Israel Must Comply With International Law And Morality

I used to be a supporter of the state of Israel (and I still believe it has the right to exist and create a decent life for its citizens). But recently I have been very disappointed in the Israeli government. They seem to be graduates of the Bush/Cheney school of politics, where anything they want to do has to be the right thing to do. Unfortunately, that was not true for this country and is not true for Israel, and they are now in the process of making themselves an international pariah.

It would be bad enough if all they were doing is ignoring international law and delaying the peace process, so they can steal more land from the Palestinians in the form of the continual building of new settlements on Palestinian land -- land which they have no intention of returning. But it gets much worse than that.

During the last military excursion into Palestinian territory, the Israelis fired indiscriminately at targets with no regard as to whether there were innocent civilians there or not. This was not an accident, but the policy of the government (as we have learned from the testimony of Israeli soldiers who were the recipient of those orders).

But when they withdrew, they still would not go to the peace table with the Palestinians. That's because they did not approve of the duly-elected Palestinian leaders. Israel has decided it will only negotiate with Palestinians that they approve of (which of course are those that are willing to sell out their own people).

So the Israelis decided to blockade the Palestinians (especially in the Gaza Strip) and starve them into submission. No supplies are allowed to reach the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza without Israeli approval, and the number of supply trucks allowed into Gaza are nowhere near enough to supply the Palestinian people there. The idea is that starvation will make those people choose leaders who will do what Israel wants them to do.

Israel has tried to defend these actions by saying it is necessary for their security, and many people in this country seem to be buying into that lie. It is not. Their security is not threatened by allowing food and other non-military supplies into Gaza. The blockade is nothing more than an illegal and immoral effort to force the Palestinians to give in to Israeli political demands.

In an effort to bring the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza to the world's attention, many peace and humanitarian volunteers (some of them pictured above) organized a small convoy of ships to bring badly needed aid to Gaza. They hoped that Israel would let the unarmed convoy (carrying no military supplies of any kind) through, but expected they would not. They hoped that at the very least, the attempt to deliver food and supplies would focus world attention on Gaza. But they did not expect what actually happened.

When the convoy neared its destination, they were boarded by Israeli commandos. At least 10 of the aid workers were killed by the Israelis and dozens were wounded. The Israeli government tried to say their soldiers were fired upon, but the aid workers were unarmed and couldn't fire on anyone. They then tried to claim their soldiers were physically attacked, but that makes no sense either. What unarmed protester would attack a fully-armed commando?

The truth is they killed and wounded unarmed people who were just trying to bring food and other non-military supplies to people who desperately needed those supplies. This is a shocking violation of every moral code known to civilized men. The Israelis say the convoy was a provocation. I suppose it was. That still does not justify the killing of unarmed people.

This last ridiculously immoral and unnecessary act by Israel has made it very clear that it is time for the United States to act. The U.S. has in the past supported Israel without question, but that must end. President Obama must make it clear to Israel that they must stop building settlements on Palestinian land, allow sufficient supplies into Gaza and return to the peace table and negotiate with the duly-elected Palestinian leaders. If they do not, then all U.S. aid should be stopped until they do.

I repeat, Israel should have the right to a secure existence. But that does not give them the right to starve the people of Gaza into submission, target innocent civilians, or kill unarmed protesters on the high seas. It was wrong for Jews to be targeted for annihilation during and after World War II, but it is also wrong for Israel to act in a violent and immoral way toward the Palestinians.

I think Cul over at the blog ratboy's anvil 2 puts it best when he says:

"What happened to you, Israel? You have become one of the worst terrorist states. You deserve neither the respect or protection of the US. Chosen people my ass....you have become nothing but smug thugs."