Guilty as charged! The kangaroo court - the United Nations Security Council - has again spoken!
It should be a no-brainer. Israel is fighting a war against terror, against efforts by terrorists to continue to smuggle mass amounts of weapons into Gaza. Other nations conduct wars in self defense. Who wouldn't take actions to end the weapons buildup by terrorists vowing to use them? Would England, Spain, or even France look the other way? The European Union, Amnesty International and all the 'like-mindeds' have rushed to jump on the bandwagon and declare Israel in violation of all imaginable excesses and even 'war crimes'.
"Israelis," they bellow out in indignation, "behave yourselves!"
"What should we do?" the Israelis reply," Run and hide? We are an independent nation with rights. Certainly that should mean something."
There has been no condemnation of Egypt for allowing the smuggling of weapons into Rafiach for years, causing much destruction. There has been no condemnation of weapons being smuggled into civilian homes in Gaza and held there for the terrorists to use against Israelis. There has been no condemnation of terrorists who operate within civilian structures and put even their own people at risk, knowing Israelis will harm them if military action is taken. No condemnation of the terrorists who target innocent Israelis. There has been no condemnation of the barbaric and grotesque display of body parts of slain Israeli soldiers.
The kangaroo court of world opinion is again in session. The talk, the debate, has all been stifled. Israeli spokespeople can argue that Israeli helicopters did not fire at the crowd of demonstrators, as so many have claimed. But really, who listens? Justice has been pre-determined, as it has been so many times before. Just read the long record of UN condemnations of Israel.
Theodore Herzl, following first Zionist congress in Basle in 1897, envisioned Jewish Statehood within 50 years. Herzl, however, also predicted that Jewish Statehood would be an antidote for anti-Semitism. He thought that as a sovereign nation among the other nations of the world, the Jews would be accepted. Jewish Statehood may have empowered the Jews as a nation, but it has done little to eliminate the scourge of anti-Semitism. The world reaction to the IDF's Operation Rainbow in Gaza again proves that, with the exception of a few friends, Israel is a nation that dwells alone, not reckoned among the nations of the world.
What has Zionism and Israel given the Jews? Among other things, it has given them the ability to defend its citizens from enemy attacks. Israel has proven once again, despite its many detractors, that preemptive action pays off and terrorism, to some extent, is preventable.
No one likes to be hated. But if that is our lot in life, better to be hated and alive than sympathized with and dead. It is better to have living people as monuments, then stone, inanimate monuments in memory of the innocent slain.
Two years ago, in the aftermath of the bogus accusations leveled against the IDF following the battle at Jenin, Kofi Annan - following in the long-time honored UN tradition of Israel-bashing and condemnation - posed the question: "Is it possible that Israel is right and the whole world is wrong"?
Mr. Secretary: The real question is whether the UN is ever right on the Middle East. If the IDF errs, it is for unnecessarily allowing its troops to be exposed to hostile fire at close range. No Israelis should die because military efforts to root out the threats are impeded by attempts to mollify world opinion. Despite all the efforts to protect Arab civilians used as shields by the terrorists, world opinion will turn against Israel in disdain anyway.
The latest incursion into Gaza angered the world, but probably saved many Israeli lives. If condemnation is the price to pay for self-preservation, then so be it.
It should be a no-brainer. Israel is fighting a war against terror, against efforts by terrorists to continue to smuggle mass amounts of weapons into Gaza. Other nations conduct wars in self defense. Who wouldn't take actions to end the weapons buildup by terrorists vowing to use them? Would England, Spain, or even France look the other way? The European Union, Amnesty International and all the 'like-mindeds' have rushed to jump on the bandwagon and declare Israel in violation of all imaginable excesses and even 'war crimes'.
"Israelis," they bellow out in indignation, "behave yourselves!"
"What should we do?" the Israelis reply," Run and hide? We are an independent nation with rights. Certainly that should mean something."
There has been no condemnation of Egypt for allowing the smuggling of weapons into Rafiach for years, causing much destruction. There has been no condemnation of weapons being smuggled into civilian homes in Gaza and held there for the terrorists to use against Israelis. There has been no condemnation of terrorists who operate within civilian structures and put even their own people at risk, knowing Israelis will harm them if military action is taken. No condemnation of the terrorists who target innocent Israelis. There has been no condemnation of the barbaric and grotesque display of body parts of slain Israeli soldiers.
The kangaroo court of world opinion is again in session. The talk, the debate, has all been stifled. Israeli spokespeople can argue that Israeli helicopters did not fire at the crowd of demonstrators, as so many have claimed. But really, who listens? Justice has been pre-determined, as it has been so many times before. Just read the long record of UN condemnations of Israel.
Theodore Herzl, following first Zionist congress in Basle in 1897, envisioned Jewish Statehood within 50 years. Herzl, however, also predicted that Jewish Statehood would be an antidote for anti-Semitism. He thought that as a sovereign nation among the other nations of the world, the Jews would be accepted. Jewish Statehood may have empowered the Jews as a nation, but it has done little to eliminate the scourge of anti-Semitism. The world reaction to the IDF's Operation Rainbow in Gaza again proves that, with the exception of a few friends, Israel is a nation that dwells alone, not reckoned among the nations of the world.
What has Zionism and Israel given the Jews? Among other things, it has given them the ability to defend its citizens from enemy attacks. Israel has proven once again, despite its many detractors, that preemptive action pays off and terrorism, to some extent, is preventable.
No one likes to be hated. But if that is our lot in life, better to be hated and alive than sympathized with and dead. It is better to have living people as monuments, then stone, inanimate monuments in memory of the innocent slain.
Two years ago, in the aftermath of the bogus accusations leveled against the IDF following the battle at Jenin, Kofi Annan - following in the long-time honored UN tradition of Israel-bashing and condemnation - posed the question: "Is it possible that Israel is right and the whole world is wrong"?
Mr. Secretary: The real question is whether the UN is ever right on the Middle East. If the IDF errs, it is for unnecessarily allowing its troops to be exposed to hostile fire at close range. No Israelis should die because military efforts to root out the threats are impeded by attempts to mollify world opinion. Despite all the efforts to protect Arab civilians used as shields by the terrorists, world opinion will turn against Israel in disdain anyway.
The latest incursion into Gaza angered the world, but probably saved many Israeli lives. If condemnation is the price to pay for self-preservation, then so be it.