Reflexive Critism of IsraelFrom folks who seldom criticize Hamas,
like Ezra Klein:
No deaths and few injuries. "Deeply disturbing." Hamas lacks the technology to aim its rockets. They're taking potshots. In response, the Israeli government launched air strikes that have now killed more than 280 Palestinians, injured hundreds beyond that, and further radicalized thousands in the Occupied Territories and millions in the region.
That encapsulates much of the commentary from the portside. Hamas fires these random rockets, accidentally killing some Israelis (and some Palestinians). And mean old Israel responds with precision munitions.
Note as well that Israel is, as
Ralph Peters puts it today, damned if they do, dead if they don't. Ezra is concerned about the cycle of violence, but what does he suggest instead? That the Israelis turn the other cheek? He notes that the response will come in the future:
It will come in months, or even in years, when an angry orphan detonates a belt filled with shrapnel, killing himself and 25 Israelis.
Good thing the Israelis have the checkpoints and the wall, huh? Um, not according to Klein:
The rocket attacks were undoubtedly "deeply disturbing" to Israelis. But so too are the checkpoints, the road closures, the restricted movement, the terrible joblessness, the unflinching oppression, the daily humiliations, the illegal settlement -- I'm sorry, "outpost" -- construction, "deeply disturbing" to the Palestinians, and far more injurious. And the 300 dead Palestinians should be disturbing to us all.
When a young child touches a hot oven, it learns a lesson: Don't touch the oven when it's hot. Liberals apparently think that the child should begin plotting its revenge against the oven.
