Another fashla
"Fashla" is the Hebrew word for what in American English is called a "screw-up." Yesterday, an attempt to target a car carrying two terrorists failed, resulting in a fashla. One of the rockets hit a nearby house, killing a pregnant women and her brother and injuring others, including children. Unfortunately, the two terrorists managed to get away. This incident, coming only a week after the explosion on the beach that killed seven, and a day after the death of three children in a similar targeted attack in Gaza (although then the two terrorists were killed), raised serious concerns in Israel. The Defense Minister ordered an investigation and a complete re-evaluation of the procedures used, since operations are supposed to be called off if there is a significant chance of civilian casualties. In this case it looks as if the missile itself malfunctioned.
Israeli spokesmen scrambled to issue the usual denials, not of responsibility, but of intent. IDF orders are clear, that there is no intentional targeting of civilians, and every civilized country accepts that rule. However, there is another side to this other than the guilt-ridden liberal genuflection.
Isi Liebler, an American Jewish leader, writing in the Jerusalem Post, entitled his article "Stop Apologizing." His thesis is that since the Palestinians are waging a deliberate destructive war against Israel, we must and should counter-attack, and in war there are always unfortunate civilian casualties. He also points out that the initial and immediate reaction of Israeli authorites is to apologize for such casualties, and then find out later that the IDF was not responsible in some cases, such as the beach incident, for those casualties. In fact, the Palestinians are masters at deception and staging, and there is certainly an element of this in the beach incident, as can be seen from examining the videos (as reported in the German newspaper Sueddeutsch Zeitung, very little blood is seen, there is no crater, no medics appear, and the reactions of the little girl seem unnatural, she throws herself on the sand and covers her face twice, as if instructed, further she is fully clothed and dry although she was reported to have been in the bathing in the sea and was saved by this). Certainly the incident in 2000 of the shooting of the boy Mohammed al-Dura was proven to have been faked, as well as the elaborate "Jenin Massacre" hoax of 2002 . So Israel should not be in such a hurry to apologise, since often we have nothing to apologise for.
Alan Dershowitz, visiting Israel, clarified the legal situation. In a stand-off between the police and gangsters who have taken hostages, if there is a gunfight and one or more of the hostages is killed by police gunfire, then the kidnappers are considered guilty of the murder, since they caused it by taking the hostages. Clearly the police are not trying to kill the hostages. A parallel situation exists in relation to terrorism. If Israel retaliates against terrorists, who have carried out are are in the process of carrying out actions against Israeli civilians, then any civlian casualties on the other side are a result of the terrorist's actions. There would be no casualties if the IDF were not forced to act to prevent terrorist actions and rocket launchings.
At a meeting in Petra today organized by the Jordanians, in a discussion between Pres. Abbas of the PA and Elie Wiesel, Pres. Abbas admitted that suicide bombings are "war crimes" and that rocket firing is wrong. It is the comission of these war crimes and the deliberate targeting of civilians by random rocket launchings, which are considered acts of war, that are the actions of the guilty parties inthis conflict!
Israeli spokesmen scrambled to issue the usual denials, not of responsibility, but of intent. IDF orders are clear, that there is no intentional targeting of civilians, and every civilized country accepts that rule. However, there is another side to this other than the guilt-ridden liberal genuflection.
Isi Liebler, an American Jewish leader, writing in the Jerusalem Post, entitled his article "Stop Apologizing." His thesis is that since the Palestinians are waging a deliberate destructive war against Israel, we must and should counter-attack, and in war there are always unfortunate civilian casualties. He also points out that the initial and immediate reaction of Israeli authorites is to apologize for such casualties, and then find out later that the IDF was not responsible in some cases, such as the beach incident, for those casualties. In fact, the Palestinians are masters at deception and staging, and there is certainly an element of this in the beach incident, as can be seen from examining the videos (as reported in the German newspaper Sueddeutsch Zeitung, very little blood is seen, there is no crater, no medics appear, and the reactions of the little girl seem unnatural, she throws herself on the sand and covers her face twice, as if instructed, further she is fully clothed and dry although she was reported to have been in the bathing in the sea and was saved by this). Certainly the incident in 2000 of the shooting of the boy Mohammed al-Dura was proven to have been faked, as well as the elaborate "Jenin Massacre" hoax of 2002 . So Israel should not be in such a hurry to apologise, since often we have nothing to apologise for.
Alan Dershowitz, visiting Israel, clarified the legal situation. In a stand-off between the police and gangsters who have taken hostages, if there is a gunfight and one or more of the hostages is killed by police gunfire, then the kidnappers are considered guilty of the murder, since they caused it by taking the hostages. Clearly the police are not trying to kill the hostages. A parallel situation exists in relation to terrorism. If Israel retaliates against terrorists, who have carried out are are in the process of carrying out actions against Israeli civilians, then any civlian casualties on the other side are a result of the terrorist's actions. There would be no casualties if the IDF were not forced to act to prevent terrorist actions and rocket launchings.
At a meeting in Petra today organized by the Jordanians, in a discussion between Pres. Abbas of the PA and Elie Wiesel, Pres. Abbas admitted that suicide bombings are "war crimes" and that rocket firing is wrong. It is the comission of these war crimes and the deliberate targeting of civilians by random rocket launchings, which are considered acts of war, that are the actions of the guilty parties inthis conflict!
posted by Jack Cohen at 11:53 AM
1 Comments:
fashla is an arabic word.
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