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Here is the head of Hamas, whose boys systematically fire from the midst of civilians, in order create civilian casualties they can then blame on Israeli counter-strikes, exploiting a death directly caused by his men in order to appeal to Wwestern sympathy. It would be hard to imagine a more stunning portrait of the most depraved hypocrisy (and contempt for viewers who believe this display of compassion). If hypocrisy is the compliment that vice pays to virtue, then this brazen hypocrisy is the contempt vice shows for the pathetic stupidity of the supposedly virtuous.
After all, it is hard to imagine a more grotesque expression of a mutual corruption: trying to demonise your enemy before an outside audience whom you expect to side with you in the name of empathy for the very children you victimise. How disordered must the emotional and moral world of someone subject to this kind of manipulation?
Not only that, but Haniyah dragged into this humiliating display the prime minister of Egypt’s new “Muslim Brotherhood” government, trying to show support for her Palestinian branch, Hamas. Prime Minister Hesham Kandil jumped right in, kissing the baby, and subsequently testifying (in what BBC Correspondent Wyre Davies found to be a “powerful statement”): “his blood is still on our clothing.” Kandil’s a fool eagerly trying to join in the morbid circus Haniyah and Hamas so frequently stage. Haniyah, thinking he could get away with it, has dragged Kandil into this shameless pornography of death.
One last reflection. Hamas’s strategy has long been to attack from behind civilians to provoke Israeli retaliation and then use the collateral damage of those victims as a way to blame Israel. This is in fact a key element of their asymmetrical war with Israel. As one Gazan explained to an Italian reporter towards the end of Operation Cast Lead (OCL):
The Hamas militants looked for good places to provoke the Israelis. They were usually youths, 16 or 17 years old, armed with submachine guns. They couldn’t do anything against a tank or jet. They knew they were much weaker. But they wanted the [Israelis] to shoot at the [the civilians’] houses so they could accuse them of more war crimes.
In other words, Hamas engages in the exceptionally rare wartime act of actively victimizing one’s own civilian population – specifically a war crime – in order to win a victory in cognitive war. And they can only do so, if a corrupt media on the scene (including NGOs and UN agencies), rather than expose their criminal strategies, play along and present the images of dead babies in the framework of the Palestinian narrative of Israeli victimisation.
The fact that Hamas thought they could clean up the scene and pull off a Gaza Beach, successfully blaming the Israelis for the tragedy, speaks eloquently of their exceptionally low appraisal of the forensic acumen of the Western press (or their power to indimidate). And they have good reason to so believe. After all, Goldstone, in his investigation into the abuses of the Palestinian people during OCL, never once looked into this kind of human shielding. Imagine if he had!
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/richardlandes/100190395/pallywood-and-the-pornography-of-death-the-western-media-suckered-again/
Last edited Sat Nov 24, 2012, 06:23 AM - Edit history (3)
...mainly, using their own population as shields & hoping for civilian casualties, are apologists, enablers, and supporters of Hamas. They know it's happening but they're all for it. They won't admit it b/c it hurts their case when bashing Israel.
Like Hamas, they could care less about Palestinians being killed. In fact, these Hamas boosters enjoy seeing Palestinians killed by Israel (so they can help Hamas in the cognitive warfare department, i.e., demonization of Israel). These bashers of Israel don't side with Palestinians. They side with those who use Palestinians as sacrificial pawns (Hamas). Hamas does this because it works and it's an effective way of attacking Israel. Hamas' apologists, supporters, and boosters know that Hamas does this and they're very willing to enable such behavior. It's a win-win for Hamas. Attack Israelis, terrorize them, and kill them. If Israelis self-defend and attack back at Hamas, then hopefully via human shielding, the Israelis kill some Palestinians. That's also a (media/PR) win for Hamas in the cognitive warfare department. So yeah, the Israel bashers are terror supporters. They're allies of Hamas (whose genocidal charter calls for the destruction of Israel and killing of Jews) in their war on Israel.
Hamas can't pull this evil off without them. They can't do it without their co-dependents in the media and "human rights" community.
Your argument here really seems to be "the devil made me do it." It's Israeli commands ordering Israeli hands to drop Israeli bombs, but, gosh, Hamas made them do it, the Israelis had no say in the matter at all, they are just helpless, blameless little puppets dancing around on strings held by Hamas.
Which is bullshit.
The IDF says it's going after Hamas' weapons placements. Alright, let's go with that, and assume all the other stuff that gets bombed is due to Lowest-Bidder contracts or gremlins or whatever.
Ever seen what a Hamas "weapons placement" looks like? For your edification:
(Okay, technically these are Islamic Jihad, but you get the idea)
You notice that these aren't big expensive launch platforms or missile batteries. They're, what, rebar? A little steel plate? Blowing this up probably isn't going to deal a substantial blow to Hamas' resources, firepower, or weapons capability. They're sort of the exact opposite of irreplaceable (which is probably the whole damn point).
Next, for all your hysterics over bajillions of rockets fired at Israel... They really don't matter. Not to belittle their lethal potential here, but... well, they aren't particularly good at living up to that potential. Out of all the rockets fired by Hamas since 2001, when they started, sixty-seven Israelis have died from them. In total. They're wildly inaccurate, often end up being duds, and Israel's civil instruction and infrastructure go a long way to keeping Israelis safe as well.
And that was before the Iron Dome system went online. As I said in another post, I was skeptical of this at first, but on its first run, it had a, what, 90% success rate? That's fucking phenomenal, and I'm sure it will only improve as kinks and bugs are worked out.
So to recap. The IDF is choosing to drop bombs (not famed for being very discriminate weapons) on weapons placements that don't hurt Hamas' fighting capability. The weapons themselves are, for the most part, a trivial threat. And in so doing, nearly two hundred Palestinians die.
That's a lot of people to die in order for Israel to accomplish nothing, I think. Maybe you disagree, I dunno. But let's not pretend Israel's hand was forced into this, as if this were some terrible, existential threat, one where no cost is too great to pay to end.
Somehow, I can have interesting, reasonably mature discussions with DU's other reactionary anti-Palestinian posters. You, however... you remind me of a bad saturday morning cartoon. Lots of flashing primary colors and plenty of yelling, but no actual content.
The fact that I woke up with a pounding headache doesn't help.
So, tell you what. When my head feels less like a melon in a microwave, we'll try again 
Hopefully you can tone down hte "Angry Beavers" hijinks too.
Last edited Sat Nov 24, 2012, 05:46 PM - Edit history (2)
I suppose you figure that if they don't do it - and all you have to do is keep those eyes closed - the more you can then blame Israel exclusively.
Great idea!
Hamas gets to go on, no condemnation whatsoever, Palestinians continue to suffer under them...
But at least you can bash Israel.
