Here’s the Bill Moyers Journal on the recent violence in Gaza.
For too much of the world at large the names of the dead and wounded in Gaza might as well be John Doe too. They are the casualties and victims of Israel’s decision to silence the rockets from Hamas terrorists by waging war on an entire population. Yes, every nation has the right to defend its people. Israel is no exception, all the more so because Hamas would like to see every Jew in Israel dead.
But brute force can turn self-defense into state terrorism. It’s what the U.S. did in Vietnam, with B-52s and napalm, and again in Iraq, with shock and awe. By killing indiscriminately – the elderly, kids, entire families by destroying schools and hospitals — Israel did exactly what terrorists do and exactly what Hamas wanted. It spilled the blood that turns the wheel of retribution.
Could you imagine a ground offensive and missile attacks of the densely populated Lower East Side of New York in order to weed out criminals amongst the civilian population? Or as Moyers quotes a Norwegian doctor working in Gaza, “It’s like Dante’s Inferno. They are bombing one and a half million people in a cage.” It’s no surprise then that the death count in Gaza has reached 900 with some 4,000 injured.
Grave Error 