The Truth About Those Hamas Rockets
By Dennis Rahkonen
January 01, 2009 "Online Journal" -- Five years ago, the Bush administration
lied about weapons of mass destruction to dupe us into supporting an illegal,
immoral invasion of Iraq.
A few days ago, Israel trotted out only an infinitesimally more credible excuse
-- the Hamas rockets case -- as justification for its own murderous shock and
awe in Gaza, a long-planned campaign perniciously aimed at ousting a regime
that came to power via popular, democratic vote.
Yes, such rockets exist, but theyre little more than slingshots against
Israels incredible military might, and theyre used out of desperation by
Palestinians whove never been accorded the democratic space within which to
gain redress of their eminently just grievances.
Israeli apologists have presented absurd propaganda about those devices.
Weve been asked, for instance, what would we do if rockets were being launched
on our homes in New York or Texas, from Canada or Mexico?
The proper answer is that, if those two nations had been unlawfully occupied or
embargoed by the United States for 60 years of relentless oppression and
repression, and if all attempts at peaceful change had been forcefully
prevented or scuttled by the U.S., then such attacks would be an
understandable, indeed a justifiable attempt at gaining intolerably deferred
liberty.
Our appropriate response wouldnt be to bomb the hell out of the nearest
Canadian or Mexican city, but to collectively look into mirrors and earnestly
ask ourselves, What have we done wrong to incur their wrath?
And then act to correct the situation.
Conscientious Israelis acknowledge that the Hamas rockets rationale is
fraudulent. For instance, Jerusalem Post writer Larry Derfner has noted, We
dont want to see how people in Gaza are living, we block it out of our minds
-- which, I suppose, is natural for a society at war, but which also keeps that
war going longer than it might if we would recognize that Gaza is getting so
much the worst of it.
The [Palestinian] Kassam [rockets] have terrorized the 25,000 people in Sderot
and its environs, but have caused very, very few deaths or serious wounds. By
contrast, Israel has terrorized 1.5 million Gazans, locked them inside their
awfully narrow borders, throttled their economy, and killed and seriously
wounded thousands of them . . .
This is crazy. Israel is the superpower of the Middle East, but because we
still think were the Jews of Europe in the 1930s, or the Israelites under
Pharaoh, we spend a lot more time fighting our enemies than we might if we
looked at the whole picture, not just our half of it . . .
As Gazan hospitals and morgues fill beyond capacity because of an ongoing air
assault that cruelly began at precisely the hour when countless children were
heading home from school, were expected to believe that small craters mostly
in empty Israeli fields constitute this terrible episodes chief sin.
Bugs bothered by sporadically impacting, glorified fireworks cobbled together
in backyard garages are ludicrously supposed to be the primary problem, not
human limbs and lives shattered by the most destructive weapons that military
science can produce!
At any point during the past six decades, Israel could have had peace, simply
by assenting to the great moral imperative of our time, namely the
Palestinians right to their own, unitary, sovereign homeland.
Something which Israel continues to resist tooth and nail.
Two years ago, in Southern Lebanon, Israel engaged in similar bombings in
civilian areas. Then, too, it maintained that only terrorist targets were
being hit. As impartial observers finally ascertained the truth, clear evidence
of enormous civilian carnage surfaced.
The Israeli leadership lied then, and its lying now.
Theres a veritable holocaust occurring in densely packed Gaza. Think Guernica,
or the Warsaw Ghetto, with all the searing irony that comparison involves.
Apart from being an ethical travesty offending all decent hearts, its an
unpardonable outrage to especially Arab/Islamic peoples around the world.
Witness the angry demonstrations in cities across the planet.
It takes no extraordinary analytical prowess to appreciate that, when the White
House ridiculously blames whats currently happening on thugs in Gaza, and
when moderate Arab states adopt an accommodationist position pleasing the U.S.
and Israel, a profound Arab/Islamic radicalization billows and swells.
New Osama bin Ladens are being born as innocents in Gaza are getting ripped to
death by American-made Hellfire missiles, dispatched toward fleshly targets by
Israeli pilots.
In fact, the almost certain, counterproductive outcome of Israels action makes
us necessarily suspect that secret motives mistakenly judged by Tel Aviv to be
worth the risk are actually at play.
Three possibilities spring immediately to mind:
1) Obscenely using de facto genocide to give the present Israeli government a
tough image before upcoming national elections.
2) Roping Barack Obama into a harder pro-Israeli stance than Tel Aviv fears
hed otherwise take.
3) Creating a manipulated, intensely propagandized situation that would enable
a desired Israeli attack on Iran.
Whatever the most deeply hidden reality, Israels gargantuan crime must be
universally condemned in the strongest possible terms . . . and halted at once!
Dennis Rahkonen of Superior, Wisconsin, has been writing progressive commentary
with a Heartland perspective for various outlets since the 60s.
Copyright © 1998-2007 Online Journal
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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