In response to yesterday’s suicide attack killing three Israeli, Hamas leaves no doubt as to its position on targeting innocent Israeli civilians (via Jewlicious).
“It was a natural response to the Israeli crimes, to the continued Israeli killing, incursions and arrests,” said Hamas lawmaker Mushir al Masri. “Our Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves.”
Somebody please explain to me how disguising yourself as an Orthodox Jew, hitchhiking, and then blowing yourself up in the car is an act of self defense. The victims here were chosen randomly, with no connection to military or political activity. To those who like to draw moral equivalencies between Israeli military actions and Palestinian terrorism, I say this: The poor excuse for a human being who blew himself up specifically intended to kill as many civilians as possible and civilians with no connection to so-called “Israeli killing, incursions and arrests”. It wasn’t an act of political defiance; it was a simple act of murder. And Hamas, now the leading party of the Palestinian Authority, defends it openly. God help us all if this is who we have to make peace with.
I make no pretence of trying to explain or defend this dastardly act. But to claim that Israeli settlers living in Kedumim, one of the first Israeli settlements created back in the 70s are in the same category as Israelis living within the Green Line is not reasonable. Do I believe that both types of Israeli deserve to be able to live in peace & not be blown up? Absolutely. But if you live in disputed conquered territory, you must expect hatred and potential violence fr. those you dispossessed or oppressed. If you don’t, then you’re burying your head in the sand.
Comment by Richard Silverstein — April 4, 2006 @ 3:08 am
As I wrote in a comment to Dan’s post recently, That line of thinking sounds an awful lot like the “she was asking for it” response to rape. You make it sound like Palestinians are merely blindly responding to Israeli occupation and not making conscious decisions to kill innocent civilians. The attack last week, for example, had nothing to do with the occupation as the victims were neither soliders nor politicians. Trying to justify it in the name of occupation is akin to apologizing for murder.
Comment by sagoboulevard — April 4, 2006 @ 12:50 pm