Gaza: Praise the Dead, Curse Their Killers

Members of al-Samouni clan mourn their dead (AP)

A few days ago I wrote about the shelling of the Gaza home in which the al-Samouni family took refuge after it was evicted by force by the IDF from its own home earlier.  The N.Y. Times reported that 11 family members had been killed.  Apparently, this report was far from complete.

Now word has seeped out that the death toll was much larger–as high as 60 or 70 killed.  What’s worse, there were over 20 wounded who could not escape the wreckage and were left to fend for themselves with no medical attention.  The Israeli troops could’ve cared less.  In fact, when the Red Crescent made efforts to approach the home they were driven off by Israeli firing.

Just today, three days after the shelling, aid workers finally arrived and removed 15 wounded.  However, Israeli forces again fired on them and forced them to withdraw with eight wounded still remaining at the  site.  Speaking as someone who truly does want to find something that would allow me to see humanity and decency among Israelis, I am forced to concede that I am always disappointed.  Even soldiers fighting a battle must make provision for evacuating civilian wounded.  The fact that the IDF has refused is beyond bestial.  I sputter with rage and indignation as I write this.

In the Book of Exodus, it says God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so he wouldn’t empathize with Jewish suffering. Now it’s the IDF and all Israel whose heart is hardened. We should remember that at the time of the Exodus it was the Egyptians whose first born all died after they had earlier sought to exterminate Jews by killing all the male babies. Is the only way to end this madness for Israel to suffer the same trauma they’re inflicting on the Palestinians? Will the former harden its heart forever?

I propose that we from now on refer to Ehud Barak as Barak the Butcher.  Let this stain whatever legacy he hopes to have for himself.  Keep in mind this is a man who donned a woman’s dress in order to assassinate his first terrorist in Lebanon.  Mazel tov Ehud, you no longer wear a dress when you kill.  Now it’s a business suit.  But it’s still the same grisly murder.  Barak to the Hague.

The Telegraph provides more background on the tragedy here.

Father mourns his children killed at UNWRA school (Abid Katib/Getty)

If Israel is looking for brownie points for allowing a three hour ceasefire every other day for humanitarian relief to enter Gaza, they won’t find them here.  It is simply an outrage that you kill civilians almost with impunity and then seek to relieve the pressure by agreeing to a fig leaf like this.  It is no coincidence that the lull was proposed within hours of the single most devastating civilian attack of the entire war (for let’s name this by what it really is) in which 40 were killed.  Cynical doesn’t even begin to describe this.

Israel claims in its defense it was responding to mortar fire from the school, while UNWRA denies categorically that this was so.  It appears there may have been mortar fire originating in the neighborhood of the school but not from within it.  Can an Israeli tank not see innocent civilians before it fires its rounds or does the IDF simply not care when it lets loose the guns?

At any rate, let the pro-Israel apologists view this image and come up with some foolhardy defense of this crime.  It reeks to high heaven.

Barack Obama: do the eight words you released in your statement of sympathy yesterday do any of this justice??  For the love of God, man, you can do better.