http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=14046
Israel's on a rampage – and here's why
Why is Israel pounding Gaza? Well, we know the official explanation, which goes something like this: if you Americans were being targeted by crude, albeit potentially lethal, rockets from, say, Mexico, on a daily basis, how would you respond? Israel, we are told, had to take on Hamas. As Barack Obama put it, while campaigning in Sderot, the Israeli response is "part of being a country." They had no choice.

This is bollocks, as everyone but the brain-dead realize. To begin with, Hamas offered a truce and had abided by the previous cease-fire, but the Israelis weren't interested. Instead, Tel Aviv chose to unleash what the whole world sees as an appallingly disproportionate response, raining death on one of the most tightly packed urban environments on earth and launching what looks to be an invasion and reoccupation of the Gaza Strip.

Of course, any military action by the IDF against Hamas' ragtag fighters is inherently disproportionate, given the radical imbalance in the power relationship between the two. Israel, after all, has the most effective, high-tech military machine in the region, bought and paid for by U.S. taxpayers – and with no expense spared on account of that. In any case, however, many are puzzled by what seems to be an inherently doomed project. The attack will merely popularize Hamas, without changing anything, and Israel will wind up back at square one, caught in a Sisyphean nightmare of constantly re-invading the same territory, then retreating once again. But what if they don't retreat?

The assumption that this is an overreaction to the pinpricks inflicted by Hamas is flat-out wrong: the current conflict, which is escalating rapidly, has zero to do with a few rockets lobbed over Israel's impregnable perimeter. That was merely a pretext, and a thin one at that. Yet the exhibition of such a reckless disregard for truth and world opinion hints at the real agenda at work here and underscores the arrogance underlying it.

It's a shameless attempt to get paid twice for the same article ;)

But's it's still quite good, and seems to be getting a large number of comments.

Phil has jumped.

Philip Weiss's Declaration of Independence

Julia Irwin said as much in the Sidney Morning Herald on Sunday:

"What happens in the Middle East today sets the standard for the world. And that applies to weapons as well as tactics. Using cluster bombs or phosphorus bombs against civilian targets is perfectly legal if you can believe the Israeli Defence Force. Assassinating Hamas leaders during a ceasefire does not constitute a breach. Collective punishments against communities, obstructing medical and humanitarian relief – all part of Israel's tactics – could now be considered acceptable behaviour in national and international conflict."

Did it really begin with Israel? It's in violation of about 62 Security Council resolutions. (Iraq was in violation of 16–and a million were slaughtered and Saddam got hanged.)

If Obama really wants to repair the US's reputation abroad, he might consider restoring dignity to the UN, promoting the reforms that John Bolton undermined, and abstaining from any more vetoes with respect to Israel.