I very much agree that people really need to look carefully at these situations before forming an opinion, especially when the issues are so complex. Short-circuiting that process leads to the unthinking endorsement of the barbarity you described. Now, however, I think most Palestinians would be happy to be condescended to if they could …
I very much agree that people really need to look carefully at these situations before forming an opinion, especially when the issues are so complex. Short-circuiting that process leads to the unthinking endorsement of the barbarity you described. Now, however, I think most Palestinians would be happy to be condescended to if they could just be sure of survival. I truly hope Israel does its utmost to avoid the taking of more innocent lives. Netanyahu has tried to defend these tactics by citing civilian casualties resulting from the United States’ counterattacks during WWII and after 9/11. But there's something about these analogies that is problematic. For one thing, the allies were not trying to squeeze Germans out of Germany, and America was not trying to squeeze Afghans and Iraqis out of Afghanistan and Iraq, respectively. There are other reasons the analogies don’t hold up, but the most troubling thing is knowing in advance that the enemy is Hamas and not the Palestinians, while knowing the Palestinians will suffer the greatest percentage of the casualties. It’s like trying to kill a mosquito with a cannon ball.
There is another solution to the problem that has not been attempted and it points to one of the reasons Anti-Zionism is not the same thing as Anti-Semitism. Why has there not been a concerted effort on the part of the Israelis to convert the Muslim Population of Palestine to Judaism? If the Jews want to have a Jewish Homeland, and the Jews believe they are the chosen people, then why isn’t everyone invited to the party? If it is more a matter of mitochondrial DNA than religious faith, then is this not the very definition of racism?
I very much agree that people really need to look carefully at these situations before forming an opinion, especially when the issues are so complex. Short-circuiting that process leads to the unthinking endorsement of the barbarity you described. Now, however, I think most Palestinians would be happy to be condescended to if they could just be sure of survival. I truly hope Israel does its utmost to avoid the taking of more innocent lives. Netanyahu has tried to defend these tactics by citing civilian casualties resulting from the United States’ counterattacks during WWII and after 9/11. But there's something about these analogies that is problematic. For one thing, the allies were not trying to squeeze Germans out of Germany, and America was not trying to squeeze Afghans and Iraqis out of Afghanistan and Iraq, respectively. There are other reasons the analogies don’t hold up, but the most troubling thing is knowing in advance that the enemy is Hamas and not the Palestinians, while knowing the Palestinians will suffer the greatest percentage of the casualties. It’s like trying to kill a mosquito with a cannon ball.
There is another solution to the problem that has not been attempted and it points to one of the reasons Anti-Zionism is not the same thing as Anti-Semitism. Why has there not been a concerted effort on the part of the Israelis to convert the Muslim Population of Palestine to Judaism? If the Jews want to have a Jewish Homeland, and the Jews believe they are the chosen people, then why isn’t everyone invited to the party? If it is more a matter of mitochondrial DNA than religious faith, then is this not the very definition of racism?