"Civilians are the real victims" Longmont Daily Times-Call

Here is a column I wrote - it appeared in the Longmont Daily Times-Call on Wed., Aug. 2nd. It was in response to their editorial saying Israel was the victim.

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Civilians are the real victims
by Ron Forthofer

During the first part of June, Israel shelled the Gaza Strip numerous times and killed over two dozen Palestinians, mostly innocent civilians. Then on June 24th, Israeli commandos entered the Gaza Strip and kidnapped two Palestinian civilians. If the reverse had happened, that is, Palestinians had been the attackers, we would have heard ad nauseam about Israel's right to defend itself. We've heard nothing about the Palestinians' (equal) right to defend themselves.

But wait, we don't have to be hypothetical. On June 25th, the very day after Israel kidnapped two Palestinian civilians, Palestinians entered an Israeli military base and captured one Israeli soldier and killed two others. Then the Israeli military went berserk and attacked a power station, bridges, and the power distribution system in Gaza. The consequent shortage of power has placed the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians at risk. If you think Longmont is hot these days, imagine being crowded in the scorching Gaza Strip with little clean water and little electricity for fans, for hospitals or for the refrigeration of food. Also add in occasional attacks thrown in for good measure. Israeli apologists everywhere really have their work cut out for them, trying to absolve Israel of any blame and making it seem that Israel is the (only) victim this time. However, the mainstream American media have been up to the challenge, proclaiming over and over about Israel's right to defend itself.

I fully concur that nations and peoples have a right and a responsibility to defend themselves, but even self-defense has its limits. The Geneva Conventions, designed to prevent a repeat of the Nazi atrocities, spell out that civilians must be protected, that there must be no collective punishment and that any response must be proportionate. Israel signed this agreement and so did the U.S. This agreement also obligates the signers to ensure that the agreement is honored. By our support of the Israeli attacks, which are clearly gross violations of the Conventions, the U.S. also has failed to honor its word. The UN Security Council finally tried to rein in Hamas, Hezbollah and Israel, but the U.S. vetoed the resolution. So if Israel and the U.S. can ignore laws with impunity, why even bother to have laws?

For example, just consider proportionality. In Gaza, one Israeli soldier is captured, some ineffective homemade rockets are fired, and Israel puts the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians at risk. In Lebanon, two soldiers are captured and about one-fifth of the Lebanese population are now refugees. In addition, the Lebanese infrastructure and economy are devastated and the Israeli military has killed well over 540 Lebanese, overwhelmingly civilians. The cowardly Israeli middle-of-the-night massacre of Lebanese civilians, mostly women and children, at Qana is the latest outrage. Over 4600 sorties by the Israeli air force during the first two weeks of fighting have caused most of these deaths. Israelis have suffered too, to be sure. Hezbollah has killed slightly over 50 Israelis, about two-thirds of them soldiers. And tens of thousands of Israelis have had to leave their homes due to over 1200 rockets fired by Hezbollah. It is terrible to compare suffering since the death of one is one too many but, clearly, Israel is not the only victim.

To make matters worse, we now find out that Israel had planned these attacks well in advance and was only waiting for an excuse to hit Lebanon. Make no mistake about it, this was a war of choice for Israel. It could have negotiated a prisoner exchange, but Israel wanted this war. It is an outrage that some still try to spin Israel's brutal attacks as legitimate self-defense. The futures of Gaza and Lebanon hang in the balance as Israel continues its barbaric campaign against civilians and civilian infrastructure. By deliberately allowing the carnage to continue, the Bush administration brings shame on all Americans and has created even more enemies for us around the world. And we wonder why they hate us.