Israel’s Gaza Spin (UPDATED)

We at Shambollocks! have stated before that Israel needs to end their year-and-a-half siege of Gaza. Unfortunately, two days ago they escalated their actions with the launch of a Gazan ground offensive. For a month now, Israel’s diplomatic and military message has been clear: the 20 Israeli lives lost from rocket attacks since Hamas won power are much more valuable than the 1,700 Palestinians killed in Israeli retribution. Israel continues to keep Gaza closed off to the international media, and the message is eerily similar to 2003 George Bush. You are either with us or you’re against us.

Well, Israel, count Shambollocks! against you.

The Guardian wrote yesterday about how exactly Israel is skillfully manipulating world opinion. The bitter result? Expect more death and destitution for Palestine. Expect more support for Hamas. What does Israel think? That Gazans who lose loved ones we’ll think to themselves, “Gee, Israel is really looking out for us.” Get real.

[Tzipi] Livni has suggested that Israel’s assault is good for the Palestinians by helping to free them from the grip of Hamas. “She’s basically trying to convince me that they’re doing this for my own good,” said Diana Buttu, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation’s legal counsel and negotiator with the Israelis over the 2005 pullout from Gaza. “I’ve had some Israeli friends reiterate the same thing: ‘You should be happy that we’re rooting out Hamas. They’re a problem for you, too.’ I don’t need her to tell me what’s good for me and what’s bad for me, and I don’t think carrying out a massacre is good for anybody.”

Like it or not, Hamas won an election forced on Palestine by us. They are the elected representatives. Violent overthrow by their muscular neighbor is not likely to lessen their grip on power.

Of course, unless Israel reveals the ultimate end game of its increasingly belligerent philosophy- the elimination of Palestinians from the occupied territory. That’s Israel’s only real solution to the Hamas problem. If you support Israel, understand this is what you are truly supporting. Don’t believe me? Check out this map from the London Times from a couple of years back.

Glenn Greenwald reacted to the militant posturing of Jerk of the Day, Michael Goldfarb, in Salon yesterday. Goldfarb wrote in The Weekly Standard:

The fight against Islamic radicals always seems to come around to whether or not they can, in fact, be deterred, because it’s not clear that they are rational, at least not like us. But to wipe out a man’s entire family, it’s hard to imagine that doesn’t give his colleagues at least a moment’s pause. Perhaps it will make the leadership of Hamas rethink the wisdom of sparking an open confrontation with Israel under the current conditions.

Wow. This is why the war on ‘terror’ frightens me. It only justifies the same atrocities to persist. When you fight a word, you validate all of your actions through your definition of the word. The other night, the wife and I watched Children of Men. It only solidified my disgust with the war on ‘terror’. Fanatics exist on both sides of this war. And fanatics will do anything to carry on their struggle. They hate resolution. Which means Israelis will always kill Palestinians, and vice versa. Which means the war on ‘terror’ will never end.

- We at Shambollocks! remain upset with the coverage of Israel’s invasion of Gaza. I don’t know how many Palestinian bodies need to be stacked up at America’s door to get us to say, “Hey, wait. Israel’s gaming us. Why are we allowing them to get away with this?” Don’t think for a second that Israel’s attack wasn’t perfectly timed before Bush left office. They knew they could get away with this.

Israel had refused to allow the Red Cross into Gaza, but they found enough humanity to stop killing for three hours yesterday (such compassion!) to allow the Red Cross to report on the crisis. According to the International Herald-Tribune, this is what the Red Cross found.

The statement said a team of four Palestine Red Crescent ambulances accompanied by Red Cross representatives made its way to Zeitoun Wednesday where it “found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. They were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up. In all, there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses.”

In another house, the statement said, the rescue team “found 15 other survivors of this attack including several wounded. In yet another house, they found an additional three corpses. Israeli soldiers posted at a military position some 80 meters away from this house ordered the rescue team to leave the area which they refused to do. There were several other positions of the Israeli Defense Forces nearby as well as two tanks.”

These are facts on the ground, America. We as a nation are complicit in what is clearly ethnic cleansing. I myself feel the need for a shower.

Just read in the Los Angeles Times that rocket fire is hitting Israel from Lebanon. Way to widen the conflict, Israel. I sure hope BO hits the ground running with this crisis. The surviving Gazans deserve nothing less.

Thanks to the best photo site on the web, Big Picture, for the powerful image.

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