With Love From Israel

[Boomer]

Warning: includes graphic scenes of bombing victims

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xlImx9akIM

My apologies if someone else has posted a link to this video, but the context of my post is probably somewhat different. I received this link from a cousin of mine in Mexico, and I was the only American recipient in her email broadcast to a large number of family and friends in Mexico and Europe.

I don't claim that my cousin is necessarily representative of how all Mexicans view the assault on Lebanon, but at the very least it's a glimpse of the reaction of one segment of that country.

Just as some background, my cousin is an upper middle-class Mexican, fluent in several languages and well-traveled abroad due to the demands of a high-ranking corporate job. She is not a practicing Catholic; she is gay; she is a feminist; she is leftist/progressive in her country's politics.

And this is how she sees what is happening.

[theHandpuppet]

1. Can't really think of anything to say after watching that...

But then the video speaks for itself.

K&R.

[cool user name]

2. Thanks for sharing. K&R n/t

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. Those tiny coffins tear my heart out.

Kicked and recommended. Kudos to your cousin for a powerful video.

[Boomer]

7. Just to clarify...

Sorry if I gave the impression that my cousin created the video. She was just passing on the link.

[greatauntoftriplets]

8. Then kudos to her for passing it on.

It is still extremely powerful.

[Monkeyman]

4. And they wonder why the Arab world hates us

[jonnyblitz]

5. sad. Israel is so fucked. nt

[Burried News]

6. Seldom do I feel that if I 'am not part of the solution, I am part of the

problem'. But that is exactly how I feel right now.

[chiffon]

9. There are no words for the loss of 'collateral' humanity.

Cease fire now!

[jerry611]

10. Nothing will create peace unless Hezbollah is disarmed

You can have all the cease-fires you want. That will do nothing but allow Hezbollah to build up their forces and their arsenals again.

Hezbollah also shares blame in the death of the civilians. Hezbollah put those women and children in the line of fire and used them as human shields.

[adriennui]

11. uh oh.

are you wearing your flame retardant suit?

fasten your seatbelts.

[maalak]

12. that's horrible... but incomplete & one-sided...

these pictures have been making their way around anti-Israel sites... and they always neglect to tell the back story, you can read more about it here:

http://ontheface.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2006/7/20/2142505.html

but in short, the children writing on the missiles had just come above ground for the first time in days, after hiding underground from rocket attacks and hearing messages of destruction from Hezbollah. their messages were for Hezbollah, NOT the people of Lebanon.

they were writing their messages specifically to Nasrullah, not the people of Lebanon. there is a very distinct difference, and the consequences from this conflict are unquestionably horrible... but the last thing any one needs is more inflammatory imagery that doesn't tell the whole story.

[WillyT]

13. The Fact That They Let Kids ANYWHERE NEAR An Artillery Shell Is Insane !!!

Let alone write messages of vengeance on them!

:nuke::wtf::nuke:

[maalak]

15. no arguments there... but they have a very different reality than us

[WillyT]

16. And This Helps That Reality HOW ???

:shrug:

[maalak]

18. i didn't say it helped.... i said it put in context.

this is a horrible situation all around, and i don't see how altering the text of what they actually wrote helps either...

[maalak]

21. also note they did NOT write "With Love from Israel"...

what they wrote was "To Nasrallah with love"... quite a difference there, and trying to suggest they wrote soemthing else is disingenuous at best.

[theHandpuppet]

27. I didn't even interpret the title of the video...

... to have been a translation of what the little girls wrote on those bombs; I simply took it as the title of the video. The very act of having children write messages on bombs, as another poster put it, is obscene, whether those children might be Israelis, Lebanese or American. And those bombs might as well have been signed by our own children, for they are made in the US of A and shipped to Israel for the express purpose of killing Lebanese. You can rationalize this all you want, but you have no proprietary claims on objectivity in this matter.

