In today’s session, please take the time to read this important article by a Jew on the situation in Gaza. It is indeed a horrid way to start the new year, with air strikes and burning children – but in order to understand what Israel – and Hamas – are getting themselves into, surely one must understand how their God abhors their senseless violence.
“The reality of fear, death, and destruction is beyond all this. A father weeps for his five daughters who died in their sleep, “collateral damage” in the heart of Gaza City. A daughter cries out for her mother, lost in a Hamas rocket attack on the town of Ashdod. Multiply that scene by a thousand. See yourself right in the midst of it. In this latest round, to date, more than 400 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli attacks. The Israeli government counts 19 fatalities from Hamas rockets since 2002.
There is, of course, something pointless to the algebra of comparative suffering. But Israel’s attack on Gaza is like shooting fish in a barrel. The body count and vast disproportion of weapons, technology, and killing make me ashamed to acknowledge that my government supplies so much of Israel’s weaponry and ashamed to be a Jew, even as I fear for the future of the people I was born to.”
The author of this article urges us to petition the United States to take decisive action. In my opinion, because George W. Bush is better known for starting and maintaining wars rather than stopping them, he has no competence – nor any motivation – to end the conflict in Palestine. They claim they “understand” Israel’s desire to “defend itself”. Defend itself? 400 Palestinian civilians in THIS offensive alone to 19 in Israel since 2002??? Even the most delusional pro-Israel dominionist can see that there is a horrible, horrible disproportionate loss of life that cannot be justified just because Hamas are “using” human shields. They may be, but considering how awesome Israeli weapons systems are, they’re doing an insufficient job of breaking the militants. Maybe they’re aiming at the wrong targets, like schools and hospitals. Just maybe.
Or maybe, just maybe, they don’t realize… that they’re just – doing – it – wrong.
