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Commentary;
Are we to conjure up, again and again, the above picture (taken during the Lebanon conflict shortly after Israel was accused of an alleged atrocity at Qana, found subsequently to have been staged) whenever Islamic civilians are found in the line of fire, deliberately placing themselves in the line of fire to shield terrorist rocket launchers or snipers or are placed in the line of fire as shields by the murderers themselves?
Some very important questions need to be asked here about the Israeli government mindset. Why announce to the Israeli MSM the intent to investigate or probe into specific IDF operations such as that noted on this blog which took place on Monday on a home in Beit Hanun during which a Palestinian mother and her four children allegedly died? Why does an investigation announcement need to be made at all?
Within a couple of hours, Defense Minister Barak announced that Hamas was responsible as cited by a Jerusalem Post report under the original headline; “Barak: Hamas Responsible for Civilian Deaths in the Gaza Strip.” Why was this report radically altered subsequently — both in headline and by relegating Barak’s assertion regarding Hamas responsibility to final lines of the page?
Why does it appear that the assertion made by IDF sources which was reported on Army Radio early Monday afternoon and quoted below;
Forces operating in the Gaza Strip town identified two gunmen who were carrying large bags. When the soldiers opened fire on them the bags exploded, causing the deaths of the family members.
has now been totally disregarded?
The point now is, are we sooo weak-hearted and sooo weak-willed that world criticism causes us to drop sticking to our guns, to blame ourselves when Islamic civilian shields either insert themselves into the field of battle to shield terrorists or when terrorists deliberately place them there as public relations, as well as gunfire fodder? Why does the regime feel sooo compelled by criticism to give in to it by publically announcing a probe of an operation, such as that at Beit Hanun, when the very announcement of such a probe is perceived by nations, particularly by the Islamics, as a sign of guilt, as validation of their false and bogfus rumors? Just why is it that Ehud Olmert feels the compulsive need to apologize for the deaths of human shields who put themselves in the line of fire in covering for terrorists? It seems patently obvious that the Olmert regime has learned nothing over these past two years since the Lebanon conflict.
And why is the Olmert regime “Deeply Distressed” over Islamic deaths and merely “distressed” over Jewish victims, including Jewish child victims of Islamic rockets and gunmen?
Yes, the above picture is appropo, but not over Islamic casualties, but over the Chillul Hashem of Jewish deaths and casualties caused by the Regime’s inaction and equivocations in facing it’s diabolical enemy as well as its blind hatred and disdain for faith-based Jews and for those not directly connected to Israel’s protexia-class.
Caroline Glick wrote today about these “elites”;
Israel’s current elites are the direct descendents not of their Zionist predecessors, but of the exile elites their predecessors fought. Sixty years after statehood was declared, Israel is led by men and women who oppose Jewish power and embrace instead the Diaspora model of ingratiating themselves with foreigners through appeasement.
Finally, Shas’ leader Eli Yishai’s definition of Israel’s hasbara (public diplomacy) is badly flawed. Hasbara is not diplomacy, but rather the desemination of Israel’s informational story and the debunking of Islamic rumors, propaganda, blood-libels and slander such as regarding Qana from the Lebanon conflict, or regarding Monday’s deaths of 5 Gazans, in fact murdered by Islamic terrorists’ own hands. MB
PM ‘Deeply Distressed’ by Gaza Deaths (Jerusalem Post)
Excerpts;
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday expressed “deep distress on behalf of the government and people of Israel,” over the “tragic event” Monday in which a mother and four children were killed after an IAF strike in Gaza’s Beit Hanun.
However, speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, Olmert emphasized that he was also distressed over the constant danger posed to southerners by rocket attacks.
“We are also distressed about our children, who for many years have been getting hurt, like the child who lost a leg a few weeks ago,” said the prime minister. He was referring to eight-year old Osher Twito, who lost his limb in a Kassam rocket attack on Sderot on February 9.
“We are saddened about our civilians who are hurt, and we are saddened that Hamas operates inside civilian areas and exposes it to events that we are opposed to and that are against our intentions, but events that becomes unavoidable due to out need to protect the lives of our citizens in the South,” said Olmert. “I believe that our sadness is more genuine, honest and painful than that of the terror organizations.”
“I hope the brutal attacks by the terror groups will stop but I regret that they are continuing,” said the prime minister, adding that counter-terror operations will go on.
A high-ranking IDF official is set to investigate the Beit Hanun incident and Olmert emphasized that the circumstances were still unclear.
Also at the cabinet meeting, Construction and Housing Minister Ze’ev Boim called for the development of a system to distinguish between innocent civilians and those involved in terror.
However, he said that not every civilian in Gaza “pulls his hands away from terror.”
Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai called for an improvement in Israel’s hasbara (public diplomacy).
“The world protests only when Palestinians are hurt, but when Israelis are hurt, there is indifference,” he said.
Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit said he opposed a truce in Gaza since it would allow Hamas to regroup and rearm.
Earlier, Defense Minister Ehud Barak reiterated that Hamas was responsible for the events in the Strip and for the deaths of innocent civilians. “Of course we are not happy about any civilian that gets killed,” he stressed.