[maalak]

29. you can't support one side and still be objective?

i'm not making excuses for the act, or the fact that children wrote messages on missiles... but i am pointing out that this film attempts to invoke an emotional response without considering the full picture.

i don't see how providing context is diminishing objectivity...

[theHandpuppet]

32. Well if you can support one side and still be objective...

... then you should have no problem about the objectivity of the video. Right? Objectively speaking, I think you might want to engage someone else in debate -- I'm not easy pickings. ;-)

[Laotra]

46. Good question

Hand to the heart, can I support Hizbollah chanting "Ya Nasrallah, ya habib, udrub udrub Tel Aviv" with my Palestinian brothers and sisters, trusting that you consider me still objective (if and when I provide context)?

[Scurrilous]

38. From the JPost:

"Questions over the photos' authenticity have been put to rest by authorities that were present during the incident, which occurred on July 17 near the northern border. The mostly local children had been brought to see the shells by their parents. Although it remains unclear who encouraged them to write the messages, their colorful scribbles, including a Star of David, hearts, and "From Israel, with Love," have appeared in dozens of blogs, or on-line journals, and on-line photo hosting sites."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153291980307&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

[Boomer]

40. This is child abuse

This is child abuse, the warping of minds into patterns of hate, the trivializing of horror that should be the grim business of adults.

Killing should never be undertaken joyfully, cheerfully, even if you feel your own cause is just. Perhaps, ESPECIALLY if you feel your cause is just. Violence destroys the killer as well as the killed. We should shudder when we walk down that path, not skip along merrily.

[Boomer]

14. It's obscene

Children writing on bombs is obscene.

I don't care WHO the bombs are meant to kill, having children transmit any message on a weapon of war is a gross perversity that cannot be excused or explained.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[maalak]

22. yes, i'm new... and yes, i'm clearly a supporter of Israel...

but i don't see why putting the story behind those photographs in context warrants an attack on that...

[malaise]

26. The back story is UN Resolution

242

[Scurrilous]

37. Take a cue...

...from the Israeli PR people and quit trying to spin this story.

"Although the IDF has failed to issue a response to the incident, a spokesman from the IDF said it "appeared as though the situation occurred unofficially." Although an officer was present during the incident, the soldiers, and the IDF as a whole, did not condone or condemn the incident.

An official close to Israel's public relations campaign said that there was "no way" to spin the incident in a positive light. "Some people are simply irresponsible," said the official."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153291980307&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

[EFerrari]

43. That any adult encouraged any child to act out such hatred

towards anyone at all is already disgusting.

Welcome to my ignore list.

[JNelson6563]

44. Who the children were wishing the bombs on

doesn't really matter. As a mother I cannot imagine encouraging such hateful behavior in my children toward anyone. Bombs are not the answer and the hatred needed to send one is not it either.

That is horrible. It is an ancient mindset that is helping humankind to devolve instead of evolve.

And yes, I know such behavior is not limited to Israel. Children the world over are fed a steady diet of hate. That does not mean we should enable the teachers by splitting hairs over whether or not it's "righteous hatred" being taught in this or that instance.

Julie

[Djinn]

47. and if Palestinian kids

wrote "to the boys of the IDF" on missiles it would be used to once again assert what evil people the Palestinians were?

These pictures were widely seen across the world in the mainstream media, only in the US would this be considered the propaganda of Israel haters. The justification for this states that these poor girls were terrified of Hezbollah's bombs and had no idea what those missiles would do to civilians. Can't have it both ways. If they knew enough about ordinance to be scared of Hezbollah bombs then they knew what Lebanese kids had to fear.

Either way their parents knew and encouraged it, nice parental skills there.

[RagingInMiami]

49. The Israeli kids were encouraged to write messages on the missiles

The missiles ended up killing Lebanese children.

That's sick shit, man. I don't give a fuck how you phrase it. That's sick shit. Breeding future warmongers. And it pisses me off because my goddamn tax dollars paid for those fucking missiles.

