Gaza: A Matter of Proportion
A noted French intellectual [Michel Gurfunkiel] registers profound disappointment with President Nicolas Sarkozy’s reaction to the Gaza situation.
President Sarkozy of France
“The Elysée (France’s presidential palace) and the Quai d’Orsay (France’s foreign department) are convinced that America will exert strong pressure on Israel after January 20. They think they should preempt the move, but claim they are prepared, at the same time, to “guarantee” Israel’s national security. Is really France going to make war on a nuclear Iran that would threaten Tel Aviv? Raising that ultimate question is perhaps the best way to restore some sense of … proportion.”
by Michel Gurfinkiel, Pajamas Media, Jan. 1, 2009
A “disproportionate reaction.” This is how Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France, characterized — on the very first day of the war — Israel’s operations against Hamas, the terrorist brotherhood that rules Gaza. Many French citizens will return the compliment. What may be truly “disproportionate” is to pass judgment on the Hebrew state for fulfilling its primary duty as a state: to protect the safety of its land and its people.
Is Gaza under Israeli occupation? No. The Israelis withdrew from the enclave to a man in 2005. Is Hamas a legitimate ruler in Gaza? No way. It seized power there in 2007, as the result of a civil war against the Palestinian Authority. Has Hamas engaged in systematic aggression against Israel ever since then? Yes. Is it conducting repeated, blind shelling against civilians in southwest Israel? Yes. Has Hamas abducted an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, on Israeli soil, and does it keep him as a hostage, which is under international law a crime against humanity? Yes. Has Hamas one-sidedly announced it was canceling a several-month lull with Israel? Yes. Does it publicly list the destruction of the Israeli republic and of the Israeli society as political aims? Yes. Under such conditions, Israel’s right to make war on Hamas and to destroy it is absolute. (Continue Reading this Article)
December 31st, 2008 11:07 pm
Surreal Gaza
Victor Davis Hanson
The World Reacts
I spent today reading accounts of Gaza—NY Times, AP, Reuters, etc. There are no terrorists, just militants. Not much about past rocket attacks on Israel–most everything on the crowded conditions of Gaza. Iranian aid is rarely elaborated on; stories about quiet Arab support for defanging Hamas are likewise rare; common is the buzz about protests in Europe. In reaction, I jotted down the following random thoughts.
Gaza as Monte Carlo, perhaps Hong Kong, or is it to be Switzerland of the Mediterranean?
Gaza is a sort of lab experiment in the Middle East. Recall for a minute: the Israelis withdrew en masse, a so-called “retreat” that reverberated all over the Middle East. The West supported free and open elections that gave Hamas their legitimacy, such as it was. Gaza is strategically placed on the Mediterranean with a prime shoreline. It borders Egypt the traditional center of the Arab world. Hundreds of millions of dollars of Middle-East oil money, and Western relief donations have poured into the tiny state. Israeli clearly wants no more of it, and would love to let Gaza alone to be Dubai.
The result?
Hamas with its serial rocket attacks on Israel interprets all of the above not as an opportunity for prosperity, but as a stage one for the great accomplishment of its generation—the absolute destruction of the Jewish state. Its agenda is clear and unambiguous, and apparently shared by millions of elites in the West itself, without whose support Hamas could not exist. The common theme of Western press coverage is the misery of Gaza, never the misery of Gaza as a product of the garrison-state mentality of Hamas’s radical Islamic vows to wage perennial war against Israel.
The Enablers
Hamas counts on the fact that its own losses will be characterized as a “holocaust” and appear comparable in the Western media to something like Darfur or the slaughtering in Zimbabwe, or the usual carnage that we wake up to on the news. Take away Western press attention from Gaza, and Hamas is just another violent, illiberal regime that impoverishes its own people while seeking victim status in the West.
Is that too harsh? I don’t think so. Again, if it were to call a one-year truce with Israel, seek normal relations with Egypt, and swear off Iranian-Hezbollah terrorist aid while it sought to rebuild infrastructure, ensure security, and recruit foreign capital, then there would be no more world attention, and its cadres of hooded youth would lack the pizzazz of “militants.”
