Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Israel still has a vision of peace through guns

Burned to death alive after beating
Even now many Americans form their opinions on the Middle East on two things, the Six Day War and the Holocaust.
In nearly 70 years, limiting the historical discussion only to post World War II, the blood is still being spilled.
Israel can win the war on movie screens, where brave commandos like the colonel played by Charles Bronson [Unlink], can rescue passengers from Idi Amin. Bronson’s character died in that movie.
Tel Aviv must recognize that historical forces include evolution, whether you are talking about germs or insurgents. It is exactly the opposite of hunting where the elk with the big rack gets shot.
The guerrillas who die are often the weakest. The strong survive. Israel is building a new terrorist.
Israel will be held responsible for civilian deaths, even if they are unavoidable. Even video games punish users for killing civilians.
Newer and vastly more sophisticated weapons are available that can bring down even the fastest jets when they fly low. Communications are vulnerable. Egypt has lost the little credibility it had with other Arabs, if it does not loosen border restrictions with Gaza during this crisis then it could face its own Intifada.
The creation of the Internet has meant Israel no longer controls news about actions there. Twitter and Facebook are full of reports from the scene, many of them false, or even lies posted by one side or the other, but a picture is still worth a thousand words.
The brutal beating of a Florida Jewish teen by Israeli police who was in East Jerusalem to visit his dying grandmother was filmed on mobile phones.
Citizen journalism sites are especially vulnerable to phony stories or agitprop. Writers are not even required to use their own names or give their real locations.
Moscow’s propaganda machine is spewing out false reports full blast, using writers planted years ago for a time like this.
The info war appears lost. Non-Muslim volunteers are being drawn to the Arab conflicts, much like they were to the Spanish Civil War. Last week a young Denver woman, raised as a Christian converted to Islam and was arrested en route to help fighters in Syria.

As air raid sirens screeched through the night in all major cities in Israel, US President Barack Obama reminded Israel that America is its best friend.
But, in a column written for the Israeli Haa
retz newspaper, he warned “the Palestinian people deserve the right to self-determination. Palestinian children have hopes and dreams for their future and deserve to live with the dignity that can only come with a state of their own. And, in President Abbas, Israel has a counterpart committed to a two-state solution and security cooperation with Israel.”

New York Times
BBC

1 comment:

  1. After WWII western European and N. American countries sought to expiate their collective guilt for not allowing Jewish people to flee to safety before the camps and ovens opened. They did not build a new Jewish state out of Germany, but decided to uproot the Palistinians and carve a new state there. It was not fair and not just, but Israel is a fact these many decades later. The Israelis are in a constant state of war with their neighbours, but their occupation of the West Bank, occupied during the six day war looks as if they do not want to reach a peaceful settlement. Israelis have a right to peaceful existence but so do their neighbours and one won't come without the other.

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