Israeli assassination success

swiss

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1672948.stm

The Israeli military clearly believes that it has scored a victory against terrorism, and in particular Hamas, by taking out one of its top commanders. I believe the reverse is the case. By levelling a building, causing the indiscriminate deaths of at least 14 people, many of whom were innocent civillians and children Israel have demonstrated what many have believed all along, that the deaths of innocent arabs is incidental in their quest for retribution.

The success of this attack is a PR nightmare for the Israeli government. Firstly, as demonstrated in the news article above, Hamas have vowed revenge. The spiritual leader had hinted that attempts were underway to help curb the violence. Although I have my doubts as to the validity of this assertion there is little doubt that this will inflame tensions in already beleagured Palestinian settlements. The murdered militant, Mahmoud Abu Hanoud was a hero to many involved in Hamas and the PLO movement. Now he has become a Martyr, and little spurs mob enthusiasm and patriotic zeal more than martyrdom. If Israel had hoped to curb hamas violence by taking out one of its chief protagonists they have failed miserably. The extent of this failure will become apparant IMO when more bomb laden fanatics start exploding in packed public arenas.

Secondly, the indiscriminate, machiavellian slaughter inflicted by the IDF demonstrates that when it comes to dealing death, the Israelis are just as culpable as their Palestinian antagonists. When one considers that these deaths involve state sanction, the outrage expressed by western powers is justifiable in the light of these reprehensible acts. Whether this will lead in a change in US policy in the ME is doubtful though.

deco

Firing a rocket at a housing complex from an F-16 jet....

Well thats precision for you....

gandalf

Actually it was 1 tonne guided bomb that they used, ideal for that surgical strike.

The Isreali Government and Military at this stage should be charged with War crimes and even genocide given their actions over recent months. Yes suicide bombers should be condemned and every civilised nation is entitled to take action to protect their citizens. However the way the Isreali Government reacts to these atrocities goes well beyond actions of a civilised government.

When Sheron was elected I imagined things getting worse in the middle east, I never imagined they would get so bad.

Gandalf.

Von

Even The Times points out that the terrorist groups were about to agree a deal to halt suicide bombings. It would appear that the attack could have been designed to stop this happening.

mike65

Whatever happened to the good old days when a bloke in a mac
and trilby would sidle up besides you and stick his poison
tipped umbrella in your midriff...tsk, I dont know.

Mike.

bugler

It would appear that the attack could have been designed to stop this happening

That's nothing new. The last time Hamas halted their attacks, the response from Israel was to assassinate another one of their militants, claiming to have intelligence he was preparing attacks. No surprise that Hamas's halt to attacks was lifted.

Just as worrying as this actual terrible act is what the Israelis have been saying after it. Sharon said basically that you can't talk with terrorists, and that they wouldn't do so. An Israeli government spokesperson said that "you don't defeat terror by talking, you fight it", or words to that effect. It is statements like these that prove that the current Israeli government can never bring peace to the region, fixated as it is with its policy of extreme violence to combat extreme violence.

The sooner the Israeli public remove their heads from their arsés and realise this, the sooner they can vote in someone who isn't afraid to try bold moves to combat terror, and the Palestinian peoples willingness to foster it, i.e dismantling settlements, withdrawing form the occupied territories. Maybe then old man Arafat can be fúcked out and a decent leader can be installed for the Palestinian people. It was bad enough electing someone who stands for only rape and slaughter in the eyes of the Palestinians in the first place, but to continue with him and his reactionary, hawkish, expansionist pleasing ways is too much.

Bob the Unlucky Octopus

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2150246.stm

I think the Palestinians have a case, and a very good one at that. Extra-judiciary executions are a very very serious crime. Although I've always been against the idea of an ICC, I would fully support an ad-hoc court if it were established to combat these inhuman measures being taken by Sharon's government.

He's walked the line very shakily so far, but now he's crossed it big-time. This act only differs from his Sabra and Chatila debacles in terms of scale- and in that proxies weren't used here- it was a US-made Israeli jet dropping a 1-tonne precision bomb which killed 9 children, 4 adult civilians and one terrorist. Our government has been silent on the point of future arms sales or maintenance equipment to Israel, and has even been muted in its condemnation. Well, let me spell it out for Messrs Fletcher & Bush: If 13 innocents, 9 of them children with lives ahead of them must die to remove one terrorist, you'd annhilate most of the Palestinian people in the name of fighting terrorism. That is genocidal thinking, and must be seen as such to keep this in perspective. Whether or not the Israelis were trying to avoid a settlement (I believe they were)- this stands on its own as a heinous act, a woeful showing by any checks on military force Israel could have demonstrated.

Bugler's summed up my feelings on the Israeli electorate well enough- Sharon's way isn't leading to peace, security, or anything resembling a future allowing peaceful coexistence. For crying out loud, Dore Gold has said that this Israeli government's position is that certain differences are not reconcilable and that it is pointless to remain engaged with the Palestinians. Sure doesn't sound very interested in peace to me, not now, not ever in fact. If this government is re-elected it's a long dark future for the Palestinians, and no forseeable future for the peace process.

Occy

Von

In a Daily Mirror column a few weeks ago, Tony Parsons said this..

Israel is winning the propaganda war.

The Palestinians are bent on a course of self-destruction.

There is an old Jewish proverb, and every time the Palestinians rejoice in slaughter, they make it ring loud and true.

"Nations that persecute the Jews never last long."

Get that? The palestinians are persecuting the jews.

But the thing that irks Parsons the most would appear to be that they've got no reputable comedy scene. There's no palestinian Woody Allen or Little and Large or Chris Morris.

Hmm, I don't recall there being many laughs in Anne Frank's diary, although it's rumoured she invented the "knock knock" joke.

Raskolnikov

Sharon is a war criminal

In 1953, following a murderous attack of a mother and her two children by Palestinian infiltrators who passed the Israeli border near to the Jordanian village of Quibya, Sharon and his commando unit, now named 'the 101', were called for action. Sharon was ordered to penetrate the village of Quibya, to blow up as many houses and to inflict as many casualties on its inhabitants as possible. Sharon was the right man for the job. The raid was a complete success. Quibya was reduced to pile of rubble. More than 50 houses were destroyed. Sixty-one civilians, most of them women and children, had been killed. A UN observer who visited the site came to a clear conclusion that the villagers had been forced to stay in their houses while they were blown up

bugler

Just saw this on Haaretz: Several Irish newspapers carried an open letter from Dr. Noreen O'Carroll, who is the PO for the Israeli Embassy here. In it she strongly condemned the Gaza bombing attack. I thought it was a brave and unusual move, diplomats, politicians and above all Press Officers are more likely to be found lying and twisting the truth than giving their honest opinions.

Her reward can be seen here : http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=191704&contrassID=1&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0