Jenin Redux
Meanwhile, we suffer through the Jenin reinvention of the rules of war: (1) proportionality: Hamas is allowed to keep trying to kill as many Jews as it can to “balance” those lost to far more lethal Israeli countermeasures. Rule I. War is a tit-for-tat game, where fairness is defined as killing no more than you lose.
(2) Civilians and warriors: there is no such difference. Hamas’s terrorists who shoot rockets against Israeli families burrow into their own civilian infrastructure. They are tragic innocents to the world when they are killed and heroes to their own if can they kill innocents Jews through their barrages. Rule II. The age of uniforms and battle lines is over, replaced by the civilian shield as the best mechanism of defense against Western mastery of traditional arms.
(3) War that is lost on the battlefield can be won through the international media. The Palestinians have counted on six truths in the international arena (a. the world remains largely anti-Semitic; b. the world appreciates the strategic calculus that Arabs are numerous with oil; and Israel is tiny without it; c. Westerners fear Islamic terrorists, not the IDF; d. The West is prone to self-loathing, and romanticizes any who best capture the mantel of victimhood; the Palestinians have brilliantly reinvented themselves by claiming a status akin to women, gays, Hispanics, and blacks—fellow victims of rich while male Westerners; e. Any culture abroad whose hospitals Westerners would not like to be operated in are idealized; any who emulate Western technological supremacy are shunned. Rule III: Just copy any group that sets up shop on an American campus free speech area, and the resulting sympathy is worth a division.
Incremental Victory
The Hamas way of thinking is that it has constantly redefined losses to such an extent that 300+ killed are now dubbed a “Holocaust.” Meanwhile the frequency and range of its rocketry are expanded and embedded into the “normalcy” of the Middle East. Hamas seeks to establish the principle that it can daily wear away the psyche of Israelis while carefully constraining Israeli responses. What a Westerner would call an Israeli “victory” (e.g., terrible destruction of Hamas infrastructure with far greater casualties inflicted than suffered), Hamas and others would call “progress” in a century-long war (e.g., the world now accepts that showering Israeli with rockets is not an act of war, and not deserving of serious retaliation).
A final note: some of the most vicious anti-Israeli sentiment comes from Europe, especially countries like Spain and Greece. Yet I remember Morocco and Spain nearly shooting at each other in 2002 in a dispute over an uninhabited rock in the Mediterranean, and Greece goes ballistic every time Turkey customarily overflies Aegean airspace. Israel alone is not supposed to respond to rocket barrages; our conclusions can only be that the world deems it an illegitimate state worthy of destruction, and will allow its enemies to keep trying until they succeed (Why else would a British television station invite Ahmadinejad to answer the Queen’s Christmas address—a thug who promised the destruction of Israel, is seeking the means to do it, and whose terrorists recently kidnapped British sailors?)
Meanwhile we await “Gaza, Gaza”—the anguished documentary movie as hundreds of filmakers have no doubt already descended to offer us by spring a must see movie on every American university campus.
Comment by yamit82 — January 2, 2009 @ 9:26 am
Very nicely put Yamit…
We can only hope that this will be shown only in the various university departments of History, and on the History Channel…
Comment by keelie — January 2, 2009 @ 9:37 am
As Yamit82 knows - Israel’s leaders have accepted they’re good dhimmis. Eventually, the Jews’ fate will be that of the Beni Quaraysh in Arabia. Now not perhaps but sometime down the road. And Israel’s Far Left welcomes the prospect of Israel’s extinction with a gusto. Such is the time in which we now live.
Comment by NormanF — January 2, 2009 @ 11:18 am
I recall that, in 1938-1939, the French thought that honoring their alliances with Czechoslovakia and then Poland was a disproportionate response.
World’s Shortest Book: French military successes from 1816 to the present.
Comment by Bill Levinson — January 2, 2009 @ 1:00 pm
I thought it was on Italian war heroes or Polish culture? Take your pick.
