No More Rockets, No More Hamas!

I woke up a few mornings ago to see that prominent Hamas armed wing leader Ahmed Al-Jaabari had been assassinated when an Israeli missile hit his car in the Gaza strip. Blammo. This has come after at least a week of escalation in violence between Israel and Gaza militants that had seen an increase in rockets being fired into Israel and then retaliation by Israel. Hamas has a missile problem. They like to randomly fire these things into Israel with seeming no rhyme or reason and with no particular destination. Sometimes it is in retaliation, sometimes it is for....I have no clue what reason.

Anyway, since then, of course, all hell has broken loose, with rockets being fired wildly into Israel, some reaching Tel Aviv and at least one reaching Jerusalem. Meanwhile, in Gaza, Israel has bombed the snot out of several hundred targets, which they claim are key militant sites which, for the most part, I tend to believe. However, clearly the population of Gaza are getting the brunt of the destruction with at least 16 dead and a hundred injured. Seems not all of the bombs are hitting their mark, and/or the dense population of the strip means that injury and death is unavoidable. If Israel is, for some ridiculously stupid reason, intentionally targeting civilians, then clearly they are idiots. I don't believe however that this is what they are doing. Regardless, people in Gaza are dying and being injured and it is a sad, sad situation. At the same time, the Israeli death toll is at three. Of course it's not as high, but these deaths as well are very sad. The fact that anyone is dying here is unfortunate.

So all of this leads me to ask: Hamas and Islamic Jihad (and whatever other militant groups there are in Gaza), may I ask, how has firing rockets indiscriminately into Israel working out for you and the people of Gaza? At what point will you see that these rockets you insist on shooting off are suicidal? How many times must Gaza be struck by Israel before the point is made that the rockets achieve nothing? How many people must die? For some reason, there are those in Gaza and those who support Palestinians who believe that these rockets are justified and show strength and determination or some crazy thing. They are seen as an act of defense instead of what they really are which is an act of offense that leads to retaliation. And, when Israel does retaliate because rockets are fired at them, the world screams “Israel is attacking Gaza!” Well, no kidding! They are trying desperately to stop these rockets! You can’t fire rockets into Israel and expect no response. Whether you like it or not, Israel can outgun you! Be reasonable!

The common argument is that these rockets are just small, crude devices and Israel is showing disproportionate force. The answer is, don’t fire rockets! There seems to be an implication that Israel should just accept rockets being fired into it because, meh, they aren't that big of a deal. That is completely unrealistic. There are those who say that Gaza has been treated like a concentration camp and that their grip on power over the strip is inhumane. Yes, I can see that. However, the grip tightened significantly, and understandably, when Hamas took over power of the strip. Hamas has virtually dedicated itself to the destruction of Israel. Can people not see the connection here? Again, what is Israel to do? At what point will people see that Hamas is not helping Palestinians as a whole in any way shape or form. They are not offering security, that’s for sure. They are not offering a better life for the people of Gaza. They are offering war and destruction. And for all the talk of Israel’s iron grip, there is little mention of the grip Hamas has over its people. Somehow, Hamas gets a free ride in how it treats it's own citizens at times and the way it has dealt with Fatah, it's rival in the fight over control of Palestinians. Their actions against their own citizens, such as a heavy crackdown not long ago against protesters in Gaza that dared to call for peace and reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah makes me scratch my head at how anyone can not see that Hamas are a bunch of dicks!

Am I a firm supporter of Israel? No. I do support its existence. I do see it as an independent country. I see Israel as a move by Jews to have an independent state where they were no longer at the mercy of the rest of the world, including the Muslim world. It seems that as long as Jews were under Muslim control, paid their taxes to their overlords and knew their place everything was cool. But when Jews said "enough is enough" and declared independence, that's wasn't cool. The fact is, many Jews have also been expelled from "Arab" lands, having their property taken and being sent off, generally as refugees to Israel. Over 50 percent of the population of Israel are Jewish refugees pushed out of "Arab" lands. This seems to be forgotten for some bizarre, strange reason.

But at the same time, I believe that Israel has done many wrongs over the years that are intolerable and disgusting. Israel is no angel that is for sure! In the saga of Israel/Palestine, there truly are two sides doing ridiculous, horrible things. But for Gaza, I believe strongly that the answer to progress is to get rid of Hamas, get rid of Islamic Jihad, get rid of rockets and work on becoming a state that Israel can live beside peacefully, like it does with most of its other neighbours. At the same time, Israel has a responsibility to stop expanding beyond its borders and to not be quite as heavy handed as they can sometimes be. It would be nice to see the blockade and sanctions against Gaza lifted, but how can they be as long as Hamas is determined to destroy Israel? At the same time, should all in the strip be forced to live in an intolerable state because of Hamas? Can Israel afford to lift the blockade? Can Israel afford not too as public opinion sways against it?

