Of all the possible issues to write about in the world, current Israeli politics is the last subject about which I would ever want to comment. Seriously, the very last. I’d rather comment on anything else. American Idol, Paris Hilton, you name it.
And it’s not that I necessarily shy away from Israel-related subjects. I’d be happy to comment on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jewish history circa the first century, Old Testament studies, or the beauty of the B’nai B’rith architecture in Haifa until dawn spreads her rosy fingers, but contemporary stuff – who needs the aggravation?
But the current Israeli government, and by extension our own, has gone so completely fucking insane, I just can’t stop myself. Consider this:
A Lebanese civilian convoy was hit near the coastal town of Tyre after fleeing the border village of Marwaheen, resulting in 16 deaths. The Israeli military said the area was a target because Hezbollah had used it to launch missiles, and regretted any civilian casualties. It was the deadliest single attack in the past four days of fighting.
The villagers left after the Israeli military told them to evacuate over a loudspeaker, Reuters reported.
Seriously, is there anybody on the planet that is stupid enough to believe that this sort of wanton murder will result in a lasting peace and prosperity? Of course not. This is not about peace. This is not about democracy. And it is certainly not about justice. It is murder. And let’s face the harshest fact of all: It’s not even about revenge. It is murder. Mass murder. That’s all the right wing nut-cases in Israel and the United states have left. After so much killing has resulted only in so much more animosity and armed opposition – so much more murder, so much more mass murder – the only logical explanation for their actions is that they like committing murder. Murder is what they want. Murder is what they do. And murder is what we get in return. It will only get worse.
The ball is in our court. We are the ones with the power. It is we who have to stop the cycle of murder. When people commit murder, no matter where they are from, they need to be caught, tried, and imprisoned. Our current policy of murdering those other murderers' wives, their children, their neighbors and total strangers who live in the same geographical area as the murderers is not only doomed to catastrophic failure, it is horribly immoral. Ours is the preferred policy of the worst regimes since the beginning of human history. And if we do not renounce our murderous ways before it is too late, we will suffer the same fate. As some wag noted a few years ago, that's the future, babe, it is murder.
|