Comment by yamit82 — January 2, 2009 @ 1:07 pm
Yes, the same way the Frogs “guaranteed” Czechoslovakia’s and Poland’s security in 1938 and 1939. Even when they finally declared war on the Nazis, they just sat there until the Nazis turned the phony war into a real war.
French terror alert levels, lowest to highest:
(1) Run
(2) Hide
(3) Surrender
(4) Collaborate, e.g. turn Christians over to the religious police the way the Vichy Regime turned Jews and Maquisards over to the Gestapo
(5) “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is His Prophet.”
Q: Why can the slowest Frenchman run faster than the fastest German?
A: The ones that couldn’t are dead.
Q: Why does a squadron of Prussian Uhlans make an entire French city run?
A: The women run toward them while the men run away.
Q: Why does the French Foreign Legion fight so well?
A: There are no French in it.
Q: Why do French women learn so many languages?
A: They never know which country’s soldiers may want them for war brides.
For Sale: 100,000 French rifles. Never fired, and dropped only once.
Q: What do you get when you make a person of Hungarian ethnicity the President of France?
A: A Frenchman who thinks that bombing terrorists is a “disproportionate reaction.”
Comment by Bill Levinson — January 2, 2009 @ 1:22 pm
Especially if those doing the bombing are Jews.
Comment by yamit82 — January 2, 2009 @ 2:04 pm
There’s an old joke about three people, one of them a member of the Israeli Defense Forces, who were shipwrecked and landed on a remote cannibal-infested island. They were captured before long, and as cauldrons of water were being hoisted on to the fire, the generous natives offered to grant each of their captives one last wish.
The first doomed man requested a pen and paper, and penned a farewell note to his family.
The second person asked for a five-course –non-human-meat – final meal.
The Israeli then asked that the tribal leader punch him in the face. A strange request, but in their final moments on earth, people don’t always think coherently… As soon as the Chief socked him, the Israeli pulled out an Uzi and mowed down the hapless captors.
“Why did you wait until he punched you before shooting them?” the two relieved friends asked.
“And have the world say that I was the aggressor?!”
source: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/800681/jewish/Israeli-Aggression.htm
Comment by Birdalone — January 2, 2009 @ 3:17 pm
Laura:
Boy oh boy, what a degenerate. I shudder to think about what sadomasochistic, aoutoerotic,exotic practises you engage in-what about goats,chickens, underage boys and girls-are there any limits at all?
Comment by h peskin — January 2, 2009 @ 5:11 pm
Peskin:
MORAL DEPRAVITY IS MY GAME.I AM VERY INTERESTED.MY APPETITE IS WHETTED. HOW MAY I REACH THIS YOUNG LADY NAMED LAURA?
Comment by philo-clitoreum — January 2, 2009 @ 5:21 pm
Re: #9
If Sarkozy’s wife was gang-raped by Islamic Supremacists, it probably wouldn’t teach him anything–any more than having cars set on fire in Paris by Islamic Supremacists has taught him anything. There was a time when I thought differently, but it seems he has become a genuine Frenchman.
Q: How do you get a Frenchman to set a world record for running a full kilometer?
A: Walk up behind him and say something in German.
Comment by Bill Levinson — January 2, 2009 @ 5:45 pm
GREAT SALE ON USED FRNCH RIFLES. Dropped once.
Comment by Ed D — January 2, 2009 @ 6:06 pm
Leviscinz (Levinsky) : Re 11
Ask a Polish person to define someone who is not Jewish.
Genitals are people of non-Jewish origins.
Comment by h peskin — January 2, 2009 @ 8:47 pm
To peskin and the other mutant, the #10 poster, anyone who defends terrorists is not human. Nicholas sarkozy is sub-human and so is his wife just for being married to him. So what I said was perfectly acceptable.
Comment by Laura — January 3, 2009 @ 1:00 am
To the ignorant jackass who thinks I’m a degenerate, since islamic scum genitally mutilate females, I think its perfectly legitimate to turn the tables on them. Why is what I propose worse than what muslims already do to females, and hardly anyone bats an eye? If anything my proposal is more humane in the fact that I at least say wait until the muslim males reach their teens, whereas females in the muslim world are subjected to genital mutilation in infancy.
