History, and particularly recent history is filled with atrocities committed by the Israelis. Violence in the west bank, ruthless shelling of Lebanon, construction of a wall (ala Germany) and most recently: the well coordinated and highly successful assassination on foreign soil[1]. This list could spill over many pages and still not cover the atrocities that are committed by the Jewish State, little less blamed on them. It would be very hard to defend these as actions of a country seeking peace, or anything short of evil for that matter, particularly to the Palestinians. So I won’t.
I condemn Israel and many of her policies and actions as those of a war mongering nation, perpetuating a cycle of violence, refusing to seek compromise for the good of everyone involved.
I do not question the necessity of their actions.
Since its inception in Israel has been involved in the following wars:
1948 Arab-Israeli War. Shortly have surviving an attempted Genocide the Jewish people had to fight to have land to call their own.
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1956 Suez Crisis. Although not a direct attack on their sovereignty, left unchecked it would have very likely evolved into one.
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1967 Six Day War. Jordan, Syria and Egypt amassed troops, fully capable and motivated to crush Israel. A pre-emptive attacked against the Egyptian air force was perhaps the most brilliant tactical decision of the last half century and saved the country.
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1967-1970 War of Attrition. Israel’s moral and economy was attacked. But they did what they always do, survived.
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1973 Yom Kippur War. Why is it called the Yom Kippur war? Well that’s because Syria and Egypt attacked on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, in an attempt to surprise the deeply religious state and crush them they could respond. It didn’t work. In two weeks the Syrian forces had lost all of the ground that they had gained and shortly after that a cease-fire was declared.
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1978 Operation Litani. Israel pushed the PLO back, protecting its citizens from relentless shelling.
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1987-1990 Intifada. An uprising of the young laid the ground work for later discontent.
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2000 Intifada, again. Marked by suicide bombings and daily unrest, no citizen could consider themselves safe.
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2006 Lebanon War. After withstanding literally hundreds of mortars launched into their country, the Israelis finally got tired and cleared out Hezbollah launch points to the north.
Needless to say, had they lost any of these, they would have lost their country, their identity, their long sought after freedom. The most persecuted group of people in modern history acted repeatedly in self defence.
When survival is on the line, and Holocaust is your experience, how can any sympathetic person ask the Israel to lie down and effectively surrender to their enemies? While their proactive approach may be debatable, the need for action was not.
I do not agree with their tactics, but I do agree with their right to defend themselves, and yes, perhaps even their tendency to use excessive force. What’s at stake is too important to risk to anything less.
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