I have little faith that we will see peace in the Middle East anytime soon. Divisions are so deep, polarized and steeped in a cycle of violence that it is entrenched in the societies and cultures. Both sides in the Israel/Palestine situation are stubborn and hot headed. There are solutions. I believe I have presented a few. There, however, is much more to do beyond that. But, as long as rockets are being shot off into Israel indiscriminately and Hamas is in power, there is little hope of peace, little room for negotiation. It’s time for Gaza and Palestinians to step back and rethink their futile strategy. Then, hopefully, life can improve for Palestinians.

South Park, SHIFT and Stupidity.

Alright, alright, alright. I finally have broken down to approach a topic that has been on my mind quite a bit. It is a topic that just won't seem to go away and it's one that has me frustrated and angry.

Remember when those two morons offered up a veiled threat online to the two morons who make South Park, one of the least funny television programs I can think of? It seems the animators put Mohamed who wasn't even Mohamed in a bear suit or something, I dunno. Well, that little incident keeps raising it's head. In my view, this whole thing has been blown completely out of proportion. It really wasn't even a threat that was issued, and the two punks that did it were just, well, punks. Yet, Comedy Central DID make a big deal of it and did some fancy censorship...and then the Western world went crazy! Ironic, isn't, that this surrounded the 200th-2001st show, a large milestone for the program? After all, South Park had portrayed Mohamed in a previous episode, and as far as I know, NOTHING happened. If it did, Comedy Central didn't let anyone know then. So, why they went all crazy over it now is rather suspicious if you ask me. That's just my little conspiracy theory.

The latest stupidity that I ran across in relation to this whole deal relates to the actions of a group called SHIFT (Secular Humanists for Inquiry and Free Thought) from Northwestern University in Chicago. Now, the idea behind the groups seems pretty okay, I can't argue with them based on their title. What does get me is a campaign they held recently where SHIFT members went around the campus and drew stick figures, in chalk, of the Prophet Mohamed. Now, as we all know by now, this can be a bit of sticky subject with people. There are Muslims who get very offended by portrayals of a man who they feel isn't supposed to be portrayed. Fair enough. I mean, there is no problem with that. People who are offended SHOULD stand up and say "Hey! I'm pissed off! You have offended me!". When it gets into violence, well, that's a different story.

Now, this campaign seems to have been inspired by the whole South Park incident. They seemed to have wanted to make a statement about the narrowing of taboos in relation to free speech. They wanted to get people talking, apparently. Well, lovely. Kicking someone's grandmother in the teeth would get people talking as well, but it's not a nice thing to do. Why keep pissing people off for no reason? Because you have the right to? Oh, lovely! That's a great way for the world to run. "I CAN piss you off, so I WILL and you better be okay with that!" seems to be the message here. Come on, why needlessly hurt people, or offend them, or be disrespectful to them. Ya, sure, I can understand speaking up against those who wish to use violence when they are pissed off. I can see standing up for free speech. But, come ON, just being a dick for the sake of being a dick? Really? Has it all come down to this? If so, then we have all lost.

The problem is, no thought appears to have been put into the idea that there is a reason for people to be hurt or offended by these portrayals. You may not understand it, but there is still a reason. Does anyone care about that? Every culture has it's taboos and sacred cows. If SHIFT had gone around campus and drawn swastikas, or put up pictures of dead American soldiers, or the letters "KKK", or hardcore porn, or something, how would that have gone over? Not well, I would hazard a guess. To ignore our "Western" taboos and go straight for taboos that pertain to a particular group that you don't seem to understand, one (being ME) has to ask...why?? It seems to be a case of "Get over it Muslims! We're drawing your man! We know it pisses you off, so what are you gonna do about it, eh??" which keeps cropping up after the blown out of proportion South Park insanity. Come on. It's so childish, and stupid. You have the right to make those drawings. You are protected by law in the US to do it. That doesn't mean you HAVE to do it. So, why do it? What point is being made that hasn't already been made? Let the other idiots who are going to threaten people be the idiots. Don't resort to being an idiot yourselves! Geez! If you are REALLY interested in having people talk, in opening dialogue, in tearing down walls to freedom, or whatever, then pick some other way, like, say, talking to people, you know, like actual discussions. If you want people to talk, talk to them, don't provoke them.