Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable. What other nation on earth is being told to feed, clothe, fuel, and arm its enemy by the Eurocrats?
As rocket barrages fell on southern Israel Friday, European Union Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner called for Gaza crossings to be opened and the delivery of fuel and good to be resumed.
“I am profoundly concerned about the consequences for the Gazan population of the complete closure of all Gaza crossings for deliveries of fuel and basic humanitarian assistance,” Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement.
She called on Israel to re-open the crossings for humanitarian and commercial flows, in particular food and medicine, and said facilitation of fuel deliveries for the Gaza Power Plant should be resumed immediately.
The statement continued to say that International law requires the provision of access to essential services such as electricity and clean water to the civilian population.
“Recent infringements of the calm agreed in June must not lead to a renewed cycle of violence. I call on all parties to exercise restraint,” she said.
Really? Did she say anything about Hamas rocketing Israeli civilians? Because I”m betting not. Did she call on Hamas to stop attacking Sderot? Did she mention that Israeli schoolchildren should be allowed to walk to school without being in danger of dying from a rocket attack? And last, but not least, has she heard about the Hamas tunnels, which now have oil pipelines laid in them and are transporting oil from Egypt, besides arms, ammunition, and food?
Of course not. Because that’s not part of the narrative. Can’t destroy the evil Israel bugbear by admitting that Hamas is the instigator, and the reason Gaza is cut off. The Gazans elected Hamas in free and fair elections, as Jimmy Carter has told us. Well. Let them reap what they sowed.
If someone launched “homemade” rockets and missiles at Benita Ferrero-Waldner’s home, would she respond by baking them dinner and cookies?
But you see, Israel is not allowed to react to the attacks because they do not pose an “existential” threat. The same way we can’t pursue terrorists or counter Iran, because they don’t pose an “existential” threat to us.
The only threat you’re allowed to react to is one that can wipe your whole country off the map at once. The lives of individual citizens be damned. It’s not the goverment’s responsibility to protect THEIR puny little lives.
Yes, again…if Israel responds that’s only adding to the “cycle of violence.” That cycle only occurs when Israel does something.
When Israel gets in a Nuclear war with Iran, I hope their submarines have an extra nuclear missile for Brussels.
I couldn’t agree more.
It’s really quite simple. If the Gazans want peace they simply need to release Galid Shalit and to stop shooting rockets into Israel. If they refuse to take those measures than Israel is fully justified in maintaining the blockade.
What always amazes me, tho, is that Hamas continues to make demands on Israel. They are in no position to demand anything.
It truly is inexplicable, isn’t it Karmafish? As the longshorman-philosopher Eric Hoffer commented many years ago, Israel is the only country in the world that is expected to behave in a Christian manner.
Hamas is at war with Israel. It is taking active, hostile action against Israel. There is nothing in Intenational Law, pace Eurotwits, that requires Israel to do a single thing for the Palis, and that same law allows Israel to use whatever force it considers proportionate to the threat to end those hostile actions. The sooner the better, before Iran orders a coordinated attack by Syria, Hamas, and Hezbollah at the same time. If Israel looks weak enough they might even persuade Egypt to join in.
Michael, do you honestly think that Israel would lose such a war? They have us outnumbered, God knows, but the Israeli military is the strongest in the region. I do not think that Israel is in any immediate danger of invasion. Besides, it’s made a lasting peace with Egypt and Jordan… or so one hopes.
Nonetheless, Gaza is just intractable. I believe that Israel must pull out of the WB to some agreed upon borders, with a land swap to fatten that waistline, and a dismantling of the settlements.
But Gaza… I don’t know what Israel can do.
And I am getting more and more pissed-off about Shalit and Sderot.
REAP what they have SOWED.
Sorry, had to fix that! ;)
REAP what they have SOWED.
Sorry, just had to fix that! ;)
Karmafish,
I am almost never certain about the results of a war (I was certain about the two wars against Saddam’s Iraq, but overestimated the expected losses in the first one). It is very likely Israel will win, but at what cost? And the fact that Israel will win does not mean that Israel’s enemies won’t make the mistake of thinking that Israel is weak enough to kill now.
Egypt’s state controlled media puts out vast quantities of vile antisemitic propaganda. It was Egypt that made the 41-part dramatization of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This dreck would not appear if the Egyptian government did not want it to. The government there is dehumanizing the Jews to its people, and to people all ove the Arab world, since Egyptian culture is very influential eveywhere in the Middle East. They are doing this for a reason or reasons, and the one that comes first to mind is that someday Egypt expects to join the other Muslims in destroying Israel. I would not count on the peace with Egypt lasting if Egypt thought Israel was weak enough to kill.
The trouble with the idea of pulling out of the WB to some agreed upon line is that nobody exists that Israel could agree upon such a line with, and rely on them to keep the agreement. The Palestinian Arabs have lived up to no agreement they have made in the past, why should anyone expect them to live up to any in the future? The maps in Pali schools that show a vanished Israel are what the Palis really aspire to, not a “two state solution”.
Gaza is intractable. A tight blockade might have some good effects, from Israel’s POV, but enforcing it is difficult and Egyptian access might well break it. Here is a suggestion. One thing Israel might do, if it wants a peaceful Gaza and doesn’t care about what the Eurotwits and the UN scoundrels think, is go into Gaza with massive force, capture every Hamas operative it can find, and shoot them all. Then turn to the sheikhs heading the various Arab tribes in Gaza and say “You guys are now in charge here. Use any means you want to rule the place, each tribe on its own turf, but there will be no terrorist attacks on Israel from Gaza. If there is even one attack from your turf, and be sure we will know from which tribe’s turf it came, we will come in and kill you, personally. Keep the peace with Israel and you have nothing to worry about from us. Cross us and you die.”
It might not work, but the current situation of leaving Hamas to rule Gaza and shipping in supplies at Israel’s expense (since the Palis are deadbeats) isn’t working now. It might also scare the Fatah scum on the WB straight, and result in less trouble there too. I’m not optimistic about that, but it’s possible.
This post has turned out to be very long. My apologies to you and to Meryl, but I still have a mite to say.
Now all this talk of killing might upset some people. They are not being logical. The Arabs (and others) mean to kill all the Jews and destroy Israel and are doing what they can to achieve those goals. It is proper and just to believe that people who announce they intend to kill the Jews mean exactly that, for experience shows that they mean what they say. Therefore, when I say that Israel should kill all the Hamas operatives I merely advocate the logical response to the known goals of Hamas and so many other Arabs. If that offends people, tough. Anybody who objects had best first get the Arabs to abandon their genocidal goals. Then I might listen to them. Unfortunately all too many who denounce Israel for violence seem copacetic with the Arab goals of genocide and destruction of Israel. There is something about armed Jews defending themselves against genocide that makes many people nervous, even drives them to hysteria, and I can only wonder why.