Comment by Laura — January 3, 2009 @ 1:16 am
For excellent comprehensive background to France’s position, read “Betrayal” by David Price-Jones (Encounter Books, 2006; ISBN 1-59403-151-7)
From the jacket notes:
France has betrayed its proud humanistic values…the French ruling elite have consistently opposed Zionist and the State of Israel…David Pryce-Jones has followed the evolution of these destructive attitudes abd policies through the archives of of the Quai d’Orsay, France’s foreign ministry…In this hard-hitting book, “Betrayal” explains how and why France has become a danger to itself and an ill omen for the West.
Mind you, Nicolas Sarkozy is most certainly one of the most reasonable French politicians for decades in relation to his attitude to Israel. However, if you read “Betrayal” you’ll see that the ability of even the President to take control of an civil service with entrenched “nepotism, patronage, and political persuasion…Catholic and hostile to Jews…” (HB Haynes).
Check Jewish Issues Watchdog for an interesting post on Sarkosy
Regards
Steve Lieblich
Comment by stevelieblich — January 3, 2009 @ 3:06 am
I agree with Laura:
Peskin, for you pls take the not so subtle hint!
Man Cuts off Genitals
A POLISH MAN burst into a busy central London restaurant and chopped off his own penis with a knife in front of horrified diners, police have reported.
The man, a 35-year-old Polish national, ran into Zizzi, in the Strand, and promptly committed the surprising act.
“This guy came running in then charged into the kitchen, got a massive knife and started waving it about,” a diner who was eating at the restaurant with his girlfriend said. Apparently, the man was dissatisfied that since he came to England he was unable to get a Polish girlfriend, who all seem to be going with black men.
“Everyone was screaming and running out as he jumped on a table, dropped his trousers and popped out his penis,” the diner said. “Then he cut it off. I couldn’t believe it.” A Scotland Yard spokesperson said that a man aged between 30 and 40 was the only person hurt in the incident, and that his injuries were selfinflicted.
He was taken to hospital, where his condition was described as stable, after police had subdued him using CS gas, and recovered his severed penis, which surgeons have attempted to reattach.
It was not known whether the operation has been a success.
Comment by yamit82 — January 3, 2009 @ 5:31 am
Man Cuts off Genitals
A POLISH MAN burst into a busy central London restaurant and chopped off his own penis with a knife in front of horrified diners, police have reported.
The man, a 35-year-old Polish national, ran into Zizzi, in the Strand, and promptly committed the surprising act.
_Peskin:
“This guy came running in then charged into the kitchen, got a massive knife and started waving it about,” a diner who was eating at the restaurant with his girlfriend said. Apparently, the man was dissatisfied that since he came to England he was unable to get a Polish girlfriend, who all seem to be going with black men.
“Everyone was screaming and running out as he jumped on a table, dropped his trousers and popped out his penis,” the diner said. “Then he cut it off. I couldn’t believe it.” A Scotland Yard spokesperson said that a man aged between 30 and 40 was the only person hurt in the incident, and that his injuries were selfinflicted.
He was taken to hospital, where his condition was described as stable, after police had subdued him using CS gas, and recovered his severed penis, which surgeons have attempted to reattach.
It was not known whether the operation has been a success.
Comment by yamit82 — January 3, 2009 @ 5:32 am
Peskin; and your clone Philo the Shit: The friends and supporters of my enemies are my enemy. OK, so you then say well the whole wold…… So be it. Those sons of bitches are trying to kill me daily and Frankly since you are such a fucking bleeding heart for their well being may what happens to them be unto you,( sooner or later) it will catch up to you and yours if you have any (Yours?) It hardly matters to me who will do you- Arab, Muslim, Christian , or Jew. any will be Kosher and a Mitzva.
Funny thing Peskin when translated from English to Polish the term Gentile in Polish is:
I think the dumb Pollaks had you in mind!!!
Comment by yamit82 — January 3, 2009 @ 8:12 am