Wow. Read this opinion piece by Israel Harel. The flames are so hot my keyboard melted.
But something, nonetheless, must be on their conscience. And that something is called indirect moral responsibility. After all, the killing – even though it was caused either by an explosive device placed by Palestinians or by an old unexploded IDF shell – is an obvious result in the chain reaction that stems from the original sin: the disengagement. And the disengagement, which has so far caused the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians, including children, women and the elderly, would not have been implemented had it not been for the support of those who are now protesting outside the chief of staff’s house (why not in front of the prime minister’s house?) or who are writing articles – in Israel and, of course, abroad – rebuking the IDF. And there were those who had warned them, hundreds of times, that this is what would happen. But they hardened their hearts and refused to believe that these events would be among the results of their support for Ariel Sharon and his iniquities. They cannot, therefore, blame the IDF while claiming innocence.
It is not only Sharon, Ehud Olmert, the opportunists and the givers of bad advice who are to blame for the lethal results. A major part of the blame also falls on most Israeli citizens: those who supported these dangerous and irresponsible moves and even put Olmert and his friends, who were responsible for this historic failure, back in power after it had become well-known that the disengagement was a deadly fiasco.
Israel (not Amos) Harel wrote this piece.
Fixed.
Unfortunately, Olmert and his clique will never be able to bring themselves to admit that their mistakes have caused this. A person must continue to live with himself and one way is to deny, even to himself, the errors that caused such tragedies. Look at Yossi Beilin who, to this day, insists that the disastrous policies that he pushed through Oslo were correct.
Sabba Hillel
I honestly don’t think that the Israeli people “refused to believe that these events would be among the results of their support for Ariel Sharon and his iniquities.” Such language sounds like the strawmen the leftists like to set up, label “Zionists,” and then happily rip apart.
The uprooting of the settlers from their homes was a terrible thing. To watch those settlers be beheaded by howling Palestinian fanatics, and do nothing to save them because they were the responsibility of the ludicrous sham that passed for law enforcement in Palestine, would have been much worse. I don’t think the IDF, despite all their training, would have been able to resist the urge to rescue the remaining settlers. Some of them would have broken ranks, and that would have led to the implosion of the IDF that the Palestinians have been wishing for all along.
The pullout was the best of all the terrible options Sharon had before him. When it too fails, as all plans seeking the tolerance of the international community for the continued existance of Judaism inevitably must, the Israelis can at least truly say they tried every option.
Israelis are not responsible for Palis killing each other, accidentally or deliberately. The Israel withdrawal did not force the Palis into internecine murder. Israel did not force the Palis to set up their rocket launchers amidst civilians at a beach. Harel seems like the Western multicultis who always see the little brown brothers of the Third World as victims only, acted upon by thr mean ole West, never as actors with their own volition, and never, ever as full human beings who are capable of taking moral responsibility for their own vicious acts.
I agree Michael. Israel Harel has an over-developed sense of responsibilty.
As for the Palestinians – they have been given far more (per capita) 1st world aid than many other 3rd worlders (and thats a no brainer assessment)
You’d think they would have sterling cities like Japan or have a cure for cancer by now.
No. Their culture of War and Death makes them as barren (productively) as the nearby deserts.
I personally favor the disengagement not in spite of, but rather, in the hopes that Gaza would descend into to the kind of hell it has become and the world could hopefully stop blaming Israel for the paleos thirst for blood. The Palestinians have been given every chance possible to stand up and be responsible. I say stop the aid, disengage, build the wall, and then let them figure out how things actually work both economically and politically. It is time for this child to be kicked out of the house for its own good.
I don’t have any hope left that the world will stop blaming the Israelis for everything the Palestinians do. The media has become Big Brother to us; they no longer want to inform, or convince, or even preach, but now seek to humiliate us by feeding us outright lies and demanding that we believe them, lest we be cast out from civilized society. Soon we will be forced to repeat falsehoods for them, maybe even that 2 + 2 = 5, in order to prove our loyalty to the multiculturalist agenda (or, really, our prostration at its feet).
Regretfully, I agree with Tatters: Israel had a number of bad options and this was the least bad.
And of course there isn’t any reason to blame the Israelis for the mess in Gaza. The Palestinians made their bed, now let them lie in it.
Oddly enough, when Hamas attacks the PA or vice versa and innocents are killed, I don’t notice the mainstream media or the progressive circles of the world bemoaning the “cycle of violence.” Much easier to blame it on the Israelis.
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