Democracy and Responsibility
The UN, countless NGOs (the Finnish Socialist Union calls Hezbollah's acts of terror an "act of solidarity") and people from all sides have joined together to blast Israel for its "disproportionate operations" in Gaza and Lebanon. The Finnish Foreign Minister, Erkki Tuomioja, repeats the same old mantra that Israel's use of force is disproportiate (echoed by the French president too). This is because civilians in Gaza and Lebanon have suffered due to the IDF operations. However, why should being a civilian clear you of any responsibility?
Both the state of Palestine (The West Bank & Gaza) and Lebanon held elections about a year ago. The Palestinian civilians voted for terrorists. Residents of southern Lebanon, which is now being targeted by the IDf, and, which has been the source of many Hezbollah attacks, voted for Hezbollah, another terrorist group. Neither Hamas nor Hezbollah recognizes Israel. They both wish to see Israel wiped off the map. The people of Lebanon and Palestine gave these groups power - political power. The so-called innocent civilians voted these groups so that there would be a legal basis for their acts of terror. Therefore, the civilians must take responsibility. You cannot expect that voting clears you of any responsibility. If you vote for a left-wing candidate who destroys your country's economy it's you (and, of course, the candidate himself) who is responsible since it's you who gave this person the authority to use political force.
A recent poll hints that the majority of Palestinians support terrorism:
"A majority of the respondents, 77.2%, expressed support for the Hamas operation that included the abduction of Shalit, while only 21.7% said they opposed it."
Sometimes people have to learn this lesson about democratic responsibility the hard way. After all, the Nazis were given power by the German people (which, however, didn't justify the unnecessary bombing of some German cities). The path to a functional democracy is not an easy one and the people of Palestine are still rookies of democracy.
One should still note that not everyone in Gaza or Lebanon voted for Hamas or Hezbollah and that's why it's unfortunate that those who wanted something better ended up dead because of what their misguided neighbors voted for. Neither am I saying that you should be punished by death for voting. I'm just saying that if you vote for terrorists bad things are bound to happen and you should recognize the part you're playing in the process.
And it should be noted that the Lebanese government is the one responsible for keeping Lebanese terrorist groups in check. If it fails to do so, as it has (it has done practically nothing to return southern Lebanon under the government's control), the IDF has to step in in order to protect the citizens of Israel. The IDF withdrew from southern Lebanon six years ago and from Gaza a year ago. The people of Lebanon and Gaza rewarded Israel's unilateral actions by voting for groups that want to see Israel dead.
The good news is that some people involved in the conflict recognize the harm caused by groups like Hezbollah and those who support terrorism:
"'I stayed awake all night long, smoking and watching the news. I can’t understand life here in Lebanon. Hizbullah should be disarmed,' the newspaper’s reporter was told by a restaurant owner named Morris in east Beirut."
Israellycool blog keeps liveblogging news and commentaries about the on-going situation in Gaza and Lebanon as it has done for the past few weeks. There's plenty of stuff from numerous news sources and the blog has become one of my favorites.
Both the state of Palestine (The West Bank & Gaza) and Lebanon held elections about a year ago. The Palestinian civilians voted for terrorists. Residents of southern Lebanon, which is now being targeted by the IDf, and, which has been the source of many Hezbollah attacks, voted for Hezbollah, another terrorist group. Neither Hamas nor Hezbollah recognizes Israel. They both wish to see Israel wiped off the map. The people of Lebanon and Palestine gave these groups power - political power. The so-called innocent civilians voted these groups so that there would be a legal basis for their acts of terror. Therefore, the civilians must take responsibility. You cannot expect that voting clears you of any responsibility. If you vote for a left-wing candidate who destroys your country's economy it's you (and, of course, the candidate himself) who is responsible since it's you who gave this person the authority to use political force.
A recent poll hints that the majority of Palestinians support terrorism:
"A majority of the respondents, 77.2%, expressed support for the Hamas operation that included the abduction of Shalit, while only 21.7% said they opposed it."
Sometimes people have to learn this lesson about democratic responsibility the hard way. After all, the Nazis were given power by the German people (which, however, didn't justify the unnecessary bombing of some German cities). The path to a functional democracy is not an easy one and the people of Palestine are still rookies of democracy.
