the land of which their homes stood.

And yes, within the borders of Gaza they're allowed to live wherever they can afford to, leaving them not many opportunities considering they've lost all they owned. (Nor can they live where there is no room. Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas in the world.) But within Israel, they are not.

To be crystal clear: These are not the children of the people who fled Israel 40-70 years ago and are now asking for the "right to return". These are people being born in Israel, as Israeli (second-class) citizens.

[John Bruhns - Huffpost Blogger]

Fein,

I have no answer for that.

V/R
John