Do you know how many people have been killed in fighting in Syria in the last week? How about the same question for Iraq? Afghanistan? Gaza/Israel? The big coverage in the media has been about Gaza and Israel. We are told by Hamas that 120 Gazans have been killed (although given that source the number is probably lower.) Would it surprise you to know that over 1000 had died in fighting in Syria during the same period? No one has an exact number for Iraq during this time, but fresh mass graves have been found with close to 200 bodies that all appear to have been executed by ISIS during the same time period, and that ignores those killed in fighting or by airstrikes. I looked for figures for Afghanistan, but I could not find any. Apparently, the American armed forces do not provide casualties other than for our troops (which were thankfully low).
I point all this out because earlier today I was reading an article about the leaflets dropped by the Israelis in the northern tip of Gaza and I happened to see the comments and the tweets on the subject. For those of you who do not know about this subject, Israeli planes dropped leaflets and also broadcast radio messages to the residents of two neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip. The leaflets told the residents to leave the area by noon today because Israel was going to intensify fighting in the area. According to the Israelis, more than a third of all the missiles being launched at Israeli cities are coming from these two neighborhoods, and the Israelis want to take out those missiles and launchers. It seemed to me rather extraordinary that the Israeli army would actually warn Hamas that they were going to attack just so that the civilians in the area could leave and avoid harm. One has to wonder if any Israeli soldiers will be killed or wounded because the warning given to civilians allowed Hamas the chance to prepare better for the coming attack.
My reaction to the leaflets was quite different from those who commented on it. The most common view used some variation of "racist Zionist murderers". I truly found that surprising. Now, since all the comments were made anonymously, it may be that they all came from one or two people using phony identities; I do not know. If, however, these comments actually came from people in the region (and from the poor English of the comments, they were either written by those who use English as a second language or those with little education), then I wonder about their perspective -- or their lack of perspective. Over 200,000 have been killed in Syria in battles that pit one Moslem against another. Thousands have also been killed or executed in Iraq in similar fighting. For the most part, those deaths have been ignored by the world. Now, with the Israelis trying to stop constant missile attacks on their cities, the world outrage machine is getting ginned up. It's ridiculous hypocrisy. We should be concerned about all fighting. We should also be clear just who the culprit is here: Hamas.
I point all this out because earlier today I was reading an article about the leaflets dropped by the Israelis in the northern tip of Gaza and I happened to see the comments and the tweets on the subject. For those of you who do not know about this subject, Israeli planes dropped leaflets and also broadcast radio messages to the residents of two neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip. The leaflets told the residents to leave the area by noon today because Israel was going to intensify fighting in the area. According to the Israelis, more than a third of all the missiles being launched at Israeli cities are coming from these two neighborhoods, and the Israelis want to take out those missiles and launchers. It seemed to me rather extraordinary that the Israeli army would actually warn Hamas that they were going to attack just so that the civilians in the area could leave and avoid harm. One has to wonder if any Israeli soldiers will be killed or wounded because the warning given to civilians allowed Hamas the chance to prepare better for the coming attack.
My reaction to the leaflets was quite different from those who commented on it. The most common view used some variation of "racist Zionist murderers". I truly found that surprising. Now, since all the comments were made anonymously, it may be that they all came from one or two people using phony identities; I do not know. If, however, these comments actually came from people in the region (and from the poor English of the comments, they were either written by those who use English as a second language or those with little education), then I wonder about their perspective -- or their lack of perspective. Over 200,000 have been killed in Syria in battles that pit one Moslem against another. Thousands have also been killed or executed in Iraq in similar fighting. For the most part, those deaths have been ignored by the world. Now, with the Israelis trying to stop constant missile attacks on their cities, the world outrage machine is getting ginned up. It's ridiculous hypocrisy. We should be concerned about all fighting. We should also be clear just who the culprit is here: Hamas.
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