Damned If They Do, Damned If They Don't, Part II
A supporter of Israel cannot help but writhe in agony at the horrible spectacle of the suffering, death and displacement of Lebanese civilians, their neighborhoods and lives shattered by the wrath of Israeli warplanes hunting down Hezbollah terrorists who hide in their midst.
How do you deal a decisive, clean blow to a terrorist organization that uses its own neighbors as human shields? You don't. You either grant them an unacceptable kind of immunity, or you go after them, whatever it takes, and become a hated slaughterer yourself. The terrorists are not blamed, because, after all, they were not harming their neighbors; only living and quietly stockpiling arms among them, and even dispensing social services. The death and destruction they call down on their neighbors serves their purposes, and they have proven before that they have no scruples about sacrificing Muslim lives for the cause. (Two Israeli Arab boys were killed by a Hezbollah rocket that struck Nazareth.) But they are not blamed. Even though the catastrophe for their people may prove a perverse victory for them. Because their power feeds on chaos, suffering, and rage.
This is how terrorists have the world by the balls.
Israel fell into their clever trap.
Posted by: realpc | July 20, 2006 at 10:14 AM
But it was a trap either way.
Posted by: amba | July 20, 2006 at 10:17 AM
May every last member of the Hezbo-Army-of-God-llah soon be united with his 72 black-eyed virgins (and the scornful mothers who come with them.)
Posted by: meade | July 20, 2006 at 11:27 AM
I'm basically trying to ignore the whole situation right now, a) because I'm ignorant, and b) because the whole thing is way too depressing.
But that said, Israel's bombing of Lebanon just leaves a very sour taste in my mouth. I normally support Israel's right to defend itself, but I'm not sure if I can this time.
Posted by: Tom Strong | July 20, 2006 at 05:35 PM
Why do you think Israel has lost its right to defend itself? When self-defense is gone, so is existence. Do you think Israel has lost its right to exist? Are you just resonating with the anti-Zionist left?
Posted by: realpc | July 20, 2006 at 08:36 PM
No. I simply think killing 123 civilians - and counting - in order to rescue 2 soldiers is extremely disproportionate.
Posted by: Tom Strong | July 20, 2006 at 08:45 PM
No, he's just recoiling from the mercilessness of the campaign. How can Israel, our ally, the supposedly civilized country that values human life, kill so many innocents?? Yet if it doesn't, it will leave Hezbollah's nests intact, where it hides and grows and where it strikes from. And how would Israel benefit from holding back, when most everybody would hate it anyway, and when restraint is taken as weakness and invites attacks?
This has made me think that to fight terrorists effectively, we will have to be willing to die and also to kill. That is truly horrifying, but it is the terrorists who, with diabolical cleverness and a much greater ruthlessness of their own, have set it up that way. It is truly a no-win situation, in that you cannot have your ideals and victory, or perhaps even survival.
Posted by: amba | July 20, 2006 at 08:54 PM
There's an Israeli saying, "Jewish blood is not cheap." It's a truism that Israel's Arab neighbors unfortunately must be reminded of periodically.
Posted by: The Sanity Inspector | July 23, 2006 at 12:42 AM