Tuesday 1 June 2010

Condemning another Israeli atrocity

It has always amazed me what Israel can get away with. It seems that because of what happened to the Jews 60 years ago, they now have a free pass to go around doing whatever they like to whoever they like. What especially gets my back up is the way people try to defend the Government of the country who cause these atrocities.
The treatment of Palestinians is one of the greatest crimes of the last 60 years but they continue to go on dishing out massacres and inhuman treatment and still they get billions of pounds worth of aid while Gazans are digging through the rubble of their former homes struggling to rebuild after the last wave of disproportionate attacks.
Now it has stormed an international aid convoy bound for Gaza, killing 19, and blamed the ship passengers for attacking them with sticks and metal bars. A reporter on the ship said the commandos had began firing before they had even landed on the vessel and as Israel is well known for attempting to cover up it's misdemeanours, we have no reason to believe the Israeli version of events. It recently admitted that two demonstrators who we were told were accidentally killed by rubber bullets were actually shot dead with live rounds but they only came clean after the press exposed them. It has already been found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity during its inexplicable attack on Gaza 18 months ago.
Israel needs to be reigned in, it likes to paint itself as the victim in the Middle East but it has instigated more conflicts than all the rest put together and is making noises about starting up another one with Iran.
The United Nations needs to get its act together and if America uses its veto to block any action, the rest of the World need to impose their own sanctions.
If it was any other country their would be uproar and resolutions flying about the place but Israel have the holocaust trump card and play it at every opportunity.
It is about time we stopped falling for it and told it to begin acting like a responsible state because something needs to be done regarding bringing Israel to book for its deplorable actions.

5 comments:

Cheezy said...

I'm going to wait a while before passing judgement about this one. You're absolutely right that the Israeli government has been caught telling blatant porky pies in the past, but then again, Hamas and their supporters aren't exactly known for their reasoned, unbiased views either. If you instinctively believe either of these sides, then you might as well believe the first utterances of the Metropolitan police force after they've just shot someone, or anything that comes out of Tony Blair's mouth, y'know, ever.

It's all very sad though. Part of the ongoing tragedy in that part of the world.

Falling on a bruise said...

No matter how Israel tries to spin it, they boarded and killed a bunch of people on a ship carrying humanitarian aid. I'm not sure what there is to wait for before condemning it.

Unknown said...

Just playing devil's advocate here, but I can definitely think of some hypothetical situations in which Israel would be justified in ordering their troops to attack a boat coming towards their country... Like, say, for instance, if they had cause to suspect the boat was carrying something else?... Not saying that was the case here of course, I'm just saying that this is the sort of thing that should be cleared up, before people start jumping onto one side or the other....

e.g. Less than 12 hours (honestly) after the incident, I noticed that one of my Facebook friends had joined a grouped with the rather arrogant & presumptuous name of 'Gaza Flotilla - the world should know the truth':

"We stand united to tell the world what really happened on those boats. Let this group be a news desk and the voice to the evidence that the biased world media does not want you to see.

The so-called "humanitarian" anti-Israeli movement is going to try to destroy Israel's reputation over this blatant provocation. Let's not let them!

Together we can show world know what really happened there - the activists BRUTALLY ATTACKED the soldiers, who then defended themselves! This is the truth, and it WILL get out."


See, that kinda stuff just isn't helpful... and I'd bet my bottom dollar that if the events off Gaza had played themselves out completely differently, then the same people would have been creating that Facebook group, the same people would have been joining it, and the same people opposing it... The actual events wouldn't matter that much, in terms of the 'sides' that most people took.

So as I say, I'll reserve judgement for a while.

Cody Bones said...

I'm with Cheezy, in that I really don't want to be one of those morons who chooses a side, and runs with it, regardless of the facts. In clips that I have seen so far, there looks like plenty of blame to go around on both sides, as sad as that is. I'm no fan of the brutal Israeli occupation, but anyone who thinks Hamas is full of a bunch of plucky freedom fighters has their head up there ass. I wish that there was a solution to this mess, but I can guarantee that jumping to conclusions (On BOTH sides) is not it.


Talk about Irony, the word verification is "boarding"

Falling on a bruise said...

I'm not sure what part of armed soldiers faced by unarmed civilians you have to stop and consider.
It's Israel, once again, acting with disproportionate and murderous, brutal force. It happens time and time again and it seems to just get away with it.