[burythehatchet]

17. This is a very troubling film

It is vile propoganda just as much as that which exists on the other side of the debate. Those dead Lebanese babies are the result of a war crime. And those Israeli girls do evoke bad feelings, but to indict all the people of Israel is wrong. Their leaders are screwing them just as all politicians do. Its intellectually dishonest to create a direct link between two victimized sets of people. And to use the blood of the dead in the process is kind of morbid.

[Boomer]

24. You're missing the point

The point of my post was to show how we are perceived in other countries.

To you, this is vile propaganda, but it was not to my cousin in Mexico. Whether or not you agree with her view, at least now you know what it is.

[DistressedAmerican]

20. Excellent video! Devastating.

[AusGail]

23. The Israeli government tell Lebanese that if they dont want to be bombed,

then they should get out of town. Then I say to the Israelis, that if they refuse to get on with their neighbors, they should get out of town.

[jerry611]

28. It's Israel's neighbors that have a problem

Once Hezbollah and Hamas disarm, then maybe there can be a peace process that might work. As long as the terrorists keep up their attacks against Israel, there will be no chance peace.

[lumpy]

30. Might work if Israel disarmed also.

nt

[JNelson6563]

45. Heard a lady on NPR this am

very early, before 5 am. She was from Beirut and had fled. She was so distressed over how many of her neighbors were poor, had no perto or are too feeble to travel. She was so anguished when asking "Where are the people who care for others??" The despair in her voice was heartbreaking.

I wish there was some sort of effort to get those poor souls out of there. We will see many more senseless deaths in the coming days.

*sigh*

Julie

[malaise]

25. This is too sad

but the world needs to see it.:cry: :cry: :cry:

[ikojo]

31. I have no words after viewing that

video.

I was saddened from the first frame showing an orthodox woman trying to pull of a Muslim woman's hijab and an orthodox boy kicking the Muslim woman. These are not Torah values to love the stranger in your midst because you were once a stranger in the land of Egypt. The orthodox pride themselves on studying Torah all day but do they really hear what it says?

[Boomer]

33. Zealots are the same the world over

Their adherence to hatred overcomes their adherence to the philosophy they supposedly follow. Fundamentalist Christians, Jews, Muslims -- they are all practically deranged in their unswerving faith in their own righteousness. They can excuse any crime against humanity by declaring their enemy an infidel, a non-believer, a blasphemer, the "other."

At times the quote that comes to my mind is "I say a plague on both their houses."

[breakaleg]

34. Hezbollah is criticized for creating schools where they teach hate to kids

Well, here is Israel shown teaching hate to its children.

Kind of the pot/kettle/black thing...

[theHandpuppet]

35. Remember this song from "South Pacific"?

"You've Got To Be Taught"
music and lyrics by Rodgers & Hammerstein

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!

[Boomer]

36. There's a lot of that going around

As a species, we have elevated hate to an art form. I find myself, as I get older, liking homo sapiens less and less.

I supposed if I were a glass-half-full kinda gal, I'd be amazed that a grubby little ape species was even capable of the occasional flights of brilliance expressed in our music, our art, our architecture, even our religions (in theory, rather than the practice).

But I'm squarely in the glass-half-empty frame of mind of late. Despite the heights that our species can reach, we're so mired in greedy, violent patterns of behavior that we continually destroy the best that we can create, and we take along a hell of lot of innocent species along with us.

[Tom Joad]

51. I think Israel is teaching Lebanese kids to hate Israel.

Israel's occupation of Palestine is teaching Palestinian kids to hate Israel.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

39. K&R...

Heartbreaking.

[Clarkie1]

41. This video makes me very angry....at Hezbollah. nt

[JackNewtown]

42. This is what the US sponsors?

Why do they hate us?

[lse7581011]

48. Awesome Compilation!

Wow! Is my only reaction!

[Tom Joad]

50. Very powerful. What music is that?

thanks.

[JackNewtown]

52. "Hand" by Jewel nt