One should still note that not everyone in Gaza or Lebanon voted for Hamas or Hezbollah and that's why it's unfortunate that those who wanted something better ended up dead because of what their misguided neighbors voted for. Neither am I saying that you should be punished by death for voting. I'm just saying that if you vote for terrorists bad things are bound to happen and you should recognize the part you're playing in the process.
And it should be noted that the Lebanese government is the one responsible for keeping Lebanese terrorist groups in check. If it fails to do so, as it has (it has done practically nothing to return southern Lebanon under the government's control), the IDF has to step in in order to protect the citizens of Israel. The IDF withdrew from southern Lebanon six years ago and from Gaza a year ago. The people of Lebanon and Gaza rewarded Israel's unilateral actions by voting for groups that want to see Israel dead.
The good news is that some people involved in the conflict recognize the harm caused by groups like Hezbollah and those who support terrorism:
"'I stayed awake all night long, smoking and watching the news. I can’t understand life here in Lebanon. Hizbullah should be disarmed,' the newspaper’s reporter was told by a restaurant owner named Morris in east Beirut."
Israellycool blog keeps liveblogging news and commentaries about the on-going situation in Gaza and Lebanon as it has done for the past few weeks. There's plenty of stuff from numerous news sources and the blog has become one of my favorites.
Labels: english
posted by MSandt at 1:55 AM
3 Comments:
What the hell is that above? I am just too lazy to start reading that long comment, although I've been quilty to few of my own.
There are a few disturbingly one sided observation in your post. I must insist on historical truth which clearly dictates that there hardly ever is only one quilty party in any conflict. The Palestinian qustion surely is one of those where two (or more) parties, of varying degree, have plenty to feel quilty about. However, it would take at least as much room as our friend's, Ahmedinajad, comment to get anywhere, so, I just harp about a couple of items.
When we talk about terrorist organizations, it's good to remember that, in almost every conflict one party calls group of fighters as terrorists and the others as freedom fighters. As hard it is to symphatize with Hezbollah and Hamas, they are the only organizations that have had relatively little of corruption and quite good track record of providing social assistance to the masses. It is the shame that those elements in Palestine and Lebanon that are more acceptable to us are the ones that instead of using their time in office for the benefit of their people did it to line up their own pockets.
We, the U.S.A. on top, were demanding free and democratic elections and our wish was granted in Palestine with squeeky clean excercise of democracy. People there refused to vote in the same old bastards that been ignoring them the past many years, and voted the Hammas to take charge. It is silly of you to say that they wanted terrorists to lead them. They had an option to choose those who have helped them instead of the merry band of thieves. It turns out that, they were fools to believe that all the West wanted was them to have a democratic process. Dubya and the boys were never for the democracy decided by the natives and this scenario will repeat itself, with no doubt, every where in the region where democratic elections will take place.
I am not denying that Hamas rethoric is pure shit but they and Palestinians have legimate grievances that don't seem to get solved by either Arabs or Jews. In the light of present escalation, I am starting to believe that there is no political will on either side to achieve peace for their people. However, I resent that you hold an average Palestinian or Lebanese responsible for the misery that they are continuously afflicted with. How do you consider those who never voted, or voted the other guys? How about those who are not yet at a voting age? Do they also deserve to havit and if not, how are you going to seperate them from to ones that desrve to get it? The politicians on both sides are playing games and pawns, the regular folk, are paying for it with their lives.
This to me is not acceptable and you should be shamed of yourself by being such a cold hearted, myopic cheerleader for Israel.
I say kill'em all. Start with the children.
I Will always be on Israel's side.
Wow. You've been found by a numerologist. They're crazy.
I recently had a cab ride in Chicago, where I chatted up the cabdriver, who was a devout Muslim from the Middle East. He seemed quite intelligent at first, and since he realized I follow politics quite a lot, and as I used some unorthodox analyses of Middle East politics (using Marxists terms such as the "pursuit of desire" - which always handily open up people's interests, as they're deceptively benign), he got friendlier and felt emboldened to pull out sheaths of documents on the numerological significance of current events:
"Please, sir, take and read".
"Oh, I couldn't possibly have the time for all this".
"Please, think about it: the number of days from 9/11, divided by the months from the invasion of Iraq, equals to the number of chapters in the Quran, and..." - blah blah, on and on he went.
It was quite fascinating. I'd imagine a lot of intelligent people in the Muslim world eventually go a little batty if all they've ever been taught is that the Quran is the final word of God, and that it's up to man to figure out all the various interpretations.
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