By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas | Does any country really care whether Palestine lives or dies? No, there does not seem to be much - if any - sympathy for residents of the war-torn Gaza Strip currently under massive assault from Israel.
A reason is the violent attack by Hamas terrorists on Israeli settlers three weeks ago, when Israel was caught off-guard. Its assault is part-revenge, yes. The other part is a bit more complicated.
But the United States is right there with Israel and no other western country has lifted a voice or finger to save Palestine. At least, not yet. Perhaps once the Gaza is nothing more than a pock-marked geography rendered useless by American-supplied bombs, or when the number of dead crosses the million mark, which would be most of Palestine's population.
Here, the war is being framed as between Israel and Hamas, only non-Hamas Palestinians are also being murdered without a second thought.
As could be expected, President Joe Biden has cautioned Israel to not do the unthinkable and start killing Palestinians at will in its ongoing military invasion. The gung-ho Israelis are not listening.
Troops are marching in to kill, and massive bombs are falling.
Will we be okay with Palestine's obliteration?
Is this how we hope to finally find peace in the ragged Middle East? Or are we just feeding the anti-West monster still there, still waiting for that one moment to light the entire region on fire? Terrorists are everywhere these days. The U.S. just bombed spots in Libya to protect our soldiers assigned to that beaten country. It's a bonfire just waiting to happen.
Israel can live with Palestinian children being murdered. That's who Israel is, a country fed up with being attacked by its neighbor, with living as if a hunted animal, with simply being Israel - the country we all know as America's aircraft carrier in the region, a loyal ally who will do our bidding in the region for an annual contribution of $3.1 billion in foreign aid. But only to a certain point.
Israel is not listening to the U.S. on this one.
It is hellbent on ending the strife it has known and dished out for almost seven decades, since it gained statehood in 1948. Jews will tell you they have taken it for all those years, and they are damned sick and tired of it. Palestine also says pretty much the same thing from its perspective about relations with its skittish neighbor. The solution, they seem to scream every so often, is for one or the other to be destroyed.
Revenge is revenge and we all understand that emotion. Hamas must be taught a lesson and if it means the end of Hamas, well, we're fine with it.
Only, don't expect all-out, no-questions-asked support from non-Jewish Americans. Unconditional sympathy on this matter does not live here. A country simply cannot be allowed to overwhelm and destroy another just because it has the most powerful weapons available. The U.S. put a stop to that thinking when it invaded Iraq after Iraq invaded Kuwait in the early 1990s.
As always, all we can say is, "Well, we'll see." We'll see how things go as we head into the end of the first month of a horrible war. The hate is real. For sure. Both sides in this fiery fray hate each other with an unbridled passion, so any expectation that it will end with a smile and a handshake is fantasy.
Palestinians will again be bombed and killed today.
And, apparently, we'll be okay with it...
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The very area on the map where Jesus once walked is now trying to kill each other. It's so sad. God never said go kill your brother because he doesn't believe what you believe, he said distinctly "you shall NOT kill."
ReplyDeleteAn invasion results in occupation. Occupation of Gaza by Israel's IDF is not in Israel's best interest. The IDF is needed to defend Israel.
ReplyDeletePrecision bombing of military targets in Gaza is damaging Hamas' ability to wage war. It also eliminates the risk of high IDF casualties from conducting a ground war.
As long as the U.S. keeps up the supply of smart munitions to Israel, the bombardment can go on for months.
I understand that a lot of these older Jews who do have very intense generational trauma are unable to focus on anything but Jewish Israeli deaths. I can understand that, but I can also want them to be better and be able to open themselves up a little bit and broaden their compassion.
ReplyDeleteHow Nazi of the Israelis.
ReplyDeleteTribalism and religion are going to be the end of civilization.
ReplyDeleteA few years back, the Israeli intelligence outfit Mossad was said to be - by far - the premiere intelligence agency in the world. So far, nothing has been said about its role in all of this. Odd...
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