Maof

I can’t tell you how much I hate hearing about civilian deaths in the Palestinian territories.

News stories of this type are almost always disturbingly colorful and horribly descriptive, and make anyone with a heart cringe in revulsion.

By contrast, Israeli civilian deaths typically are apparently not considered newsworthy when they happen, but only as an asterisk in a story about a retaliatory strike which kills or injures Palestinians. Check it out. You’ll see.

Also, articles about Israelis killed in attacks hardly ever include anything more descriptive than the cold, hard facts. Numbers only. No names, no ages, no faces, no humanity.

This is not the case when something horrible happens to Palestinians.

Case in point, the recent incident in which Israeli artillery fire evidently killed 18 sleeping civilians in Gaza.

“Women collapsed in grief, a man hoisted his dead baby aloft and tens of thousands of Palestinians called for revenge Thursday as they jammed a cemetery for the funeral of 18 civilians killed in an errant Israeli artillery attack,” is how the Associated Press story starts.

Compare this to any story in which Israelis are killed. When you look, you will note that very often in news accounts, Palestinians are “killed,” while Israelis “also die” — a subtle, yet infuriating distinction.

The article notes that “despite the deadly incident, Israel said it would keep attacking Gaza as long as Palestinian rocket barrages persist, although the army ordered artillery fire to stop pending the results of an investigation.”

This could have been said the other way — “as long as the Palestinians continue firing rockets into Israeli civilian population centers, Israel vows to continue targeting launch areas” — giving a very different impression.

Also note the Israelis suspended their efforts to try to stop the constant barrage of Qassam rockets into Israeli towns from the area until it figures out how this tragedy happened. It is the type of behavior that screams the qualitative difference between the mindset and mores of the two peoples.

The AP story notes that 18 dead was the highest Palestinian civilian toll in a single incident since the current conflict erupted in September 2000. The highest death toll of Israeli civilians was the 29 killed in a Palestinian suicide bombing at a March 2002 Passover gathering.

And here we see the other main differences between the two groups. Intent and reaction.

The Israeli military is investigating what they say was a terrible mistake. The Army and the government both expressed horror and regret at the unintended loss of civilian lives.

By stark and disturbing contrast, the Passover Massacre was the fulfillment of an intentional targeting of innocent civilians, designed for maximum carnage. No one apologized, but instead there were celebrations in the Palestinian streets and vows of continued violence.

And yet, in reading about and watching the news, one could easily get the impression that “both sides” are equally barbaric and that since the Israelis are better armed (at least for now,) they must be the aggressors.

I submit that Israel and the Jews are the front line in the West’s war on Islamo-fascist terror, and as Israel goes, so goes civilization.

http://politicalmavens.com Monday November 13th, 2006

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