In learning that the suburb of Somerville was considering divesting from Israel, I was first struck with the hypocrisy of such an action. The divestment proponents cite 'human rights abuses,' yet fail to equate them with similar 'human rights abuses' by their very own country.
So let's examine these putative 'human rights abuses' in the clear light of facts, reality and law, and also compare them to US actions under similar circumstances.
Fact: Israel has been and continues to be under attack for four years by Arabs occupying Jewish Palestine -- land Israel had originally been granted by the un-abrogated Palestine Mandate, and then won in a defensive war against the surrounding Arab countries.
Fact: Every sovereign nation has the right to self-defense.
Fact: According to the Geneva Conventions, any group or country that uses civilians as human shields is responsible for any injuries or deaths, or even inconveniences suffered by the civilian population.
Fact: The Arabs, under the banner of 'Palestinian', use their own civilians to hide among. They launch their attacks from civilian areas and frequently use even children to carry out mass murders of Jews, or to assist in these mass murders by being mules to transport weaponry.
Fact: There is no such thing as a bloodless, politically correct war, where only combatants are the losers.
In our war to destroy the Taliban, America was the aggressor. The Taliban did not attack us, Al-Qaeda did. The Taliban merely maintained a refuge for Al-Qaeda. But we, the US, attacked the Taliban. In the process, many non-Taliban Afghanis were killed or injured despite our best efforts to prevent such from occurring. At the same time, the non-Taliban Afghanis had their lives disrupted and their livelihoods destroyed or interrupted.
Where were the Somerville divestment proponents? They were silent either out of hypocrisy or because they realized that there were no 'human rights abuses' occurring. 'Human rights abuses' occur only when a sovereign nation singles out a peaceful and non-threatening group of people to maltreat. It does not occur when there is a war -- especially a defensive war, as in Israel's case -- and the defending party makes every possible attempt to minimize collateral damage. The US did this in Afghanistan, is currently doing this in Iraq, and Israel is now doing this against the Arab aggressors.
If the Somerville divestment proponents are so keen on 'human rights abuses,' why has no mention been made of blatant human rights abuses against Israeli citizens? Blowing up busloads of Israeli civilians, murdering Israeli mothers and children with poison-dipped shrapnel launched in homicide bombings, knifings and axe attacks against Israeli teens because they are Jewish and Israeli are all human rights abuses perpetrated on a continuing basis by the Arabs.
Israel, in her defensive war against an entity determined to commit genocide upon an entire people, has been extremely restrained -- to the point of endangering her own civilian population. If Israel wanted, she could carpet bomb the Arab aggressors and be done with it. If Israel wanted, she could close her borders to an aggressive and combatant population and cut her own civilian casualties to almost nil. Yet Israel, one of the most humanitarian countries in the world, refuses to punish the few Arabs who are against the genocidal intents of the majority of their people.
Majority of their people, you ask? A poll by the Palestinian agency JMCC showed that a majority support suicide/homicide bombings against Israeli civilians.
Meanwhile, Israel is one of the few countries in the Middle East that allows equal rights to all its citizenry, including Arabs and others who want to see Israel destroyed. All are allowed to vote, all are allowed to live, earn a livelihood and practice whatever religion they choose.
Does a Jew have the same rights in Arab lands? In the territory occupied by the Arabs whom the divestment committee want to 'protect' through divestment, a Jew who dares walk there is literally torn apart by the crowds. This very thing happened to two Israelis who got lost there a few years back.
In truth, this whole issue of divestment from Israel is an economic war waged by Islamists whose goal is the destruction of Israel. Three wars of aggression, with Arabs outnumbering Israelis 100 to 1, could not achieve this goal, so the Islamists have resorted to an economic war to destroy the legal and sovereign Jewish homeland. The Islamists are hoping that mass divestment might achieve what murder and genocide has failed to do.
