Weak Tea
A day late and a dollar short: the left-of-center editorial board of the Los Angeles Times has continued its tradition of banality with respect to the Israeli murderous attack on the boats carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza.
As I did a few days ago, the editorial dutifully notes the he said-she said nature of the media coverage. It even calls for a real independent investigation into what actually happened. However, it appears to be treating the whole shameful episode as simply between Israel and Hamas and implying that there's not much the rest of the world can do beyond the exerting of some moral suasion.
In the days ahead, we need to learn what intelligence Israeli officials relied on in planning Operation Sea Breeze, why the operation was carried out in international waters, and what preparations were made for the obvious possibility that the commandos might meet resistance. We need to understand why a military that possesses tear gas and rubber bullets and other crowd-control tools couldn't find a way of defusing the situation short of shooting civilians dead with live ammunition.
Inevitably, the incident also will focus new attention on the blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza to isolate the Hamas government there. We agree with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the blockade "creates unacceptable suffering, hurts forces of moderation and empowers extremists."
This page supports Israel's right to self-defense. We support reasonable measures to stop cross-border shelling and to keep weapons from illegally entering Gaza by land or sea. We oppose the Hamas government's consistent call for the destruction of Israel. But we also want to see an end to the blockade, which amounts to collective punishment of about 1.5 million Palestinians.
There is absolutely no mention of what beyond the tsk-tsking of the world needs to be done, especially by the chief enabler of this kind of atrocious Israeli behavior, the US. After billions of dollars in military aid and dozens of UN Security Council vetoes of any measure condemning Israeli behavior, the US still maintains its unswerving support of Israel, even in the face of this atrocity. I have yet to see any article reporting even the summoning of the Israeli Ambassador to the White House.
The editorial calls for the end of Israel's blockade of Gaza, which is a commendable sentiment, but it will remain just that -- a sentiment -- unless and until real pressure is brought against the Israeli government by the US. And that will happen only when real pressure is brought against the US government to take some bold steps, pressure which could be initiated by editorial boards of major newspapers.
Weak tea, indeed.
As I did a few days ago, the editorial dutifully notes the he said-she said nature of the media coverage. It even calls for a real independent investigation into what actually happened. However, it appears to be treating the whole shameful episode as simply between Israel and Hamas and implying that there's not much the rest of the world can do beyond the exerting of some moral suasion.
In the days ahead, we need to learn what intelligence Israeli officials relied on in planning Operation Sea Breeze, why the operation was carried out in international waters, and what preparations were made for the obvious possibility that the commandos might meet resistance. We need to understand why a military that possesses tear gas and rubber bullets and other crowd-control tools couldn't find a way of defusing the situation short of shooting civilians dead with live ammunition.
Inevitably, the incident also will focus new attention on the blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza to isolate the Hamas government there. We agree with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the blockade "creates unacceptable suffering, hurts forces of moderation and empowers extremists."
This page supports Israel's right to self-defense. We support reasonable measures to stop cross-border shelling and to keep weapons from illegally entering Gaza by land or sea. We oppose the Hamas government's consistent call for the destruction of Israel. But we also want to see an end to the blockade, which amounts to collective punishment of about 1.5 million Palestinians.
There is absolutely no mention of what beyond the tsk-tsking of the world needs to be done, especially by the chief enabler of this kind of atrocious Israeli behavior, the US. After billions of dollars in military aid and dozens of UN Security Council vetoes of any measure condemning Israeli behavior, the US still maintains its unswerving support of Israel, even in the face of this atrocity. I have yet to see any article reporting even the summoning of the Israeli Ambassador to the White House.
The editorial calls for the end of Israel's blockade of Gaza, which is a commendable sentiment, but it will remain just that -- a sentiment -- unless and until real pressure is brought against the Israeli government by the US. And that will happen only when real pressure is brought against the US government to take some bold steps, pressure which could be initiated by editorial boards of major newspapers.
Weak tea, indeed.
Labels: Foreign Policy, Israel, Middle East
posted by Diane at 4:26 AM
1 Comments:
"unless and until real pressure is brought against the Israeli government by the US."
Boy, the anti-semites have really lost touch with reality. Israel is strongly supported by the entire world, more now than ever. And the blockade as well. To suggest that there is even a remote chance that any American politician would support violent, right-wing extremist anti-semites is beyond ludicrous. The anti-semites are really embarrassing themselves. do they even realize that people are now openly laughing at them.
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