Alan Dershowitz, Harvard law professor, posted a comment in the National Post on Wednesday Jan 7, 2009 that brings up some very interesting points.
He begins by reminding us that Israel is protecting its citizens from deadly Hamas rockets, (rockets that lack any guidance system which leaves them randomly effective with results so ‘deadly’ that out of the estimated 1,750 launches since their introduction in 2001 have killed 13 Israelis and 2 Palestinians).
He later informs us that the number of genuinely innocent civilians killed by the Israeli Air Force in Gaza is lower than the collateral deaths caused by any nation in a comparable situation. With this statement, he is setting the stage for his coming remarks by reminding us that civilian deaths are inevitable during war and that the number of ‘genuinely innocent civilian’ deaths falls within acceptable limits. I don’t agree with the notion of an ‘acceptable’ innocent civilian death rate.
He points out that there is more protest directed against Israel when it inadvertently kills approximately 100 civilians in a just war of self-defense than against Arab and Muslim nations and groups that deliberately kill far more civilians for no legitimate reason through the use of suicide attacks. He backs this up by saying more Arabs and Muslim civilians are killed every day in Africa and the Middle East by Arab and Muslim governments and groups with little or no protests.
He claims bias when he mentions there has been no protests against the cold-blooded murders by Hamas and its supporters of dozens of Palestinian civilians who allegedly "collaborated" with Israel. Indeed, Hamas and Fatah have killed far more Palestinian civilians over the past several years than have the Israelis, but you wouldn't know that from the media, the United Nations or protesters who focus selectively on only those deaths caused by Israeli military actions.
Hamas is playing Russian roulette with its children. Their use of human shields, in the way Hamas uses the civilian population of Gaza, is a war crime. No question about it. They are committing other crimes against humanity as well, such as: firing rockets at kindergartens, playgrounds and hospitals; hiding behind its own civilians when firing at Israeli civilians; refusing to build bunkers for its own civilians. Every human shield that is killed by Israeli self-defense measures is the responsibility of Hamas, but you wouldn't know that from watching the media coverage.
The media is being manipulated. They set up TV cameras to transmit every image of dead Palestinians, especially children and exaggerate the number of civilians killed by including as "children" Hamas fighters who are 16 or 17 years old and as "women," female terrorists.
Hamas declared war on Israel, long before this latest conflict, calling for its complete destruction and is now interpreting current world-wide protest against Israel as pro-Palestinian and therefore are emboldened to continue fighting using any despicable and unconscionable means at its disposal to bring down the Israeli nation.
Dershowitz is decidedly pro-Israel, but the fact remains that Israel is using their technologically advanced military against what amounts to sticks and stones, by comparison. This current conflict is the result of Israel forcing Palestinians to live in a cramped strip of land and blockading food and medical supplies into the area. When Hamas fired their unsophisticated rockets at Israel as protest, Israel fought back with a lopsided and heavy-handed offense. This is what the world is protesting against.
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