From Haaretz.com:
A medic's imagination is stalked by two things - What you've seen already, and what you hope you never will. What was going through my mind was one thought alone: Let it not be phosphorus. They taught us to dread zarchan [from the Hebrew root to shine or glow]. They taught us, as medics, that if we treated a phosphorous wound, prepare for the worst. It doesn't merely burn, they taught us, it burns first through the skin, then through the soft tissue, until it reaches bone. They taught us to take an instrument, or, in its absence, a stick, to dig out the phosphorus crystals from the flesh, or the burning would go on and on. --Bradley Burston
From today's London Times:
After weeks of denying that it used white phosphorus in the heavily populated Gaza Strip, Israel finally admitted yesterday that the weapon was deployed in its offensive.
The army’s use of white phosphorus – which makes a distinctive shellburst of dozens of smoke trails – was reported first by The Times on January 5, when it was strenuously denied by the army. Now, in the face of mounting evidence and international outcry, Israel has been forced to backtrack on that initial denial. “Yes, phosphorus was used but not in any illegal manner,” Yigal Palmor, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, told The Times. “Some practices could be illegal but we are going into that. The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) is holding an investigation concerning one specific incident.”
The incident in question is thought to be the firing of phosphorus shells at a UN school in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on January 17. The weapon is legal if used as a smokescreen in battle but it is banned from deployment in civilian areas. Pictures of the attack show Palestinian medics fleeing as blobs of burning phosphorus rain down on the compound.
So: lie, retreat, qualify, and, as a last resort, self-investigate.
Is Dick Cheney advising the IDF?
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Which will it be, Barack Hussein Obama?
From today's Washington Post:
Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's largest newspaper, published a front-page opinion column Tuesday by senior writer Eitan Haber, in which he reflected the trepidation many Israelis have for Obama. "We, in our little corner here in the Middle East, are anxious to see whether you shall continue the tradition of American presidents in recent generations and view us as an ally, your front-line aircraft carrier in this bloody region of the world," Haber wrote. "Or whether, heaven forbid, you will see us as just one more nation among all the others."
Yes, will you continue to employ us as the bloody truncheon with which you threaten mangy Arab countries into cringing submission (as well as continue to support us in our ongoing pesticide against the Palestinian cockroaches), or will you reject the example set by American presidents in recent generations and, heaven forbid, require that we behave like a civilized nation, abiding by international humanitarian law?
Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's largest newspaper, published a front-page opinion column Tuesday by senior writer Eitan Haber, in which he reflected the trepidation many Israelis have for Obama. "We, in our little corner here in the Middle East, are anxious to see whether you shall continue the tradition of American presidents in recent generations and view us as an ally, your front-line aircraft carrier in this bloody region of the world," Haber wrote. "Or whether, heaven forbid, you will see us as just one more nation among all the others."
Yes, will you continue to employ us as the bloody truncheon with which you threaten mangy Arab countries into cringing submission (as well as continue to support us in our ongoing pesticide against the Palestinian cockroaches), or will you reject the example set by American presidents in recent generations and, heaven forbid, require that we behave like a civilized nation, abiding by international humanitarian law?
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Gaza Massacre
Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. . . . And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like "Poo-tee-weet?" -- Kurt Vonnegut
The Gaza Strip is essentially an open-air prison. Twenty-five miles long and seven miles wide, with 1.5 million inhabitants, it is among the most densely-populated areas of the world. Over half of the population is under the age of sixteen. Gaza is also -- as one aid worker put it -- a room full of children.
The Israeli Defense Force pounded Gaza with bombs, rockets, and artillery shells for twenty-two straight days. The result was approximately 1300 dead, half of the dead civilians, and over 400 of those children. It is impossible that the Israeli leaders did not anticipate this result. They must have known that they would be slaughtering children by the score. They didn't care.
"Sad," you say, "but what has this to do with me?" Among the planes that were bombing these children were American-supplied F-16s. The helicopters that were attacking these children were American-supplied Apache helicopters. The bombs and rockets that were blowing these children to shreds were American made and supplied. The Israeli army that invaded Gaza, that prevented ambulances from reaching distressed infants lying for days alongside the dead bodies of their mothers -- that army is bankrolled by America.
During this "war" (better to call it what it was, a massacre), the United States Senate and House of Representatives offered resolutions in support of the Israelis. These resolutions passed unanimously. Your elected representatives rose as one to applaud this pitiless slaughter of innocents. They did so in your name.
