Israel vs the world

I was asked to write about what's going on (well what was going on) in Israel and Gaza. Of course some people will say I'm biased. Maybe i am, but it's my blog and i'll write what I want. My mother always told me not to start up with boys bigger than me. Well in the middle east, the big boy finally decided he'd had enough and decided to fight back. And the little guy complained to the that he was being attacked.

Yeah thats a very simplified version of events. But it doesn't change the fact on the ground. You keep on firing rockets into Israel and eventually they'll decide they've had enough and fire back. Just because you have more casualties and and are supposedly the weaker side, doesn't make you right. Except when Israel is involved. No matter what Israel does or doesn't do, it's always considered the bully when it comes to world opinion. It just can't win in the public arena.

They wanted Israel to pull out of Gaza. Some said it'd just bring the war closer to Israeli cities with nothing to stop them. Others said it would finally bring peace. Israel withdrew, and got a war on their doorstep. Hamas 'won' the 'elections' and the rest is history.

Hamas is in control of Gaza. And they're firing rockets at Israel. They're a foreign government, and this is an act of war. The fact that their rockets may not be as technologically advanced as the Israeli's, or the fact that more Palestinians were killed than Israelis, in no way makes them right. Yes it's sad that there has been alot of casualties on the palestinian side. But did they expect anything different? They shoot rockets across the border, from residential areas. From mosques, schools, they store the rockets in their houses and apartment buildings.

The world wanted a proportional response. What constitutes a proportional response? Shooting thousands of rockets randomly into Gaza and wherever they land, thats where they land? Berlin was bombed by the RAF in WWII. Was that a proportional response? What about Nagasaki and Hiroshima? Was that a proportional response? No it wasn't. If it hadn't have been done, would the allies have won? Who knows. It's a war, and in times of war you either win or lose. There is no let's see they sent 4 rockets into our territory, so we should send 4 back. Or they killed one of ours so we can only kill one of theirs. War is about trying to stop you enemy with whatever you have, so they either surrender, and or they die trying to kill you.

Yet Israel tried to do what they could to protect lives. They went in on the ground, putting their own soldiers at risk, rather than an all out air assault. They called houses to give them warning that they were being targeted. It's more warning than Israelis got. 15 seconds from the time you hear the air raid siren to get yourself some cover. If you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, you die. It's something Israeli people have lived with their entire lives. Apartment buildings and homes are built with bomb shelters. Kids learn what to do when they hear an air raid siren. They know how to put on a gas mask. It's something they have to live as part of their daily lives. Will they live another day? Will they die in a bus bombing, or a restaurant bombing. I know people that have been killed, that were in cafes or near restaurants that were blown up. How would you feel if you saw someone you knew on the front page of the newspaper covered in blood, running for their lives, knowing that their decision to sit at the back of the cafe rather than at the front actually saved their lives? But they live with it. If you thought about what may happen to you then you'd never leave your house. It's just another thing that they have to deal with. Extra security when going into a building or school, metal detectors, bag searches, it's life.

The Palestinians wanted Israel out of Gaza, and they got it. They voted Hamas as government there, and they got a war between Hamas and Fatah, as well as with Israel. They made their bed, and it's about time they lie in it, rather than blaming Israel for all their problems.

I want to leave you with a quote. It is attributed to Golda Meir, who was Israel's 4th Prime Minister from 1969-1974 - "Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate the Jews".

J