Apparently, those Somerville divestment proponents are either hypocrites, Islamist toadies, or -- even worse -- ignorant. Too bad Somerville cannot disengage itself from them.
So let's examine these putative 'human rights abuses' in the clear light of facts, reality and law, and also compare them to US actions under similar circumstances.
Fact: Israel has been and continues to be under attack for four years by Arabs occupying Jewish Palestine -- land Israel had originally been granted by the un-abrogated Palestine Mandate, and then won in a defensive war against the surrounding Arab countries.
Fact: Every sovereign nation has the right to self-defense.
Fact: According to the Geneva Conventions, any group or country that uses civilians as human shields is responsible for any injuries or deaths, or even inconveniences suffered by the civilian population.
Fact: The Arabs, under the banner of 'Palestinian', use their own civilians to hide among. They launch their attacks from civilian areas and frequently use even children to carry out mass murders of Jews, or to assist in these mass murders by being mules to transport weaponry.
Fact: There is no such thing as a bloodless, politically correct war, where only combatants are the losers.
In our war to destroy the Taliban, America was the aggressor. The Taliban did not attack us, Al-Qaeda did. The Taliban merely maintained a refuge for Al-Qaeda. But we, the US, attacked the Taliban. In the process, many non-Taliban Afghanis were killed or injured despite our best efforts to prevent such from occurring. At the same time, the non-Taliban Afghanis had their lives disrupted and their livelihoods destroyed or interrupted.
Where were the Somerville divestment proponents? They were silent either out of hypocrisy or because they realized that there were no 'human rights abuses' occurring. 'Human rights abuses' occur only when a sovereign nation singles out a peaceful and non-threatening group of people to maltreat. It does not occur when there is a war -- especially a defensive war, as in Israel's case -- and the defending party makes every possible attempt to minimize collateral damage. The US did this in Afghanistan, is currently doing this in Iraq, and Israel is now doing this against the Arab aggressors.
If the Somerville divestment proponents are so keen on 'human rights abuses,' why has no mention been made of blatant human rights abuses against Israeli citizens? Blowing up busloads of Israeli civilians, murdering Israeli mothers and children with poison-dipped shrapnel launched in homicide bombings, knifings and axe attacks against Israeli teens because they are Jewish and Israeli are all human rights abuses perpetrated on a continuing basis by the Arabs.
Israel, in her defensive war against an entity determined to commit genocide upon an entire people, has been extremely restrained -- to the point of endangering her own civilian population. If Israel wanted, she could carpet bomb the Arab aggressors and be done with it. If Israel wanted, she could close her borders to an aggressive and combatant population and cut her own civilian casualties to almost nil. Yet Israel, one of the most humanitarian countries in the world, refuses to punish the few Arabs who are against the genocidal intents of the majority of their people.
Majority of their people, you ask? A poll by the Palestinian agency JMCC showed that a majority support suicide/homicide bombings against Israeli civilians.
Meanwhile, Israel is one of the few countries in the Middle East that allows equal rights to all its citizenry, including Arabs and others who want to see Israel destroyed. All are allowed to vote, all are allowed to live, earn a livelihood and practice whatever religion they choose.
Does a Jew have the same rights in Arab lands? In the territory occupied by the Arabs whom the divestment committee want to 'protect' through divestment, a Jew who dares walk there is literally torn apart by the crowds. This very thing happened to two Israelis who got lost there a few years back.
In truth, this whole issue of divestment from Israel is an economic war waged by Islamists whose goal is the destruction of Israel. Three wars of aggression, with Arabs outnumbering Israelis 100 to 1, could not achieve this goal, so the Islamists have resorted to an economic war to destroy the legal and sovereign Jewish homeland. The Islamists are hoping that mass divestment might achieve what murder and genocide has failed to do.
Apparently, those Somerville divestment proponents are either hypocrites, Islamist toadies, or -- even worse -- ignorant. Too bad Somerville cannot disengage itself from them.