Cry out, Americans! When hatred kills children, there is no justification. Ever.
GENEVA – The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights called Friday for an independent war crimes investigation in Gaza after reports that Israeli forces shelled a house full of Palestinian civilians, killing 30 people.
Navi Pillay...[said] an incident in Gaza City this week "appears to have all the elements of war crimes."
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Israeli troops evacuated Palestinian civilians to a house in the Zeitoun neighborhood on Jan. 4, then shelled the building 24 hours later.
The U.N. agency said 110 people were in the house, according to testimony from four witnesses.
On Thursday, the international Red Cross said the Israeli army refused rescuers permission to reach wounded people in the neighborhood for four days. Israel said the delay was caused by fighting in the area.
Showing posts with label Gaza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gaza. Show all posts
09 January 2009
Gaza, Addendum
I was talking with my kids yesterday about the fact that President-Elect Obama does not speak out about the Gaza massacre and they asked why Senator Clinton does not. I opened my mouth to answer as it dawned on me that she cannot now. She works for Obama.
What is that fine political axiom?...Hold your friends close; hold your enemies...
What is that fine political axiom?...Hold your friends close; hold your enemies...
08 January 2009
The True Horror That Is Gaza
699 and 11.
How do those numbers strike you?
They strike me as wildly disparate. Especially when each whole number represents a LIFE.
As our Congress and our president-elect are busy demurring 'weighing in' on these numbers, they're mounting--with the larger one on track to four digits probably before the president-elect can say again that there can only be 'one administration at a time'.
It's this complacency in the face of needless death--children, no less--that I find the most excruciatingly obscene in the dispositions of those who would conduct our country. I have, at last, faced the reality of our lame duck president's barren soul, and our representatives' spineless souls, but I was so hoping for some caring souls to take the helm.
In other words, anyone in a position to speak out against the wholesale slaughter of civilians and children who does not do so is a complete conundrum to me.
Well, I'm not in that position, but I'm going to speak out anyway.
The first part of the equation is that Hamas has been firing rockets into Israel for years. While in no way defensible, Hamas' actions have lacked lethality. No such lack can be found in the Israeli answer. As the most heavily-armed helicopters in the world rain death on Gaza, and equally ferocious armed vehicles snuff out any animate square meters of that strip of land, the purveyors of the firestorm claim victimhood and protest their right to protect their land.
Accordingly, 699 Palestinians have died in Gaza. 11 Israeli soldiers have died.
If I could employ an analogy, it might be this: a student gang comes to school each day and behaves badly, really badly. They kick the other students, slam lockers in other students' faces, trip other students, even wave guns in their faces---all with belligerent impunity. Well, the other students have had just about enough of the constant mistreatment. And rightly so.
So they BOMB every last house of this gang's families, plus every last house next to the gang's families' houses, plus every last place of business patronized by the gang's families' members, plus every last house belonging to the business owners. And everything else in between.
Sound about right?
699 and 11.
How do those numbers strike you?
They strike me as wildly disparate. Especially when each whole number represents a LIFE.
As our Congress and our president-elect are busy demurring 'weighing in' on these numbers, they're mounting--with the larger one on track to four digits probably before the president-elect can say again that there can only be 'one administration at a time'.
It's this complacency in the face of needless death--children, no less--that I find the most excruciatingly obscene in the dispositions of those who would conduct our country. I have, at last, faced the reality of our lame duck president's barren soul, and our representatives' spineless souls, but I was so hoping for some caring souls to take the helm.
In other words, anyone in a position to speak out against the wholesale slaughter of civilians and children who does not do so is a complete conundrum to me.
Well, I'm not in that position, but I'm going to speak out anyway.
The first part of the equation is that Hamas has been firing rockets into Israel for years. While in no way defensible, Hamas' actions have lacked lethality. No such lack can be found in the Israeli answer. As the most heavily-armed helicopters in the world rain death on Gaza, and equally ferocious armed vehicles snuff out any animate square meters of that strip of land, the purveyors of the firestorm claim victimhood and protest their right to protect their land.
Accordingly, 699 Palestinians have died in Gaza. 11 Israeli soldiers have died.
If I could employ an analogy, it might be this: a student gang comes to school each day and behaves badly, really badly. They kick the other students, slam lockers in other students' faces, trip other students, even wave guns in their faces---all with belligerent impunity. Well, the other students have had just about enough of the constant mistreatment. And rightly so.
So they BOMB every last house of this gang's families, plus every last house next to the gang's families' houses, plus every last place of business patronized by the gang's families' members, plus every last house belonging to the business owners. And everything else in between.
Sound about right?
699 and 11.
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