The War in Gaza Update #9

Welcome to another edition of updates on the War in Gaza. We're starting to see a higher volume of spam and remarks from trolls. Comment moderation is still turned off but if this keeps up we may change that.

Previous editions of the round up can be found below:1* 2 *3* 3.5* 4* 4.5* 5* 5.5* 6*6.5 *7* 7.5* 8* 8.5.


And now onto the roundup.
William Kristol on Why Israel Fights
The Observer offers Why Israel went to war in Gaza.

The Times Online Israel splits Gaza in three as soldiers battle Hamas.
The Guardian regarding Obama's Silence on Gaza.
JPost reports Golani soldier escapes kidnap attempt.
Also in JPost 'It's too soon to discuss exit strategy'.
One more from JPost Egyptian film star: Hamas is to blame.
Ynet shared The Next Stage of Gaza and Sarkozy: Hamas shares responsibility for civilian suffering.
CNN Doctor in Gaza: Patients 'lying everywhere' (A comment about this. Since the terrorists choose to wear civilian gear it becomes difficult to ascertain who is who. Certainly there is no doubt that civilians have lost their lives and that is tragic. However one has to wonder if the death count of civilians is accurate.
From The WSJ Israel's Tragic Gaza Dilemma.

And now from the blogosphere:

The Muqata and Israelly Cool are liveblogging. So is the IDF Spokesperson.

Rabbi Daniel Gordis has a moving piece called A Caterpillar and An Anthem.
Seraphic Secret has updated Terrorist Rhetoric: Fact vs. Fiction or What I Learned in Hollywood.

Gateway Pundit reports THOUSANDS Protest In Support of Israel In Paris and Iranians Announce $1 Million Reward For Assassination of Egyptian President Mubarak.

My Right Word discovered Islamic Incongruency.

Meryl reports Number of killed and wounded in Israel doubled under cease fire.

Israel Matzav has a post of concern: Video: China supplying Hamas with weapons and cash.

Every now and then I like to try and provide a sample of some of what the opposition is saying about the war. You'll find their posts scattered throughout.

Preemptive Karma asks What is Israel's real objective? Sometimes the simple conclusion people come to is simply wrong, especially when it comes to this situation. It is a mistake to try and view this situation purely from a Western perspective.

The post is titled Inhuman but if you ask me it falls short of the mark. Some wars are necessary and just. That doesn't mean that you celebrate the loss of life or minimize it. Part of the horror of war is the loss of life on all sides. But sometimes in order to get to diplomacy you have to use force.

Beyond that all people may be equal, but all ideologies are not.

Firedoglake continues to spew rhetoric about how not every man in Gaza fights for Hamas and thus the dead and wounded civilian count could be much higher. The converse is that since they don't wear uniforms it could actually be much lower.

Here is another reason why I find them to be questionable arbiters of moral authority. While they find it easy to complain about Israel I don't see them coming down on Hamas. You know, the guys that intentionally operate amidst civilians.The people who hide in hospitals and mosques.

So until they start showing some balance, they're virtually useless.

Apparently Stop The ACLU has similar feelings.

As always there is news about protests. Solomonia shares some in Gaza on Boylston: Massive Pro-Hamas Rally in Boston. Note the flyer promoting the protest that says "End the 60 Year Occupation of Palestine!" Hard to negotiate with people who do not recognize your right to exist.

From Yid with Lid Hamas Using Hospital as Staging/Hiding Area.

Shiloh Musings spreads the word about a demonstration in New York and a personal account of life in Netivot.

Barking Moonbat provides IDF cuts Gaza in half, surrounds cities.

Planck's Constant says It is Moral to Kill More of your Enemy than They Do.

Letters of Thought laments The Death of Journalistic Standards.

APRPEH asks What Should Be Israel's Goal in Gaza?

Life in Israel has a post called Distance is only a matter of time (video)

WestbankMama says that Practice Makes Perfect.

It is important not to accept everything at facevalue because sometimes things are not as they seem: Media Fauxtography Now In Full Swing.

Judeopundit shares Some Gaza links, inane and sensible and an important story about the Hamas leader who was recently killed. Read this and let me know if you feel badly "He would tease us and ask if we wanted to die as martyrs with him"

The Right Truth has a round up of posts and links for your review.

The Big Dog reports Iran Calls For Oil Embargo. How shocking. That wacky fellow ahmadinejad and his cronies never fail to amuse me.

This concludes this edition of the round up. Stay tuned for more.

6 comments:

Right Truth said...

Thanks for the roundup and including Right Truth.

Debbie Hamilton
Right Truth

Batya said...

Great job. Fantastic movie. I hope to put it up and hat tip you of course.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the linkage to my opposition post.

It is true that I come to this from a Western perspective - having been born and raised in the United States. I am, however, an American Jew... for whatever that is worth. So, in a sense I have skin in the game, as the saying goes, whereas most Western observers don't.

I would also point out that whatever limitations inherent in a Western perspective not withstanding... our tax dollars are helping to fund this war. Like it or not, that gives all of us a legitimate say in what we think of it.

Jack Steiner said...

Hi Debbie,

It is my pleasure.

Hi Batya,

I don't know who made that movie, but it wasn't me. You have probably noticed that it is making the rounds.

Hi Kevin,

Like I said try to present a variety of opinions, even those I disagree with.

I am not a fearmonger, but I at the same time I have no doubt that people who hate Jews don't care whether you support or do not support Israel. They are just as happy to kill you or I. So that does give you "skin in the game."

As for our tax dollars being used here, well I'd ask just how much. I think that we'd find it to be a miniscule amount.

That leads into a whole line of questions about how much control the citizenry should have about allocation of tax dollars.

It gets to be so unwieldy that we have to rely upon our representatives and hope that they truly represent us.

Anonymous said...

I'll readily agree that for whatever it's limitations and flaws, glaring though many of them may be, representative democracy is a net gain for the citizens it represents.

Nevertheless, questioning the choices made by such representatives is a time honored tradition in Israel and America alike, n'est pas?

Anyway... In a nutshell my position here is that both sides bear significant responsibility for having created the conditions which inexorably led to the current armed conflict.

I can and do support Israel's right to exist without having to turn a blind eye to her role in all of this in order to justify it.

Lady Justice is blindfolded for a reason...

Thanks again for the linkage.

bernie said...

Thanks for the link. Great work.

As for Kevin, I just read one of his articles about the Israelis using civilians as human shields. As if. I cannot imagine the mental gymnastics required to believe that human shields mean anything to Hamas, unless Kevin intended his post to be humorous ...

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