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If Palestinians Were Killed By Suicide Bombings
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| Palestinian |
If Palestinians Were Killed By Suicide Bombings
By SHERRI MUZHER
I just finished reading a report about the Israeli killing of 32 Palestinians the week of March 7, 2004.
Ten of them were children and two were women. There was no breaking news or the usual presidential condemnation that often accommodates suicide bombings.
Is that the problem? Palestinians are not being killed by suicide bombings and therefore their deaths are not going to warrant reactions of horror?
It’s a question that crosses my mind often when I hear about the repulsion against those who strap bombs. I don’t support suicide bombings but I certainly don’t distinguish between the deaths of innocents and more importantly, how the killings take place.
I am often asked if I condemn suicide bombings when a discussion hits on the Middle East conflict. Do Israeli-Americans get asked if they condemn occupation, I wonder? Anyhow, I usually ask “If Israelis were killed by military-style ambushes and Palestinians didn’t strap bombs on themselves, would you find the deaths more tolerable?”
Silence usually follows.
Call me a human rights activist but results rather than methods anger me. What difference does it make how people are killed? Innocents are being killed on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides.
Specific to the Palestinians, nearly 3,000 have been killed since the uprising for freedom began in September, 2000 – a third of them, children. In the overwhelming majority of cases, Palestinians are killed in non-combative situations, just like Israeli civilians on buses are.
But dead Palestinian innocents are not afforded the dramatic media coverage that Israelis get. No breathless interviews; pictures of carnage; interviews with witnesses and government officials; and/or the traditional condemnation by President George Bush.
Perhaps most disheartening about the media coverage is the implication that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is calm unless there is a suicide bombing. Try telling that to the Palestinian family of three-year-old Dina Iesa who went into shock and later died after hearing Israel shelling in her neighborhood.
But she didn’t die in a suicide bombing. In fact, the 3,000 Palestinians didn’t die by suicide bombings. None of them could go outside for a breath of fresh air without permission from the Israeli Defense Force, but hey, they didn’t die by soldiers strapping bombs. That’s all that matters, right?
What a fickle world we live in when people ignore the root causes of hatred and killing but just want to focus on whether a killer strapped a bomb on him/herself. I guess Palestinians killed by F16 bombings died with smiles on their faces.
-Sherri Muzher - JD in International Law – is a media analyst based in Mason, Michigan |
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| St_Andrew |
| yeah agree, this world's media is biased as hell... |
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| imokruok |
| JD is not a specific degree. You can have a JD/LLM in international law. Looks like someone's just trying to pump up her byline. |
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| Cyrus King |
| quote: | Originally posted by imokruok
JD is not a specific degree. You can have a JD/LLM in international law. Looks like someone's just trying to pump up her byline. |
Look at the content of what she wrote instead of her educational initials.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: |
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| Yoepus |
| quote: | Originally posted by Palestinian
If Palestinians Were Killed By Suicide Bombings
By SHERRI MUZHER
I just finished reading a report about the Israeli killing of 32 Palestinians the week of March 7, 2004.
Ten of them were children and two were women. There was no breaking news or the usual presidential condemnation that often accommodates suicide bombings. |
What international condemnations?:conf:
| quote: |
Is that the problem? Palestinians are not being killed by suicide bombings and therefore their deaths are not going to warrant reactions of horror? |
One of the problems, another problem is the target of these attacks. Where as Israel target militants, Palestinian targets civilians. If you can't recongize the moral distinction, I'm not going to bother.
| quote: |
I am often asked if I condemn suicide bombings when a discussion hits on the Middle East conflict. Do Israeli-Americans get asked if they condemn occupation, I wonder? Anyhow, I usually ask “If Israelis were killed by military-style ambushes and Palestinians didn’t strap bombs on themselves, would you find the deaths more tolerable?” |
Notice the author doesn't condemn suicide bombings ;)
I get asked if I condemn occupation (as an Israeli living in America), and I say no, I don't condemn it. If I would be asked, "If Israelis were killed by military-style ambushes and Palestinians didn’t strap bombs on themselves, would you find the deaths more tolerable?"
I would not gaze the author in stunned silence, nor do I know any other Israelis who would. They would straight out say Yes, it would make things more tolerable.
If Palestinians conduct military style attacks it would demonstrate that their hatered is not as deep seated and demonstrate to Israelis a more pragmatic approach, a side one could actually hope to achieve peace with. The ferocity of a suicide bomb attack however does not demonstrate any compasion from the enemy. It is perhaps the worst form of dehumanizing attack ever known in our world history.
| quote: | | Call me a human rights activist but results rather than methods anger me. What difference does it make how people are killed? Innocents are being killed on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides. |
Ok I'll call you a human rights activist. The childish arguments are so clearly stupid here, I feel I am patronizing the rest of you to actually point these things out. It makes a difference how people are killed. Shall we equate how many criminals are executed on death row after trial, with how many people are killed in car accidents cause by drunk drivers?
