vrijdag, november 17, 2006
Terror?
“I do not accept the comparison between terror attacks and our defense operations,” Livni declared, addressing the extensive criticism due to the high civilian death toll in the Beit Hanoun strike last week.“The terror groups aim their acts at the civilian population, at kindergartens, and think of civilian casualties as a great victory. We do all we can to avoid hitting civilians and we educate our children not to hurt innocents. This is the complex reality we must face. I know that most Israeli citizens understand the complexity of the situation and don’t follow empty slogans,” she said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3329242,00.html
Is this so? I mean: I KNOW what 'we' (generalizing for simplicity's sake) teach our children, and she's right. But, from many comments on various forums there seems to be a whole lot of people who don't think so. They, and not only they, regard the IDF (that is made up of our children) as the ruthless aggressors killing indiscriminately. They take their account from the number of Palestinian victims compared to that of the Israeli.
On the other hand, I also read contradicting stories telling how cruel the IDF is acting against innocent Palestinians. And then there is the case of the many 'incidents' where innocent Palestinians got killed by them.
Still I believe in principle she's right in her defenition of terror. But, the so-called 'collateral damage' and 'collective punishment' bit - somehow falls in my vocabulary under 'terror'.
Complex? Ya'betcha!
