My readers know that while I'm an unapologetic liberal on nearly all issues, I'm sometimes conflicted by the actions of the place I love the most, Israel. The source of my conflict is that the political Left is generally on the side of Palestinians in the conflict. This is understandable- the Left has a knee-jerk affinity for the underdog in any conflict, and concern is first felt for the oppressed, not the powerful.
I feel that way too, about many issues; I look for reasons to support factory workers over their bosses in labor disputes. I am tremendously concerned about the overuse of military and surveillance power by the US. I prefer that my sports teams win as a scrappy underdogs than as awesome powerhouses (though there I'll take the powerhouses too, but the Pats 2001 season was way better than 2004 for example).
But when it comes to Israel, I've been there, I'm in awe of what the Pioneers did to build the state (when the Jews really were the underdogs), and I know how important Israel is to Jews everywhere. I've often said that it would have been interesting if I had been in college, when I was full of Leftist fervor, when Israel was in the news. It wasn't though- my college days were spent protesting Apartheid and Salvadoran killing squads, while Israel was relatively quiet.
So that's a roundabout introduction to my position in the current conflict, in which I wholeheartedly support Israel, but with some qualms about the use of power there. To be clear, Israel has a right to defend itself from rocket fire coming from the territories, and there's no question that Hamas is not a partner for peace. I don't think anything Israel does at this juncture will lead to peace any time soon.
But that doesn't mean that anything goes.
This story is troubling. An Israeli missile destroys a home and kills more than ten members of a family. Here's another one. I thought I read one a few days ago about a militant who was killed in his home along with many members of his family, but I can't find that now.
Israel has a right to defend itself. It has no right to send missiles at civilian homes, knowing that many civilians will be killed. If Hamas is using people as "human shields", these issues get difficult, but Israel still has a responsibility to do everything possible to avoid killing civilians. US drone attacks in Afghanistan present the same problem- blowing up the home of a Taliban commander, killing him along with his whole family and the two families that live on either side is totally unethical (even more so in Afghanistan, where Taliban are no real threat to the US, as Hamas certainly is to Israel).
It's to Israel's credit that while its enemy intentionally targets civilians, Israel kills them only by accident or when it's unavoidable. But that doesn't seem entirely true right now. I don't think it's worth it to kill a mid-level Hamas officer if we have to take out a dozen innocents along with him.
Thank God for the cease fire anyway- it was announced today.
I may have more to say on this later. Now I'm just hopeful that hostilities will be kept to a minimum going forward.
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No doubt about the evil of Hamas and those like them. But "tell people to leave" isn't a very satisfying plan if they have no place to go. Gaza is under a blockade- the economy is in shambles- the only way to eat is to get in line for charity. These people have nowhere to go. Dropping leaflets doesn't really cut it.
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