Adam Horowitz writes:
At left is a Reuters photo of a Gaza man grieving over the killing of his son. From the Times:
"Dr. Muawiya Hassanein, the head of emergency services at the Gaza Ministry of Health, said at least 140 Palestinians were killed in the raid.
"Most were members of the security forces of Hamas, but a few civilians were also among the dead, including children. Scores more Palestinians were wounded."
The AP also parrots the "security forces" claim, but it does add that:
The strikes caused widespread panic and confusion in Gaza, as black clouds of smoke rose above the territory, ruled by Hamas for the past 18 months. Some of the Israeli missiles struck in densely populated areas as children were leaving school, and women rushed into the streets frantically looking for their children.
Although the press in the US uses "security forces" as a justification for the casualities, Mohammed over at Kabobfest has a description of who these police forces are: Palestinians who were just doing their jobs. They were not affiliated with Hamas, they were not shooting missiles into Israel. They were celebrating a graduation and they were slaughtered.
The US media would like to paint a picture of precise surgical strikes aimed only at Hamas. This is impossible in Gaza, the most densely populated place on Earth. Even the IDF concedes as much: "The IDF emphasized that civilians located in areas whence Palestinians launch rockets and who quarter Hamas operatives in their homes are liable to be hurt. The targets that were hit included training camps and installations as well as police stations, some of whom were located in civilian buildings." Writing in Ha'aretz, Amos Harel also presents an alternative view: "However the Israeli opening salvo is not merely another "surgical" operation or pinpoint strike. This is the harshest IDF assault on Gaza since the territory was captured during the Six-Day War in 1967."
And remember that gracious decision by the Israeli government to open the Gaza borders to let in the food and humanitarian goods on Christmas? Looks like it had a bit of an ulterior motive (again, per Haaretz): "Prior to the operation, Israel sought to catch Hamas off guard by luring it into a false sense of security through certain measures, including the opening of Gaza border crossings on Friday."
All of this was carried out with US approval, with US weapons, and now the US's initial response is to condemn the Palestinians. From Ha'aretz: ""Hamas' continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop. Hamas must end its terrorist activities if it wishes to play a role in the future of the Palestinian people," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said." Amos Harel offers the best summary of the connections between Israeli and US policy as well as how this attack is being viewed by the decision makers in Jerusalem and Washington:
Like the U.S. assault on Iraq and the Israeli response to the abduction of IDF reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser at the outset of the Second Lebanon War (the "night of the Fajr missiles," a reference to the IAF destruction of Hezbollah's arsenal of medium-range Fajr missiles), little to no weight was apparently devoted to the question of harming innocent civilians. From Israel's standpoint, Hamas, which persistently fires rockets while using the civilian population as cover, had plenty of opportunities to save face and lower their demands. In stubbornly continuing to launch rockets during the course of recent weeks, it brought this assault on itself.
Tell that to the father in the photo.
gotta get Madoff off the front pages
Unspeakable atrocity: and most of the US press is already following the cutthroat Bush line that starving Palestinians–objects of a murderous siege–are responsible for Israeli slaughter of police workers who were "just doing their jobs" and civilians, including many children already suffering from anemia, deafness, and all the diseases caused by running sewage.
Will Obama speak against this injustice and then stop the billions of US funding for these Israeli violations of international law?
The Arab street is boiling. Another massacre or two of this "calibre", and Mubarak's and Abdullah's regimes (especially the former's) might be toppled.
Unbelievable, yet typical:
"The [Israeli] strikes were expected for Sunday, but were done a day earlier to increase casualties…."
