Outfoxed

Alternate title: Is it still wrong if the good guys are the terrorists?

Last week, in response to my entry A Provocative Defense, one commenter (George) pointed me to this blog, which very eloquently argues why "Israel cannot accept its citizens being fired upon, full stop." A very good point. No government should stand idly by while it's citizens are being attacked.

I also read another amazing blog entry which had this quote from yet another amazing blog entry:

Speaking over the phone from Beersheba, Gordon said: “We just had a rocket about an hour ago not far from our house. My two children have been sleeping in a bomb shelter for the past week. And yet, I think what Israel is doing is outrageous. ... The problem is that most Israelis say Israel left the Gaza Strip three years ago and Hamas is still shooting rockets at us. They forget the details. The detail is that Israel maintains sovereignty. The detail is that the Palestinians live in a cage. The detail is that they don’t get basic foodstuff, that they don’t get electricity, that they don’t get water. And when you forget those kinds of details, all you say is, ‘Why are they still shooting at us?’ That’s what the media here has been pumping them with, then you think this war is rational. If you look at what’s been going on in the Gaza Strip in the past three years and you see what Israel has been doing to the Palestinians, you would think that the Palestinian resistance is rational. And that’s what’s missing in the mainstream media here.”

"Gordon" refers to Professor Neve Gordon of Ben Gurion University of the Negev.

Boy - these are rather dichotomous views. How to reconcile? Some questions/answers:

1. What does Israel want? It claims to want peace, coexistence and prosperity.
2. What does the United States want? It claims to want peace, coexistence and prosperity.
3. What do the enemies of peace want? Hate, fear and power.
4. What price are #1& 2 willing to pay for what they want? They state, money, diplomacy, military action (lives).
5. What is it that the enemies of peace have that gives them so much power? As I commented, they invest more in the well-being of their constituency than their opponents.

Huh?? That doesn't seem right! The people who wish for hate, fear and power also invest in food, shelter, healthcare, education, etc. for their "constituents," but those who wish for peace don't?  How does that happen?

I think #3 has out-foxed #1 & 2. How? Where #1& 2 have been busy with their political masturbation machinations, #3's been busy investing in their peeps.

Why has the United States not invested to build hospitals, schools and help create a thriving economy in Gaza and the rest of Palestine? If they were living with health and prosperity, there would be no fighting (they know the Israelis have superior defense and offense capability, and they'd have too much to lose).

Bigger question - why hasn't the US pushed Israel (with whom it has such a special relationship) to co-invest? Surely it would cost less to do that than they're spending flying Condoleezza Rice to the Middle East every week to eat hummus and pontificate? Surely it would cost less than the lives that have been lost or wounded as a result?

There's an incredible irony here - while the protagonists focused on PR and politicking, the "antagonists" (who don't need any of that political cover) have devoted their time to two things - how to keep their peeps happy, and how to goad their enemies to take actions that keep their funders juiced and willing to open their wallets. <-- You can bet that Hamas comes out of this war wealthier than they went in - all the other anti-Israeli players will ante up, I'm sure. How will that help the situation?

Looking ONLY at the activities here, one might almost give credit to Hamas for at least having done something in service of these poor refugees stuck in Gaza. No one else has. No one else has cared.

Don't get me wrong, I do NOT condone terrorism nor do I support Hamas or claim that they are righteous. Terrorists are criminals and should be found out and tried under the full weight of justice and international law. But if you look at their strategy, they've sure outfoxed the "good" guys. What's more, the lopsided results of the bombings (see below) have given them a lot more social credit than they had three weeks ago.

According to the Washington Post, the death toll is 889 as of Sunday (876 Palestinians and 13 Israelis).

Surely the Americans, British and Israelis might have been willing to invest as above to avoid a situation that has cost 13 deaths already?

I guess it boils down to love thy neighbor vs. is it still wrong if the good guys are the terrorists?