What does Israel want us to do with their apologies?

[bigtree]

Their ambassador to the UN yesterday said how he 'regretted' the killings of Lebanese innocents by Israeli airstrikes, but he blamed Hizbollah for their deaths.

If they gave a damn they would have stopped the missile strikes in populated areas of Lebanon. If they truly cared about the casualties they would have kept the roads open and free from airstrikes like the claimed to be doing after they announced their phony cease-fire. If the gave a shit at all about the innocent Lebanese civilians, they never would have destroyed the lives and livelihoods of the innocents they mowed down.

Now the fashion for the Israelis and their apologists is to express regret for the lives they took and attempt to place the blame on Hizbollah. They don't give a damn about the lives they took so why bother with the half-assed apologies? They've evidently decided that their stated targets are more valuable than the innocent Lebanese civilian lives. They've already decided that the lives of the Israelis are more important than the innocents they've slaughtered. They show their indifference to the deaths by resisting calls for a cease-fire, by deciding to expand their ground assault, by refusing to accept any responsibility at all, by equating those who hadn't been able to flee the south with Hizbollah, subject to the full brunt of their bloody reprisals.

Lebanon hasn't declared any hostility toward Israel at all. It's just the opposite. The Lebanese government has signalled over and over their willingness to work with the international community to deal with Hizbollah and effectively disarm them. Yet, Israel has effectively declared war on Lebanon and their citizens, despite the charade that they are only prosecuting Hizbollah.

I think that the assault by Israel is nothing but cheap revenge. No one who has observed the history of this region believes that Israel's assault on Lebanon could ever result in the elimination of the threat from Hizbollah. Almost every observer and expert understands that the heavy-handed slaughter of these citizens will only serve to draw the residents closer to the very elements Israel says their campaign is isolating, and empower the group whose founding was a response to Israel's last invasion.

Israel knows all of this. I believe they just saw an opportunity to release all of their pent-up hatred for the Lebanese and an opportunity to expand their territory. Killing as many as 600 (some estimates believe) Lebanese in their reprisals will forever brand Israel as a brutal and ruthless aggressor. The Lebanese didn't attack them, but they have borne the brunt of Israel's revenge.

The evidence supports my belief , more than there is evidence that the Israeli government actually cares at all about the lives of innocent Lebanese civilians. Where was the restraint as Israel prosecuted this assault? Where was the care and concern that they claimed to have for the Lebanese civilians, after the fact of their airstrikes?

You can't get to all of that by just asserting over and over that they were attacked. The bulk of the Lebanese civilians didn't have a thing to do with Hizbollah's actions. You certainly won't be able to wipe clean the massacres of the Lebanese with insincere apologies or contrived nonsense about critics of Israel's actions being haters and anti-Semites as many have. The responsibility for those killings is soley on the heads of whoever ordered the strikes in the first place. Assigning blame to anyone who didn't pull the trigger or fire missiles into the innocents is a cowardly dodge.

Israel has killed hundreds of Lebanese who had nothing to do at all with the rocket attacks against them. When will they and their supporters quit hiding behind all of their defensive rhetoric and accept responsibility for their killings? With this bunch, I'm not holding my breath.

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. I would be delighted to offer some suggestions n/t

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. It's more like a non-apology.

"I'm sorry we continually bombed a location we knew was a longstanding UN outpost. I'm sorry we kept bombing when you called us for 6 straight hours, telling us that we were getting way too close. But, you know, it's Hezbollah's fault, not ours."

Doesn't sound like much of an apology to me. Sounds more like the 2006 version of the USS Liberty to me.

[k_jerome]

3. for those that are anti-Israel? nothing. nt.

[bigtree]

5. you can take that and put it in the basket with all of the other excuses

and deflections.

I'm anti- what Israel is doing, not anti-Israel. The lobby for Israel is amazingly dishonest in their accusations against the critics of their actions. I, for one, have NEVER written anything outside of this conflict criticizing 'Israel', so that crap won't wash with me.

[k_jerome]

7. like I said, nothing. nt.