For more, see
http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/27/israeli-bombs-kill-at-least-155-in-gaza/
http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/27/israel-launches-surprise-attack-against-hamas-security-forces-in-gaza/
I've been watching Arab TV stations' extensive on-site coverage of the carnage in Gaza, and it was by far the worst carnage I have ever seen on TV, and believe me, I have seen A LOT. What you see in pictures, or broadcast on CNN or BBC, is not 0.1% of the true extent of the carnage.. I saw people running into hospitals holding people's heads…. Utterly jaw-dropping, and that's to say the least. I was traumatized even while watching the footage from the safety of my flat in Lebanon. This won't go down well, and it might even be a turnaround moment in Israeli-Palestinian relations. These bloodthirsty nazi-like criminals even targeted jails. What is next? Are they going to target hospitals too, claiming it's Hamas infrastructure? We saw them shutting down SHOPPING MALLS in the West Bank claiming it was "Hamas infrastructure", so the idea of bombing such places in Gaza is just one step away from that. But I wouldn't say Israel has gone "nuts". It has always been so, from the very first day the first colonialist scumbags set foot in Palestine. This is just target practice for the Israelis. Al Jazeera Arabic interviewed this Israeli who claimed he was the head of some civil security service in Israel's south, and wow, you should've seen the murderous look in his eyes. He was basically so excited about the whole carnage. He said he was going to go home and relax and enjoy himself. He also said that if he were Prime Minister, he would not stop the carnage until the Palestinians came begging for "peace". I would say he presented an accurate picture of what the overwhelming majority of Israelis feel ,and how they define "peace." Peace for them is either the silence of Palestinian graveyards, or the Palestinians licking Israeli boots and begging not to be starved or killed en masse. What an arrogant bunch of scumbags zionists are. And they were bragging that they had deliberately opened the crossing a day before, in order to "fool" Hamas. Wow, what a thing to be proud of, isn't it? Slaughtering policemen (including traffic policemen). I bet the children of Sderot are going to feel a whole lot safer now. And guess what? Even Egypt took part in this attempt to "fool" Hamas. Yesterday, or the day before (after meeting with Livni), Egypt issued an invitation to Hamas representatives to come to Egypt for a fresh round of dialogue with Fateh. I heard about the invitation yesterday, and I swear, I thought to myself, now what an odd moment to be issuing such an invitation. It was a "hmm" moment, and it is a shame that Hamas didn't realize the trick that was being played. But then again, what if they had done so? They usually evacuate one or two police stations, but not all of them simultaneously. The simultaneous bombardment was a pre-planned mass-murder project. If this had happened anywhere else in the world, the heads of those who ordered the operation would've been demanded by the Interpol, or they would've been dragged against their will to the Hague.
But the editor-in-chief of al-Quds al-Arabi Abdel Bari Atwan said it best today commenting on the carnage on Al-Jazeera Arabic. He said, this has a lot to do with the Israeli elections. In short, he said, Israeli elections campaigning is taking place right here and right now, with Palestinian blood and body parts. I can't say I disagree.
Israel is a wicked "nation" that must either be shunned and blockaded into submission, or (and at some point it would have to become the preferred option) BOMBED INTO SUBMISSION. I do not see any other way out of this, if the world is to avoid a major disaster, possibly even a third world war.
What I want to see is jews prostrating in shame before Palestinians and asking for forgivenness for the crimes of Israel.
Will that be you, Phillip? Will any of the readers of this site start by setting that example?
Until I see such a thing, the blood of those people – i read mostly kids – is on all your hands, you shameless, criminal, psycho fucktards …
Looks like Electronic Intifada also caught the Israeli guy with the murderous look in his eyes on Al-Jazeera:
***
"I will play music and celebrate what the Israeli air force is doing." Those were the words, spoken on Al Jazeera today by Ofer Shmerling, an Israeli civil defense official in the Sderot area adjacent to Gaza, as images of Israel's latest massacres were broadcast around the world.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10055.shtml
The currrent atrocities committed by Israel against the Palestinians of Gaza call to mind these lines penned by American poet Walt Whitman: "All architecture is what you do when you look upon it. Did you think it was in the white or gray stone?" So is history. And so are contemporary events.
Jews claim "retaliation" for Katyousha rocket attacks. They deny that Israel's total control over water, electricity, food supplies, medicine and movement have anything to do with Palestinian rage–or Palestinian suffering.
This Washington approves with unprecedented certitude, cautioning Israel against killing too many Palestinians.As if one was not too many.
And the American public, among the most gullable of mortals, believes what they read in the news.
Is this our great nation, the "model" abroad? Or is our inflation a high-flying fraud?
Can we get some organized protests going? Write your Congressperson asking that Israel and the Bush Administration be sanctioned for the disproportionate use of force against innocent civilians? Write your local newspaper editor asking why they choose complicity in these actions rather than reporting them for the atrocities that they are. Identifying in each community the leaders of the Jewish community who continue to support these crimes against humanity and set up protests outside their homes and offices? Obama needs a little room to engineer change, and those who've committed themselves to escalation aren't going to give it to him willingly.
"I saw people running into hospitals holding people's heads…."
Under the mistaken belief, it seems, that Hamas physicians have mastered head-reattachment surgery.
Doppler is right – and he has the mind for it – i have seen dopplers advice to blogging, What about starting a facebook? Anyway actually being able to say, "I tried" would help.
There is every likelihoood that this could go sky high as a war.
Hezbollah (Nasrallah) to Gazans: You Are Not by Yourselves
http://www.almanar.com.lb/newssite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=68411&language=en
"Identifying in each community the leaders of the Jewish community who continue to support these crimes against humanity and set up protests outside their homes and offices?"
Why stop there, Doppler? Why not spray paint Jewish stars on homes of suspected supporters?
Re: the previous comment — a typically cowardly, arrogant and obnoxious Zionist, gleefully joking about the slaughter of innocents but afraid to sign his name or handle to his words.
