Israel is constantly warned by the likes of the European Parliament not to react "disproportionately" to Palestinian violence, without anyone ever quite defining what would be proportionate.
It seems logical that in the current crisis that a proportionate response would be for the Israelis to return the fire in the same manner they are suffering it, i.e., launch rockets toward the Gaza Strip. But the Israelis won't resort with this form of retaliation because their society won't tolerate the deliberate targeting of civilians.
Palestinian terrorists defend their attacks on Israeli civilians by describing them as part of the human infrastructure that sustains the "occupation." Using similar logic, the Israelis could see all Palestinians as the enemy. After all, in what everybody reminds us was a democratic election, the Palestinians put into government the terrorist party Hamas that refuses to recognize the right of Israel's existence and has murdered many Israelis to underscore that point. The Palestinians made their choice, it could be argued, just as the Germans backed the Nazis, and we didn't let qualms about civilian casualties stop us and the British from bombing German cities.
But, no, we live in a different world. Well, most of us do. Not only their own revulsion at targeting civilians, but the civilized world's abhorrence of it means the Israelis take pains to aim their reprisals at the terrorists. But the expectations of, for instance, the Europeans are markedly different for the Palestinians. No atrocity, no suicide bombing shredding the flesh of teenage girls, no massacre seems enough to give the Europeans more than a momentary pause. Then it's back to their default position of excusing Palestinian wretched excesses, citing the "occupation."
It would be nice to see more editorials like this.
Technorati Tag: Israel and Palestinians.
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