FresnoZionism.org — ציונות פרסנו

Sometimes wars provide the questions that philosophy teachers like to debate. For example,

The IDF is considering directing artillery fire at the source of rocket launchings. [Israeli Defense Minister Ehud] Barak is expected to convene a discussion on the legality of this tactic, since the rockets are frequently fired from residential areas. — Jerusalem Post

For 20 points, if someone is trying to murder your family and stopping him makes it likely that you will hurt his family, should you allow him to kill your people in order to avoid killing his?

Does it matter if the people the murderer is hiding behind have chosen to be ruled by said murderer in a democratic election? Do they bear some responsibility?

What if the murderer specializes in murdering civilians and knows that you — lehavdil — believe that everything should be done to avoid hurting them, even by accident? And therefore the murderer chooses this strategy because it improves his chances to kill your people with impunity?

Does it matter that the murderer will be fully warned and can stop the violence at any time?

Finally, although you will be the proximate cause of hurting or killing his people, since he has deliberately chosen this form of warfare, does not a large portion — perhaps all — of the responsibility for this fall on him?

In your essay, make sure to touch on the goals of both parties — the murderer, to commit genocide, and you, to live in peace.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Hamas, Gaza

Today has been a big day for holocausts:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas labeled Israel’s actions to counter the constant firing of rockets into the Gaza Strip “worse than the Holocaust“.

Abbas said that Israel’s response to the continuous bombardment of western Negev towns by Palestinian terrorists was too severe, saying that its operations which have left at least 33 Palestinians dead on Saturday were unacceptable retaliation to the firing of rockets. — Jerusalem Post

Of course it is not any kind of retaliation. It is an attempt to make Hamas stop firing rockets, which have recently killed and maimed Israelis.

It is an illustration of the warped, I would say actually insane point of view of the Palestinian Arabs, that Abbas can compare an ineffectual partial blockade and a limited incursion into hostile territory from which tens of rockets are fired each day with the systematic murder of 6,000,000.

But anyway, Abbas does not think 6,000,000 were murdered by Hitler:

It seems that the Zionist movement’s stake in inflating the number of murdered in the war aimed at [ensuring] great gains. This led it to confirm the number [6 million], to establish it in world opinion, and by doing so to arouse more pangs of conscience and sympathy for Zionism in general. Many scholars have debated the question of the 6 million figure, and reached perplexing conclusions, according to which the Jewish victims total hundreds of thousands. — Mahmoud Abbas, “The Other Face: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism” (Quoted by Yael Yehoshua, MEMRI)

Hamas’ Khaled Meshaal also likes to talk about holocausts:

“Israeli actions in Gaza since Wednesday is the real Holocaust,” Mashaal told reporters in Damascus, where he lives in exile.

He accused Israel of “exaggerating the Holocaust and using it to blackmail the world.”

All of this started because Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna’i said that the Palestinians are “bringing upon themselves a greater disaster [shoah]” by continuing to fire rockets. The Hebrew word “shoah” used in this context does not refer to the Holocaust and does not imply a threat of genocide, except of course for terrorist groups like Hamas, Reuters, and the BBC.

Such a threat would be totally out of character for Vilna’i, and indeed no Israeli politician, no matter how hard-line, would say such a thing.

Which is more than can be said for the leaders of Hamas and their patron, Iranian President Ahmadinejad.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Abbas, Vilna’i, Holocaust, Hamas, Meshaal