History is full of horrible ironies. Here is one: the children and grandchildren of those Israelis who were the victims of genocide at the hands of the Nazis are themselves practicing genocide against the Palestinians. And our government aids and abets this awful crime.
The Gaza Strip is essentially an open-air prison. Twenty-five miles long and seven miles wide, with 1.5 million inhabitants, it is among the most densely-populated areas of the world. Over half of the population is under the age of sixteen. Gaza is also -- as one aid worker put it -- a room full of children.
The Israeli Defense Force pounded Gaza with bombs, rockets, and artillery shells for twenty-two straight days. The result was approximately 1300 dead, half of the dead civilians, and over 400 of those children. It is impossible that the Israeli leaders did not anticipate this result. They must have known that they would be slaughtering children by the score. They didn't care.
"Sad," you say, "but what has this to do with me?" Among the planes that were bombing these children were American-supplied F-16s. The helicopters that were attacking these children were American-supplied Apache helicopters. The bombs and rockets that were blowing these children to shreds were American made and supplied. The Israeli army that invaded Gaza, that prevented ambulances from reaching distressed infants lying for days alongside the dead bodies of their mothers -- that army is bankrolled by America.
During this "war" (better to call it what it was, a massacre), the United States Senate and House of Representatives offered resolutions in support of the Israelis. These resolutions passed unanimously. Your elected representatives rose as one to applaud this pitiless slaughter of innocents. They did so in your name.
History is full of horrible ironies. Here is one: the children and grandchildren of those Israelis who were the victims of genocide at the hands of the Nazis are themselves practicing genocide against the Palestinians. And our government aids and abets this awful crime.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Gaza and Analogy
From today's NYTimes:
The writer A.B. Yehoshua, who opposes Israel’s occupation and promotes a Palestinian state, has been trying to explain the war to foreigners.
“ ‘Imagine,’ I tell a French reporter, ‘that every two days a missile falls in the Champs-Élysées and only the glass windows of the shops break and five people suffer from shock,’ ” Mr. Yehoshua told a reporter from Yediot Aharonot, a Tel Aviv newspaper. “ ‘What would you say? Wouldn’t you be angry? Wouldn’t you send missiles at Belgium if it were responsible for missiles on your grand boulevard?’ ”
Let's try another analogy. Suppose that a large tribe of Native Americans are defeated in battle by the white man and forced onto a tiny reservation. The whites refuse to allow any Native Americans to leave the reservation, and they control all imports, allowing just a trickle of food and other necessities--this to punish the inhabitants for electing as political leaders members of a militant, anti-white group. By way of demonstrating their objection to their permanent incarceration (for that is what it is, essentially), some of the young male Native Americans occasionally shoot flaming arrows across the border -- a few of which actually hit white settlements and do some damage. In retaliation for these arrows, the whites bomb the hell out of the reservation for days, killing hundreds of men, women, and children, and then invade, continuing to kill and destroy as they go. When the world responds with outrage to this genocidal act, the whites reply, "Well, did you expect us to put up with these flaming arrows forever? This is self-defense!"
The writer A.B. Yehoshua, who opposes Israel’s occupation and promotes a Palestinian state, has been trying to explain the war to foreigners.
“ ‘Imagine,’ I tell a French reporter, ‘that every two days a missile falls in the Champs-Élysées and only the glass windows of the shops break and five people suffer from shock,’ ” Mr. Yehoshua told a reporter from Yediot Aharonot, a Tel Aviv newspaper. “ ‘What would you say? Wouldn’t you be angry? Wouldn’t you send missiles at Belgium if it were responsible for missiles on your grand boulevard?’ ”
Let's try another analogy. Suppose that a large tribe of Native Americans are defeated in battle by the white man and forced onto a tiny reservation. The whites refuse to allow any Native Americans to leave the reservation, and they control all imports, allowing just a trickle of food and other necessities--this to punish the inhabitants for electing as political leaders members of a militant, anti-white group. By way of demonstrating their objection to their permanent incarceration (for that is what it is, essentially), some of the young male Native Americans occasionally shoot flaming arrows across the border -- a few of which actually hit white settlements and do some damage. In retaliation for these arrows, the whites bomb the hell out of the reservation for days, killing hundreds of men, women, and children, and then invade, continuing to kill and destroy as they go. When the world responds with outrage to this genocidal act, the whites reply, "Well, did you expect us to put up with these flaming arrows forever? This is self-defense!"
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