Three Wars

The Israel-Hamas war is a clear indicator of just how depraved the international left has become. They have worked with islamists to demonize Israel, the only liberal democracy in the Middle East. At the same time, they have aligned themsleves with an organizations (Hamas and other islamist groups) that are virulently anti-women, pathologically anti-gay, unspeakably violent, and notoriously intolerant of those of other religions. But no matter, thoughtless support that leads to moral preening trumps all.

In an op-ed in The Washington Post, David Bernstein raises a number of interesting points:

1. The bumbling John Kerry presented a ceasefire agreement to Israel that was nothing more than a list of Hamas demands—no balance, no Hamas concessions, just Hamas demands. The fractious Israeli cabinet rejected it unanimously (they hardly ever agree on anything, but they agreed on this). The Obama administration is passive-aggressive when they deal with Israel. They are not an a honest broker and they are not Israel's friend. Bernstein comments:

How incompetent a diplomat [Kerry] can you be to publicly offer a cease-fire proposal to a friendly (and dependent) country when you have no support whatsoever for it, and apparently no leverage to overcome that lack of support? As I understand it, the terms were “Stop fighting now (including stop blowing up Hamas’s tunnels), start talking 48 hours from now.”

I would submit that it was a subtle attempt to make Israel look bad, something that is right in Obama's wheelhouse.

2. Have you ever wondered about the accuracy of Hamas' "casualty" figures, reported without critical analysis by the left-leaning main stream media in the U.S. and around the world? The figures are provided by Hamas, who of course, is always honest in all things, right? Again from Bernstein:

Contrary to early reports that 80% or so of the early casualties were civilians, Al-Jazeera published names and ages, and about 3/4 were men of fighting age (16-50), compared to a rough estimate of 20% of the Gazan population (40% to 50% of which is fourteen and under). Some of those men were undoubtedly civilians, but it strains credulity to believe that 80% of the casualties were civilian but just-so-happened to be overwhelmingly fighting-age men. (Here’s the most recent analysis from the IsraellyCool blog). For that matter, how do we know that the Ministry of Health isn’t counting deaths from natural causes as deaths from Israeli actions? A simple “the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health claims” before reciting casualty figures that the media has not itself verified would resolve the problem.

But no ... the eminent MSM journalists parrot the numbers, without critical assessment. No surprise.

3. Bernstein reports:

The Israeli media reports that based on interrogations of captured Hamas fighters, Hamas was planning a major massacre for the Jewish New Year in September, with dozens of fighters simultaneously attacking border towns via Hamas’s tunnels.

Just imagine what we'd do as a nation if the drug cartels in Mexico used their smuggling tunnel to instead allow al Qaida fighters to enter the U.S. and murder civilians in large numbers in border towns (e.g., El Paso, TX) on Christmas eve.

4. The left demands that the blockade of Gaza be lifted so that Hamas can acquire building materials and other "essentials." It's interesting to note that Israel allowed massive amounts of concrete that was supposed to be used to rebuild infrastructure (e.g., hospitals, schools). The result is now well known. Bernstein comments:

All that concrete that worldwide “human rights activists” insisted go to Gaza for construction? Largely diverted to Hamas’s military tunnel network. How many of the tunnels serve as civilian bomb shelters? As best as can be determined, zero. But the Hamas leadership has a tunnel infrastructure for itself to hide in. Those who have sought to undo the Israeli-Egypt blockade of Gaza to allow in items with military use like concrete are either rogues or fools; and Israel still sends in far more humanitarian aid (even now, during the war) than the people of Gaza would ever likely see from Hamas, while Hamas leaders have turned out to be as corrupt as their Fatah predecessors.

Israel has three wars it must fight simultaneously. The first, obviously, is against the islamist thugs who call themselves Hamas. The second is against wide-spread left-wing media malpractice that is on-going and virulent. And the third is against an American administration that does not have their best interests at heart. I for one hope the small country prevails in all three.