Israel, Gaza... the whole thing

I have (until now) refrained from posting any rants here about the situation in Gaza -- how Hamas is getting their own people killed; Israel's right to defend herself... etc. I mean, seriously, if crazies in Cuba or Mexico or Canada were indiscriminately dropping rockets on New York or Miami or Houston -- TRYING to kill civilians -- wouldn't we fight back? Damn right we would!

But now apparently all Jewish children are targets, no matter where we live -- as Jeffrey Goldberg points out on his blog:
Put aside Zahar's chutzpah -- Hamas has been happily killing Jewish children for years. What's important is that he is making an explicit plea to jihadists everywhere to take matters into their own hands and kill Jews. Any Jewish school or synagogue or JCC anywhere in the world that doesn't take this seriously is beyond negligent. This is not a time for panic, just preparation.
But if you read further down in that article, French President Sarkozy points out that the miserable living conditions of the Palestinian people in Gaza are actually Hamas' fault. Unfortunately, that strategy works -- keep them in poverty, and blame the Israelis, and it takes very little to incite violence. [see also: Nazi Germany, 1938 for that familiar refrain: blame the Jews!]

Maybe the Palestinians in Gaza will realize that they need to get rid of Hamas so they can live peacefully. On that very subject, there was an interesting post on HuffPo yesterday.
It is Hamas, by using civilians to act as human shields for its military operations, that has put the Palestinian civilians in jeopardy, and the blood of the injured and dead civilians is on Hamas's hands.
There was another post about the difference in media strategy between Hamas and the Israelis. Ever notice that you only hear about suicide bombers in Israel if they're successful? You never hear about the dozens of would-be bombers who are stopped before they can carry out their horrible assignments. The Palestinians, on the other hand, play the victim very well, showing off their casualties -- which wouldn't happen if the militants didn't hide in schools and churches, knowing full well that the people around them will die.

It makes me so angry!

ok, rant over, for now. Can't wait to see how the Obama Administration handles this whole thing, in TWO WEEKS! (Lord knows what the situation in Gaza will be by then...)

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