As the tv networks give unlimited airtime to Israel’s apologists, the message rolls out that no nation, least of all Israel, can permit bombardment or armed incursion across its borders without retaliation.Why not go read the whole thing?
The guiding rule in this tsunami of drivel is that the viewers should be denied the slightest access to any historical context, or indeed to anything that happened prior to June 28, which was when the capture of an Israeli soldier and the killing of two others by Hamas hit the headlines, followed soon thereafter by an attack by a unit of Hezbollah’s fighters.
Memory is supposed to stop in its tracks at June 28, 2006.
Let’s go on a brief excursion into pre-history. I’m talking about June 20, 2006, when Israeli aircraft fired at least one missile at a car in an attempted extrajudicial assassination attempt on a road between Jabalya and Gaza City. The missile missed the car. Instead it killed three Palestinian children and wounded 15.
Back we go again to June 13, 2006. Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a van in another attempted extrajudicial assassination. The successive barrages killed nine innocent Palestinians.
Now we’re really in the dark ages, reaching far, far back to June 9, 2006, when Israel shelled a beach in Beit Lahiya killing 8 civilians and injuring 32.
That’s just a brief trip down Memory Lane, and we trip over the bodies of twenty dead and forty-seven wounded, all of them Palestinians, most of them women and children.
Friday, July 21, 2006
A Quick Perspective-Restorer
Alexander Cockburn, at CounterPunch today:
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3 comments:
Why stop where Cockburn stopped? The history goes back thousands of years. His history seems only replete with what Israel has done while neglecting what Hezbollah, Hamas, and the PLO have perpetrated.
Seems to me a short while back Arafat was offered a 2 state scenario that gave him 98% of what he wanted and he walked away. Not much of a surprize when you realize the extermination of Israel is all they'll really settle for.
Totally off topic
Hi Bartleby. I'm headed to Canada near the end of next week, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in some guest blogging at R&F. I would only need one post from you. You can write about whatever you want, but I was kind of interested in what you think about string theory. Just an idea.
Think about it, and email me if you're interested.
TW: I think you're missing Cockburn's point, which is the cross-border incursions business. I don't think he's saying that Israel is all wrong, and Israel's enemies all right. By listening to the seemingly-endless parade of Israeli officials and apologists on CNN, etc., one could easily get the ideas that: Israel is comepletely in the right, and its enemies completely in the wrong; and that the innocent Israelis are unique in having had their border crossed for nefarious purposes. As he points out, they know all about cross-border adventures and slaughtering the innocent thereby.
Craig: as they say, "You have mail."
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