| Gaza |
[Jan. 7th, 2009|02:40 am] |
Conversation with a not too enlightened colleague the other day along the lines of 'Israel doesn't give a fuck, they'll just bomb anyone who gets in their way. The Americans had to bribe them in the Gulf War not to send nukes over into Iraq by wiping off billions of debt.'
True or not, (and in fact it was billions in aid rather than debt cancellation that actually happned, the reasons behind it are less clear) it demonstrates one salient and powerful fact about the current mess in Gaza. Israel has been allowed to get away with literally murder for 40 years now, why would they stop just because Gordon Brown says they should?
There are UN resolutions against Israel dating back to 1967 that remain uncomplied with.
Israel is believed to have WMDs on far stronger evidence than that used against Iraq or Iran.
Israel has repeatedly invaded Palestinian and other territories.
These were the justifications used to invade Iraq. They are conspicuously not being cited against Israel.
No I'm not arguing for an armed invasion of Israel but a couple of aircraft carriers off the coast, a couple of sorties aimed at Israeli military positions accompanied by the unequivocal message 'Back Off or we'll come in and sort both sides out' really would do some good.
For one thing I would dilute the 'it's all a Western assault on Islam' stupidity of Al Quaeda, and for another it would demonstrate to Israel that actually they cannot behave like this.
I don't want war, but it really is time that Israel and Hamas were forced to end this peacefully. |
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| Comments: |
The problem is that the Israelis are better armed, better trained and better motivated than the Americans (ie, they get equipment first). In any conceivable engagement, the outcome will be the US getting its arse handed back to it in a sling . . .
Not gonna happen.
Of course, that would see the end of the many billions of dollars of military subsidy the Israelis receive from the US every year. Every cloud has a silver lining. | |
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