"Under the mistaken belief, it seems, that Hamas physicians have mastered head-reattachment surgery."
You find something funny in that?
The morgue's at the hospital. Hence, all body parts, including severed heads, were brought there. I dare say the person who rushed in holding the head had been traumatized to no end, and didn't even know what else to do.
Grow up.
"I saw people running into hospitals holding people's heads…."
They should run to Michael W's kitchen. He could use those to prepare some soup for the american poor.
Now tell me guys, tell me you really believe this choice of time has no connection to religion whatosoever. Tell me the pieces of palestinian children served in christmas have absolutely no religious meaning. Tell me Phil's mother hate for all things christian was not an enabler of this worst nightmare of humanity called israel. Tell me this is not a jewish feast.
Re Timing:
Georgia: When the olympics started
Mumbai: Thanksgiving
It seems important to have these ops when people are at home and they can watch TV
All helps with the FEAR – so when marshall law arrives – the sheeple will be ready
Hezbollah just announced that Nasrallah is going to give a speech at 8 pm tomorrow.
Let's see what will come out of Hezbollah this time around. I'm not hopeful it will be anything more than mere words of "support", or a call for mass protests. Which is, frankly, bullshit. What good would millions of Arabs protesting do (supposing they are even allowed to stage large protests against what is going on in Gaza, in places like Egypt and Jordan), when they live under regimes that are puppets of Israel and USA and do as the two say??
I guess at this point the best thing for Palestinians to do is to storm the Gaza-Israel border, and at long last return to their lands, daring Israel to shoot unarmed civilians. They probably will shoot quite a lot of them dead, but sooner or later they will probably get slaughtered while fast asleep in their homes in Gaza anyway.
Enough is enough. This little nasty bastard state cannot continue to exist anymore.
****************************************
Obama on Gaza: ‘No Comment’
by Justin Raimondo @ antiwar.com
"There was no immediate comment on the Israeli air strikes on Gaza from Obama, who is vacationing with his family in Hawaii, or his staff."
This is how our incoming President has reacted to the worst attack on the Palestinian people in 20 years – by not reacting at all.
The Bush White House, of course, has responded as we all know they would: Israel-has-the-right-to-defend itself, let the killing begin, etc., ad nauseum…………
ENTIRE POST – link to news.antiwar.com
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Doppler said that Israel's response to years of indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli civilian populations are "disproportionate". Does that mean, Doppler, you would approve of Israel lobbing shells and rockets indiscrimately into Gazan population centers?
Gaza is NOT "the most densely populated place in the world". Hong Kong is a lot more densely populated, and they managed to build a prosperous society, while being under "British occupation". Why haven't the Gazan's done that? Is it because Hong Kong didn't go lobbing shells at other people and instead built a strong economic infrastucture?
Complete garbage. This conflict has never been asymmetrical AGAINST Israel. it's always been against the Palestinians and Israel has always used indiscriminate force.
the best solution would be for a complete dismantling of this terror state. a terror state that only exists because of a larger terror state
Bar_Kochba on Hong Kong: " … and they managed to build a prosperous society, while being under "British occupation" "
Could that have something to do with the fact that the Brits didn't starve the locals, deprived them of medicines, played cruel games with their water and electricity supply and made trade impossible by closing the borders ?
Oh, OK, my bad. So shopping malls' turn hasn't come yet. Maybe because there aren't any in Gaza? Anyway, Mosques appear to be next up on zionazis' checklist.
"Enough is enough. This little nasty bastard state cannot continue to exist anymore."
I assume the blogger is talking about Lebanon? I couldn't agree more–nuke 'em!!
"Why stop there, Doppler? Why not spray paint Jewish stars on homes of suspected supporters?" Anon, there is a differenced between protesting disproportionate aggression by an occupying force against the population subject to the occupation, and Anti-Semitism. To be effective, a protest must be heard by those who matter. That would be the Jewish leaders in each community who get selected by their friends and neighbors for leadership posts, and then come together at AIPAC meetings to provide governance over the most effective lobby operating in DC. They have gotten nothing but kudos for their "leadership" these past eight years, and they deserve to be held accountable, i.e., booted from their leadership posts, and replaced by responsible citizens who will stop supporting ethnic cleansing. Until this very powerful lobby stops dictating robotlike Congressional support for the Likud party and their failed policies, Obama won't have room to maneuver.
I'm curious where you got idea that Gaza is the most densely populated place on earth. With about 1.5 million people in 140 square miles, it has about 11,000 people per square mile.
That's dense, but is lower than Mumbai, Kolkata, Karachi, Lagos, Shezhen, Seoul, Taipei, Channai, Bogota, Shanghai, Lima, Beijing and Delhi.