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E-PrinceI have been tasked with providing the Princeton Committee on Palestine’s attitude toward the current Gaza crisis, but in truth I’m having trouble writing with a cool head. As this goes to press, the Palestinian death toll will ...(back to the article)
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I understand that Israel's critics, Brandon included, don't like its approach to the peace process. But given that Israel is not going to start taking negotiating cues from these critics anytime soon, what do they want Israel to do about the attacks its people have been enduring? Brandon writes of Hamas's rocketing of Israel, "[I]n no way does this justify support for Israel’s bombing campaign." OK... So what IS Israel allowed to do to protect its people if it can't resort to military force? Or is Israel not allowed to do anything to defend itself until it boots Bibi Netanyahu out of office?
It's always unfortunate when states have to resort to military force, but we should not be so blind as to pretend war is never justified. Hopefully this conflict will end soon on terms that guarantee Israel's security and that leave open the possibility of a path forward for the Palestinians, whose children deserve a better future than their leaders condemn them to.
Ahmed al-Ja'bari was not a political leader. He was the head of Hamas's militant wing. If Hamas is firing rockets at Israel, that is an act of war which makes its "soldiers" liable to harm. The death toll also now includes a Bedouin civilian who was killed by a Hamas rocket, not to mention that one of Hamas's rockets fired at Jerusalem landed in a Palestinian town in the West Bank.
Indeed, Jacob, the children of Palestine deserve much better than to grow up without a country in a giant prison city. Much better that they get blown to smithereens now.
I am not sure what Davis means when he says that Israeli leaders have threatened genocide, since the Israeli government has been furiously pursuing a cease fire that will be acceptable to both sides. In fact, it is Hamas who has declared time and again that they are determined to wipe Israel, and all of its civilians, off of the map.
It is bizarre to me that intelligent people like Brandon harbor an obsession with placing the lion's share of the blame for this conflict on Israel. The UN, as British Colonel Richard Kemp has noted, released a report on past conflicts in Gaza declaring that Israeli military action produced the fewest casualties for an asymmetrical war in the history of warfare. Davis seems determined to exonerate Hamas for initiating the violence, and for Palestinians living in Gaza for supporting a government that has dragged them into multiple wars and has used them as human shields.
Davis bemoans the "monstrosity" of war, but offers no alternative to Israel. What should Israel do instead of firing back at Hamas militants? It is public knowledge that the Israeli military goes to extraordinary lengths to minimize civilian casualties, a difficult task given Hamas' use of human shields (which Hamas has proudly admitted to on television). Perhaps Davis believes that Israel should wait until a certain number of Israelis are dead so that Israel's response can be "proportionate"? Perhaps Davis believes that Israelis should accustom themselves, as they have for the past 12 years, to living with constant, unprovoked rocket fire from Hamas targeted at civilian centers.
Davis seems to have forgotten that in 2005, Israel disengaged from Gaza. The blockade that Israel has enforced is not a putative measure against the Palestinian civilians of gaza; it is a blockade designed to prevent weapons shipments from Iran and Syria that Hamas has been using to target Israeli civilians.
When Davis can offer a reasonable alternative to striking Hamas militants while minimizing civilian casualties, then I will be able to take his argument at face-value. Until then, he does not seem to be proposing anything other than that Israel should allow its civilians to be targeted at will. Davis' naivete is more than apparent, and perhaps he should further educate himself.
While the Palestinian death toll is certainly lamentable, the number of civilian casualties is currently less than 100. The number Davis cites includes the tragedy of civilian casualties, along with deceased Hamas militants. These are the same militants that have been launching rockets at Israeli civilian centers and are considered terrorists by governments around the world. By including them in his count, Davis delegitimizes the moderate position he purports to take.
what Brandon's opinion is on Obama's ordering of bombings on Pakistan? Talk about a disproportionate relationship.
it's not a monstrosity that hamas fires indisciriminately at Israel? that today, a bus of Israeli citizens was blown up in tel aviv (an attack blessed by hamas)? that hamas's charter commits itself to the destruction of israel?
yes, this relationship does start long ago. but you curiously don't seem to think that the handful of wars in which a half dozen or so arab nations attempted to wipe israel off of the map are relevant to the development of that relationship. that mentality still exists, and animates hamas's behavior. israel could use neighbors who don't want it out of existence.
Is Davis aware that, since the beginning of 2012, Israel has sent 20 letters to the UN asking for a condemnation of Hamas' rocket fire, all of which indicated that a failure to do so might cause the escalation we are seeing now? Does Davis think there is any reason that the UN failed to do so for 11 months?
Brandon, we'd love to hear from you.
Since 1967 the settlements have been considered by everyone (including the US) to be illegal. Hamas was legitimately elected for a reason; Fatah allowed Israel to walk all over the Palestinians. I don't support rocket fire or the bombing of buses.
Gilad Sharon, who has been linked to taking bribes (along with his maniac, racist father) wrote an article in the Jerusalem Post advocating the flattening of entire neighborhoods. This, my friend, is what Brandon Davis is referring to as the threat of genocide.
Additionally, the IDF has documents about how much food they should let into Gaza so that the people are kept just above starvation level. This is Warsaw before the liquidation. And now, the Israeli government is threatening the liquidation of a territory they both occupy and terrorize