. = V E N T = .
Letters to the Editor


From time to time, a commentary on the world will bubble up inside of me to the extent that I'm forced to write a letter to my local, metropolitan, daily newspaper, The Age. This is where I blow of some steam. Feel like venting too? Add your own comment or visit my homepage.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Israel's Terrible Logic

The Israeli fighter jets over Gaza are not just inducing sonic booms; they're inducing nose-bleeds, panic attacks and miscarriages in the civil population (The Age, 6/7/2006). The logic is supposedly that heavily-pregnant women and young children will rise up and force Palestinian terrorists to stop firing missiles at Israel. That serious Israeli security chiefs would advance such a notion is so fanciful that we can safely dismiss it.

No, far more likely - and sinister - is that this program of collective punishment is designed to pressure the terrorists into giving up out of guilt at what's happening to their fellow Muslims. A strategy based on an appeal to the consciences of psychopathic criminals is designed to show up the complicity of Palestinian civilians - and hence the validity of their continuing punishment.

Israeli politicians must make clear that Israel distinguishes between Palestinian civilians and terrorists; lumping them in together will simply make Israel's defence forces the chief recruiter for Hamas.

Vent!         


0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home