Green Energy
Sam Harris, HERE
Sam is a ‘leading’ atheist, grossed out by the idea of a Jewish state, and yet…
- Strategypage: Us Admin Understands Precisely What They Are Telling Israel Over The West Bank
The recent reelection of the Israeli government that disagrees with the U.S. on Iran and the Palestinians angered many senior American officials and despite the U.S. being generally pro-Israel many American politicians are coming to agree with their European...
- Unicef Accuses Israel Of Purposefully Targeting 264 Children For Death
From the Middle East Monitor: Monica Awad, the spokeswoman of the UNICEF, condemned Israel’s targeting of women and children in its ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip. In an interview with Al-Jazeera yesterday, Awad said Israeli forces had deliberately...
- As They Should Be --- Us Jews Furious Over ‘washington Post’ Cartoon Showing Netanyahu Punching Palestinian Infant
From the Jerusalem Post: A prominent American Jewish organization is denouncing The Washington Post for posting an animated cartoon on its YouTube channel depicting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu beating a Palestinian infant. The caricature is...
- Un Report: Terrorism Against Israelis Is Ok
From Eli Hertz: A recent UN report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/7/17) by UN Special Rapporteur John Dugard disregards international legal standards against terrorism and excuses the killing of innocents. We, the undersigned, urge the United Nations...
- Gaza: "remember What Happened Here "
Since Israel has pulled out of Gaza, the Palis have not become more peaceful. In fact, after a major concession from the Israelis, they have actually increased their violent attacks on Israel. This article takes a deeper look at what is really going on:...
Green Energy
“They’re not targeting children. They could target as many children as they want.”
Sam Harris, HERE
Sam is a ‘leading’ atheist, grossed out by the idea of a Jewish state, and yet…
The current conflict, he notes, has led to terrible images that have hurt Israel’s standing worldwide:
But there is no way to look at the images coming out Gaza—especially of infants and toddlers riddled by shrapnel—and think that this is anything other than a monstrous evil. Insofar as the Israelis are the agents of this evil, it seems impossible to support them. And there is no question that the Palestinians have suffered terribly for decades under the occupation. This is where most critics of Israel appear to be stuck. They see these images, and they blame Israel for killing and maiming babies. They see the occupation, and they blame Israel for making Gaza a prison camp. I would argue that this is a kind of moral illusion, borne of a failure to look at the actual causes of this conflict, as well as of a failure to understand the intentions of the people on either side of it.[Note: I was not saying that the horror of slain children is a moral illusion; nor was I minimizing the suffering of the Palestinians under the occupation. I was claiming that Israel is not primarily to blame for all this suffering.]But then he argues there’s still a difference between the two sides, or as he puts it, “an obvious, undeniable, and hugely consequential moral difference between Israel and her enemies. The Israelis are surrounded by people who have explicitly genocidal intentions towards them.”
And this gets to the heart of the moral difference between Israel and her enemies. And this is something I discussed in The End of Faith. To see this moral difference, you have to ask what each side would do if they had the power to do it.
What would the Jews do to the Palestinians if they could do anything they wanted? Well, we know the answer to that question, because they can do more or less anything they want. The Israeli army could kill everyone in Gaza tomorrow. So what does that mean? Well, it means that, when they drop a bomb on a beach and kill four Palestinian children, as happened last week, this is almost certainly an accident. They’re not targeting children. They could target as many children as they want. Every time a Palestinian child dies, Israel edges ever closer to becoming an international pariah. So the Israelis take great pains not to kill children and other noncombatants. [Note: The word “so” in the previous sentence was regrettable and misleading. I didn’t mean to suggest that safeguarding its reputation abroad would be the only (or even primary) reason for Israel to avoid killing children. However, the point stands: Even if you want to attribute the basest motives to Israel, it is clearly in her self-interest not to kill Palestinian children.]
- Strategypage: Us Admin Understands Precisely What They Are Telling Israel Over The West Bank
The recent reelection of the Israeli government that disagrees with the U.S. on Iran and the Palestinians angered many senior American officials and despite the U.S. being generally pro-Israel many American politicians are coming to agree with their European...
- Unicef Accuses Israel Of Purposefully Targeting 264 Children For Death
From the Middle East Monitor: Monica Awad, the spokeswoman of the UNICEF, condemned Israel’s targeting of women and children in its ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip. In an interview with Al-Jazeera yesterday, Awad said Israeli forces had deliberately...
- As They Should Be --- Us Jews Furious Over ‘washington Post’ Cartoon Showing Netanyahu Punching Palestinian Infant
From the Jerusalem Post: A prominent American Jewish organization is denouncing The Washington Post for posting an animated cartoon on its YouTube channel depicting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu beating a Palestinian infant. The caricature is...
- Un Report: Terrorism Against Israelis Is Ok
From Eli Hertz: A recent UN report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/7/17) by UN Special Rapporteur John Dugard disregards international legal standards against terrorism and excuses the killing of innocents. We, the undersigned, urge the United Nations...
- Gaza: "remember What Happened Here "
Since Israel has pulled out of Gaza, the Palis have not become more peaceful. In fact, after a major concession from the Israelis, they have actually increased their violent attacks on Israel. This article takes a deeper look at what is really going on:...