[bigtree]

9. then why offer any? Do they think they exist in a vacuum?

Their society will certainly decline if all they concern themselves with are their cheerleaders. With them or against them? I'm not their enemy, and I would resent being regarded as such. I don't think it shows a wit of care and concern for the future security and safety of Israel to support their aggression against the Lebanese. Their actions have made them LESS secure, much like the US in Iraq. I have strongly opposed the actions of our government in their slaughter in Iraq, but that doesn't mean I hate America as our republican critics would assert. It's a phony deflection designed to make it appear that all critics are akin to the 'enemy.' It's a despicable defense that serves to define the accuser more than those they seek to smear with their rhetoric.

[k_jerome]

10. you are entitled to your opinion. we shall see..

if they are less secure when the operation is completed.

[bigtree]

15. We don't have to wait and 'see.'

Wanton killing of Lebanese civilians has increased any resentment and animosity that existed before the assault on Lebanon. To imagine that there will be no reprisals is pollyannish delusion.

Do you believe that the families, friends, and fellow citizens of the innocents slaughtered in Lebanon should have ANY recourse other than capitulation to Israel's ambitions? Where do they go to prevent THEIR destruction?

[itzamirakul]

6. Kill first...apologize later hmmmm? nt

[HereSince1628]

4. Actually, I think they want nothing.

They don't want a cease-fire until they reach some sort of significant success in curbing Hezbollah

They don't want the US to make getting aviation full or armaments different.

They don't want the US to join the rising chorus of international calls for cease-fire.


In short they want the status quo between the US and Israel unchanged. They want us to do nothing different.

[bigtree]

8. I think they do want something

I think they are desperate to avoid any comparison with the slaughter of their own countryfolk by outside forces over the course of history. The strained defenses for their own slaughter of Lebanese civilians, however, will not cover for the injustice of their actions and attitude toward the Lebanese who happen to get caught in the face of their reprisals.

[bigtree]

11. where are all of the apologists?

where are all of the supporters of Israel's violence? Where are the cheerleaders?

[k_jerome]

12. refuting the lies of those....

that support the destruction of Israel.

[bigtree]

13. destruction of Israel? what a joke? Israel, with all of their nukes

and the force of their military backed up by the US supply of missiles, weaponry, and money, is engaged in assaults on innocent civilians in Lebanon. As many as 600 have been killed in their reprisals, thousands maimed, many more driven from their homes. These are Lebanese civilians without any ties or control over the actions of the Hizbollah combatants.

Israel is engaged in illegal targeting of populated areas. They seem bent on the destruction of Lebanon. I don't recall ANY such action from the Lebanese government. Why is Israel bent on Lebanon's destruction? The killings don't seem to have had any effect on Hizbollah.

I want Israel's citizens to be safe and secure. I think their actions are an antithetical to that end.

It's a shame that all you can do is throw out that tired, bogus smear in response. It reveals a dishonesty in your support for Israel's actions. If you think you can point out a lie and defend that then do so. The continued taunts suggesting some anti-Israel bias are childish and dishonest.

[malaise]

14. You're very patient n/t

[k_jerome]

16. while you call supporters of Israel...

cheerleaders and supporters of violence. obviously you want discussion and debate.

[bigtree]

17. no I didn't

I've been very careful to make my objections with the supporters of Israel's ACTIONS.

If I strayed from that I apologize. I don't think I did, but I'll check. The problem with the defenses from some is that they can't separate criticism of Israel's actions from their perception that folks are just generally bashing Israel. As I pointed out in a previous post, that argument has been used by the right to deflect criticism of Bush in declaring that the critics 'hate America'

That won't wash k_jerome. I am in strong opposition to Israel's ACTIONS, not Israel in general, or Israelis in general. I've made pains to point that out. I just don't think you want to accept that. You seem to be content to view me as anti-Israel as if that negates my criticism against their actions.

If you are a cheerleader of their assault on Lebanon than I object to that. If you are a supporter of their violence I object to that. If that's too offensive for you then so be it.