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To hear our political leaders tell it – the sorry lot of them – Israel is right to yet again invade Gaza. The Palestinians have it coming. It’s all the doing of Hamas.
It’s a convenient and cowardly political posture. Harper probably believes it. Trudeau and Mulcair? Expedience, sheer craven expedience.
Nathan Thrall, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, has an op-ed in The New York Times, entitled, “How the West Chose War in Gaza. Gaza and Israel: the Road to War, Paved by the West.” The Palestinians, he writes, were on the road to forming a “consensus government” until Israel, with the tacit backing of the west, derailed it.
In the new political Canada we choose the good guys and, by default, the bad guys. The good guys (usually the powerful side) can do no wrong, the bad guys deserve whatever they get.
And when the good guys do bad things, we just look the other way. Harper, Trudeau, Mulcair – if you think one of them is fit to run this country, you’ve got a damned poor regard for this country.
MoS, the Disaffected Lib
UPDATE: Of course Canada’s political weasels will proclaim that Israel is only rampaging through Gaza to get at Hamas. That’s why the Israelis have destroyed Gaza’s water and sewage plants.
The eight-day assault has caused massive damage to infrastructure and destroyed at least 560 homes, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said. “Within days, the entire population of the Strip may be desperately short of water,” Jacques de Maio, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation in Israel and the occupied territories, said in a statement. If hostilities continue, just as temperatures soar in the region, “the question is not if but when an already beleaguered population will face an acute water crisis”, he said. “Water is becoming contaminated and sewage is overflowing, bringing a serious risk of disease,” de Maio added.
Another thought. If you think the targeting of Gaza's water and sewage stations is accidental or unintentional, think again. The Israeli air force did precisely the same thing during that country's last ill-fated invasion of Lebanon to take on Hezbollah. Even though the fighting was in the south of Lebanon along the Israeli border, Israeli jets destroyed the pumping stations in Beirut. The object in Lebanon then is the same as the object in Gaza now - to inflict the maximum suffering - and worse - on the civilian population. Read the article linked. 90% of Gaza's drinking water is no longer fit for human consumption. Compound that by taking down the sewage system and you've done something utterly monstrous to the Palestinian civilians.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile Harper, Trudeau and Mulcair greet Israel with a nod of approval. It's like the last time when Israeli forces rampaged through Gaza and Iggy granted them pre-absolution for any excesses. That should be enough to make any decent Liberal's stomach churn.
Actually, LD, the Euros have turned around. They've slapped trade sanctions on Israel, especially anything connected with the illegal settlements in the West Bank. The Israelis have howled with indignation. Even Washington is getting fed up. Only Canada is in the bag for Netanyahu.
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to the August, 2006 story about Israel's attack against the Lebanese people. "...power and water plants, sewage treatment plants and hospitals. Two hospitals are reported to have been completely destroyed, three others severely damaged." http://the-mound-of-sound.blogspot.ca/2006/08/when-there-are-no-good-guys.html
ReplyDeleteAnd recall that, in the closing hours before the Hezbollah-Israeli ceasefire, Israel launched massive cluster bomb attacks on southern Lebanon:
Amnon Vidan of Amnesty International in Israel said he was not surprised by the decision, noting that in such cases, rather than have the army investigate itself, it was better that an international investigation take place.
"The amount of cluster bombs used in civilian areas, as well as testimonies by soldiers about the use of the bombs, and Israel's refusal to hand over to the UN maps of the locations where it fired the bombs to help demining efforts," all point to different conclusions than those reached by the military, he said.
In August 2006, Jan Egeland, then the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, had harshly condemned Israel's use of cluster bombs, calling it "shocking and completely immoral."
"Ninety percent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when we knew there would be a resolution," he said, adding that populated areas, such as homes and agricultural land were now covered with unexploded bomblets. http://the-mound-of-sound.blogspot.ca/2007/12/israel-clears-israel-over-cluster-bomb.html
It's easy to criticize the 'other' side but the measure of our integrity is surely whether we brook the same conduct or worse from our supposed allies.
And before I leave the topic of Israel's assault on Gaza's Palestinians, it's important to note that Israel has been undermining Gaza's freshwater security for years and, in the process, rendering the place uninhabitable. This was evidenced by Israel's construction of "trap wells" along the Gaza border that intercepted groundwater before it could reach the Gazans. With the flow of freshwater disrupted, seawater entered the groundwater reserves. All of this from that known terrorist sympathizer, the World Bank.
ReplyDeletehttp://the-mound-of-sound.blogspot.ca/2009/09/out-of-sightout-of-mind-misery-of-gaza.html
Mound, you're right. Harper is a little poodle in Netanyahu's lap.
ReplyDeleteHowever America and Europe can do more. They're a lot more outspoken when it comes to Syria and Libya. America has equipped Israel with the state of the art weapons including nuclear war heads. America gives Israel $1 billion annually for the so-called iron-dome - to shoot down Palestinian missiles.