War Handwavium

The above picture is from 29 December 2008. The caption:

Palestinian mourners react during the funeral of five members of the Balosha family, including three children and two teenagers, who were killed in an Israeli missile strike, in the Jebaliya refugee camp.

In case you missed it, Israel launched an all out offensive against Gaza just recently.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1868829,00.html

Israel will claim that it is targeting militants who are hiding among the civilian population in Gaza and firing rockets at Israel. But the simple fact is that a lot of Palestinian civilians bave been killed by Israeli bombs and missiles in the last few days. The fact that Israel tried to kill militants, but killed children instead, doesn’t make the horror of war any better.

Current death toll is 300 palestinian dead, 1400 wounded

I suppose its only coincidence that Israel is going to have elections in a few weeks and the incumbent, Livni is fighting to stay in office against the hawkish Netanyahu. But it wouldn’t be the first time that politicians launched a war to gain a spike in local polls at the expense of dead foreigners and international criticism.

I suppose it is also a coincidence that the US is in lame-duck mode as well. Bush lost the last election, but remains in office until January 20 when Obama is sworn in. And right now would just happen to be the best time to launch a military operation and not have to worry about the US condemning Israel or asking for restraint.

There certainly doesn’t seem to be any military reason that Israel decided to launch these massive airstrikes today. And if it was chosen for political reasons then this is a war of choice.

Those having a sense of deja vu, yes, you’ve heard this sort of thing before. In July 2006, Hezbollah militants hiding among the civilian population in Lebanon fired rockets into Israel. And Israel responded by invading and occupying Lebanon.

But then the Israeli military launched an airstrike against an apartment building in southern Lebanon, in a city called Qana. Precision guided bombs flattened the building, and about 30 civilians were killed, about half of them children.

Now, Israel is launching airstrikes into Gaza against Hamas militants launching rockets from Gaza while hiding among the civilian popoulation.

And once again, Israel has made clear its willingness to sacrifice civilian life of non-Israelis in order to attack Israel’s enemy.

Anyone who think this simple calculus is lost on the Palestinians is a damn fool.

During Israel’s 2006 invasion of Lebanon, the final death toll was 44 Israeli civilians dead and 1191 Lebanese civilians dead. Israel’s military destroyed 350 school buildings, two hospitals, and 15,000 Lebanese homes. 130,000 homes were damaged.

After three days of military actiona against Gaza in December 2008, Israel has already killed 315 Palestinians and wounded 1,400. The UN has already announced that at least 51 of those dead are confirmed to be civilians. And while numbers are spotty, at least some number of Palestinian children have been killed.

In response to what?

For the entire year of 2008, militants hiding in Gaza attacking Israel have killed 17 people. 8 soldiers. 9 civilians. This according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081229/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians_120

Does anyone think the Palestinians who’ve had their homes bombed by Israeli Air Force jets haven’t noticed the math?

Are Hamas attacks on Israel wrong? Yes, absolutely.

But the wrong of Hamas attacks on Israel isn’t corrected by an even greater wrong of Israel attacks on Palestine as a whole.

The death of 17 Israelis in a year doesn’t justify the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians in three days.

The Palestinian children killed by an Israeli missile strike in the Jebaliya refugee camp pretty much wipes out any moral high ground that Israel can claim for this operation.