Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions - Numbers Four and Five

Question Four The end justifies the means, so why are you complaining about a few civilians killed if in the long run many more lives will be saved?

Question Five The number would be unnoticed if the victims had died at the hands of an Arab government. Israel is far more moral than its enemies so why does the whole world pick on us? [Obviously they are all anti-semites]

Answer These questions are intimately related so I put them together. They are also incredibly infuriating, and cause me to tear out what little hair I have left...I wish I could be "snappier" in my response, but such deeply ingrained stupidity needs a more detailed response in order to be uprooted.

A few years back, during the period I was giving talks about the conflict, people in the audience would always jump up in the Q & A period and shout out "but what about the suicide bombers?" As if that question was enough to rule out any rational thought on the topic. I even heard a representative from Israel's consulate say in front of an audience that any people who's representatives blow themselves up in pizza shops "deserve what they get." So I wrote a piece on Moral Equivalence.

Essentially, I argue that whatever the Hamas did or does, Israel does too. We can argue from here until doomsday about intentions, but the fact is both sides claim the best of intentions. Claiming the moral high ground becomes a tool to justify atrocities, a tool used by all sides.

If the arguments I made there apply in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, they apply ten-fold to the Lebanon-Israel conflict. At the beginning of the war the G8, the most powerful countries in the world, joined together to condemn Hezbullah for "kidnapping" two Israeli soldiers. Bush nearly foamed at the mouth talking about this "terrorist" act. So much for the whole world being against Israel.

Personally, I am dumbfounded at the hypocrisy shown by the world leaders on this topic. How easily we forget that in the 18 years of Israel's first war against Lebanon, it kidnapped dozens of Lebanese, many who were unarmed civilians, and held them as hostages and bargaining chips to release prisoners held by Hezbullah!! These kidnap victims were tortured and were not allowed visits from family or the ICRC. But why reach back to the distant past? Just a few days before Israel kidnapped civilian representatives of the Palestinian parliament, to be used as bargaining chips to release the soldier captured by Hamas. And then a few days ago, Israel kidnapped three Lebanese civilians for the same purpose.

Just today I read in the wires how Israel "arrested" a Hezbullah soldier reportedly involved in the original kidnapping. My mouth nearly dropped. "Arrested?" And the world press hates Israel? Jeez. If I was Arab, I would be convinced the Jews control the world press.

When the Hezbullah bombs Israeli cities, Israel's "supporters" call it an act of terror because Hezbullah "targets civilians." By contrast, when Israel bombs Lebanon to dust and ashes, they call it an act of self-defense. Lebanese civilians get killed because Hezbullah, unlike Israel, hides amongst civilians, so they say.

Yesterday twelve Israeli soldiers were killed at the entrance of a Kibbutz in the north. The reservists were there getting ready to be deployed in the north. The secretary of the Kibbutz was quick to note that the Israeli army deploys the soldiers in the entrance of the Kibbutz, instead of inside the kibbutz, so that the Kibbutz will not be a target. So let's get this straight. Israel isn't "hiding" soldiers amongst civilians because it deploys the soldiers about 10 meters from where the civilians in the Kibbutz live. But since those Hezbullah terrorists shot a missle 100 meters from where the civilians were hiding in Qana, the 30 or so people killed there are victims of Hezbullah, not Israeli missles.

Of course, anyone who has ever visited Israel, knows that military installations are mixed freely amongst civilians. Israeli soldiers are everywhere on the streets. The headquarters of the Israeli army is smack dab in a residential neighborhood of Tel Aviv. I worked not far from there during the first Gulf War (in Ramat Gan) which is why the neighborhood our office building was in (also near a residential neighborhood) was hit by several scud missles. Saddam was trying to hit Israeli military HQ, but the scud missles just weren't accurate enough.

This is not an intentional act on Israel's part to use civilians as shields, but a reality of the fact that Israel is a tiny country. The army is composed of young soldiers and reservists who are constantly coming to and from their homes. Similarly, Hezbullah and Hamas, as guerilla forces also in tiny countries, are deeply embedded in the civilian populations.

When one points these things out to Israel "supporters," they shout out "you are justifying terrorism." I don't like the word "terrorism." It is one of those words that serve propaganda and clarify nothing. So let's stick to "war crimes," a word that has a clear definition. Even if your "end" in war is justifable self-defense, the whole world has agreed in the Geneva conventions, that there are certain means that should never be used to achieve that end. Such means are defined as "war crimes." The fact that the enemy engages in war crimes does not ever justify its use.

I have already posted enough articles to show that the claim that this is a war of self-defense on Israel's part is quite spurious. But even if you believe that, there is no question that Israel is guilty of war crimes in its murderous attacks on Lebanon. The fact that Hezbullah is also guilty of war crimes does not mitigate in any way what Israel is doing.

Those who oppose this war and call for an immediate cease fire want the war crimes to stop. Those who justify the murderous actions of either side, are guilty of justifying war crimes. It's as simple as that.

I certainly don't think Israel's army is the most immoral army in the world. The US army and the Russian army probably top the list in terms of civilians killed. And there are any number of wars in Africa and Asia where far more civilians are being killed and war crimes being committed than in the Lebanese-Israel conflict. To be consistent, anyone who condemns what Israel is doing, needs to condemn all the war criminals of the world and oppose the many immoral wars being waged - Afghanistan, Iraq, Kashmir, Sudan, the Congo - the list is long and heart-breaking. But the fact that there is worse evil in the world, does not justify Israel being evil. On the contrary, anyone who truly cares about Israel and its future must speak out against what it is doing.

One final word on the "anti-semitism" argument. Israel defines itself as the "Jewish State" so as such the Jews are seen as the enemy by many Arabs and Muslims. Unfortunately, into this political conflict is mixed in many classical elements of Jew hatred. This does not make Sheikh Nasrallah the new Hitler. However, no one can deny that many real Jew haters come out of the closet every time there is a conflict, and use it to justify their irrational hatreds. But it works both ways. Many Israelis despise Arabs and Muslims, and the most extreme settler elements have genocidal views about them. And Arab and Muslim haters come out of their closets and support Israel's wars. One need only read the postings in Haaretz comment section to see the shmutz being thrown around.

Here is the bottom line: the Jews are no longer weak and defenseless. Another Holocaust isn't about to happen, unless Israel goes to the nuclear brink. Why should we Jews care what Jew haters think in any case? Branding as anti-semitic everyone who opposes Israel's actions, is just a tool to silence legitimate criticism. It also turns the word "anti-semite" into a propaganda tool, thereby diminishing the ability to effectively fight true xenophobes.

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