Shall we not be more shocked when someone is brutally raped and killed by a seiral killer than when he dies by old age?
No! The author would tell us, the results are what matters! One death is exactly the same as another.
| quote: |
Perhaps most disheartening about the media coverage is the implication that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is calm unless there is a suicide bombing. Try telling that to the Palestinian family of three-year-old Dina Iesa who went into shock and later died after hearing Israel shelling in her neighborhood. |
Maybe it was just a lightening storm and they mistook it for artillery? I mean I don't know much, but Israel doesn't "shell" Palestinian neighborhoods. THAT we WOULD see on TV! ;)
| quote: | What a fickle world we live in when people ignore the root causes of hatred and killing but just want to focus on whether a killer strapped a bomb on him/herself. I guess Palestinians killed by F16 bombings died with smiles on their faces.
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Hey stop being hypocritical. Two passages up you just say we should ignore the methods - the root causes, and just focuse on results. Now you're telling me we should look at the causes and not the results?:conf:
So which one is it.. let me know when you decide:rolleyes: |
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| tathi |
| quote: | | Is that the problem? Palestinians are not being killed by suicide bombings and therefore their deaths are not going to warrant reactions of horror? |
She is wrong. Australia gets quite a bit of coverage of the IDF state sponsored terrorism along with the Palestinian suicide bombings |
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| Ondrayce |
| quote: | | [i][b]One of the problems, another problem is the target of these attacks. Where as Israel target militants, Palestinian targets civilians. If you can't recongize the moral distinction, I'm not going to bother. |
Yes. Killing ten children and two women is just oozing with morality. Palestinian women and children must be a real threat to the Israeli. Or are they killing the possibilty of future Palestinian militants? Interesting approach. |
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| Ondrayce |
| quote: | Originally posted by tathi
She is wrong. Australia gets quite a bit of coverage of the IDF state sponsored terrorism along with the Palestinian suicide bombings |
No, she's right. America doesn't get the ballanced coverage that Australia might. We get either Liberal ( CNN ) or Conservative ( Fox ) reporting. Both don't really care about Palestinians. American media sucks. At least we have so much reality television. :rolleyes: |
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| VanFleet |
Everything Israel does is to prevent the murder-obsessed Palestinians from carrying out their cruel attrocities.
Palestinian terrorists deliberately aim for the greatest number of civilian casualties.
Mass death is their unambiguous objective.
The greater the bloodletting of Israeli civilians, young and old, the more intensive Arab rejoicing. Mobs whoop and dance in the streets and fire guns in the air. There's no restraining their glee, no hiding their bloodthirsty joy. |
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| trancaholic |
| quote: | Originally posted by VanFleet
Palestinian terrorists deliberately aim for the greatest number of civilian casualties.
Mass death is their unambiguous objective.
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Isn't it so that there is mandatory military service for Israelis? In that case, Palestineans could say that their strikes are simply preemptive or retaliation (depending upon whether the victim has yet to join the military)?!? Preventing the murderous Israeli army from keeping its ranks filled, so to speak?!? |
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| mps242 |
| quote: | Originally posted by trancaholic
Isn't it so that there is mandatory military service for Israelis? In that case, Palestineans could say that their strikes are simply preemptive or retaliation (depending upon whether the victim has yet to join the military)?!? Preventing the murderous Israeli army from keeping its ranks filled, so to speak?!? |
Isn't it so that Jihad a duty for all Muslims? In that case, Israelis could say that their strikes are simply preemptive or retaliation (depending upon whether the victim has yet to pick up a gun or strap a bomb to his body)?!? Preventing the murderous terrorist organizations from keeping their ranks filled, so to speak?!?
Yoepus: well said
Most likely this attack will have the same consequences as the last time Israel targeted Hamas leaders; Hamas leaders will turn off their phones, go into hiding, and try to call a ceasefire... Or, at least this will cause internal confusion in Hamas, weakening the organization while they try to find a new "spiritual leader." Maybe this will give the PA an opportunity to take control over Gaza instead of kowtowing to Hamas. |
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| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by Ondrayce
Yes. Killing ten children and two women is just oozing with morality. Palestinian women and children must be a real threat to the Israeli. |
But they are threats. Palestinian women and children carry bombs into Israel and blow up buses and buildings. Instead of assuming that it was somehow immoral to kill them, why not examine what they were carrying first?
Also I find these two posts highly ironic together:
| quote: | | Or are they killing the possibilty of future Palestinian militants? Interesting approach. |
and
| quote: | Originally posted by trancaholic
Isn't it so that there is mandatory military service for Israelis? In that case, Palestineans could say that their strikes are simply preemptive or retaliation (depending upon whether the victim has yet to join the military)?!? Preventing the murderous Israeli army from keeping its ranks filled, so to speak?!? |
Can we say "double standard", class?
So the thought of Israel doing a "pre-emptive strike" is met with cynicism and sarcasm, but Palestine doing it is completely logical, eh? Love it...
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