The War in Gaza --

Just how bad is it, a Round-up --

No room for graves -- Empire Burlesque: "Dizzy with success": Running Out of Graves in Gaza*" (1/14/09) To quote:

So many have died in such a short space of time that "there is not tomb and continent enough for the slain": the Palestinians are running out of graves. AP reports. . .

United Nations attacked -- >McClatchy: "Israeli troops kill U.N. truck driver at Gaza crossing*" (Posted on Thursday, January 8, 2009). Informed Comment: "UN Halts Relief Work in Gaza*" (1/8/09).

Red Cross reports -- Washington Post: "Red Cross Reports Grisly Find in Gaza*" Israel Accused of Blocking Aid to Wounded*" (1/8/09)

Radical attitudes --

Is it genocide -- There seems to be no room for mercy when it comes to Gaza. With the link to this post, "betmo," my regular contributor said, "Crazy people; yep- just what we need- a nuclear bomb in the middle east."

Dandelion Salad: "Opposition party leader: We must do to Hamas what the US did to Japan*" (1/14/09) Quoting:

[Leader of the "Israel is Our Home" (Israel Beiteinu) party and former Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman, 13 January 2009]

What were they thinking?! --At-Largely: "Gaza's Eyes to cry with" (1/12/09) To quote the blog's conclusion:

The purpose of strategy in war is to focus the violence on a tangible policy aim. Not surprisingly, Israel's Ambassador to the United States Sallai Meridor freely admitted in a recent lecture at George Washington University that, "we have no grand political scheme" in Gaza.

That means our "friend and democratic ally," with the endorsement of our executive and legislative branches of government and with the tacit approval of our president elect, are conducting slaughter for the sake of slaughter. This is also known as total war, and war of annihilation, and genocide.

What a crying shame it is that the land of the free and the home of the brave should sanction such monstrosity.

Energy --BuzzFlash: "Guess What? Lots Of Oil, Natural Gas In Gaza!*" Secret Behind Israel's Siege of Gaza: Palestinians Have Oil, Natural Gas" (1/7/09).

Widespread protests --

Israelis disagree -- BuzzFlash: "Israeli soldiers refuse to serve in Gaza*" (1/14/09) To quote:

Ten Israeli reservists have reportedly refused to enter the war on Gaza in protest at the ongoing killing of women and children. The ten may be tried for violating orders. The soldiers say they will not take part in a war that has killed hundreds of civilians, including women and children.

Empire Burlesque: "Debunking the 'Human Shield' Myth*" (1/13/09) To quote:

Veteran Israeli activist Uri Avnery takes on the morally hideous "human shield" myth being propagated with ever-increasing frenzy by the apologists for Israel's murderous assault on Gaza. He pulls no punches in setting this specious argument in its rightful historical context.

People all around the world have spoken out against Israel's treatment of the people living in the Gaza strip. This post at Dandelion Salad, "Welcome to Occupied Orlando*" (1/12/09), details a Florida protester's experience with Floridians with radical attitudes. To quote:

We the people with a conscience had come together to take to the streets our demand that USA Government stand up for an immediate bilateral cease fire and the free flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. . . .We the people of all faiths and none came together in heart break over Gaza and anger at USA complicity in Israel’s war crimes.

Editorializing -- The Times Online, "Israel's bombardment of Gaza is not self-defense -- it's a war crime*" (1/11/09). To quote:

ISRAEL has sought to justify its military attacks on Gaza by stating that it amounts to an act of “self-defence” as recognised by Article 51, United Nations Charter. We categorically reject this contention.

The rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas deplorable as they are, do not, in terms of scale and effect amount to an armed attack entitling Israel to rely on self-defence. Under international law self-defence is an act of last resort and is subject to the customary rules of proportionality and necessity.

Dandelionsalad: "Israeli intel targets Israeli protesters + Rockets fired from Lebanon + Protests*" (1/9/09)

United States sanction --

Arms shipped -- Dandelion Salad: "Unusually Large U.S. Weapons Shipment to Israel: Are the US and Israel Planning a Broader Middle East War?*" by Michel Chossudovsky. (1/14/09) Sending arms to Israel means these weapons are either used by the Israel military of stockpiled in Israel for later use by the United States military.

Rice dissed -- Informed Comment: "Israeli PM Ehud Olmert Claims to be Able to Order Bush Around*" (1/13/09) To quote:

So outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was speaking in Ashkelon on Monday, and he said the most amazing thing. The USG Open Source Center translated the relevant passage from his speech, in which he claimed he had the ability to control US foreign policy and summarily over-rule the Secretary of State. . .

New York Times: "U.S. Rejected Aid for Israeli Raid on Iranian Nuclear Site#" (1/10/09). To quote the intro:

President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran’s main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended to sabotage Iran’s suspected effort to develop nuclear weapons, according to senior American and foreign officials.

Kucinich: Dandelionsalad: "Kucinich Documents Israel’s War Crimes On The Record! + Israel Bombs “Safehouse” (1/9/09) "I heart Dennis K," says betmo. BuzzFlash: "Kucinich : Bush Administration Ignores Humanitarian Crisis (in Gaza)*" (1/8/09)

Juan Cole: Informed Comment: "Cole in Salon: Gaza and the End of Neoconservatism*" (Thursday, January 08, 2009) [Salon column]

Media coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict --

Greenwald: Salon.com: "Tom Friedman offers a perfect definition of 'terrorism'*" (1/14/09). To quote Glenn's intro:

Tom Friedman, one of the nation's leading propagandists for the Iraq War and a vigorous supporter of all of Israel's wars, has a column today in The New York Times explaining and praising the Israeli attack on Gaza.
. . . Friedman says that he is "unsure" whether the current Israeli attack on Gaza is similiarly designed to teach Palestinians the same lesson by inflicting "heavy pain" on civilians, but he hopes it is. . .
The war strategy which Friedman is heralding -- what he explicitly describes with euphemism-free candor as "exacting enough pain on civilians" in order to teach them a lesson -- is about as definitive of a war crime as it gets. It also happens to be the classic, textbook definition of "terrorism."

Huber: At-Largely: "Making Israel Pretty*" by Jeff Huber, (1/14/09). To quote:

We'll never have a clearer demonstration of the Israel Lobby's unwarranted influence over the U.S. media. . . According to a January 10 New York Times story by Steven Erlanger, Hamas, "with training from Iran and Hezbollah" (of course), has turned Gaza "into a deadly maze of tunnels, booby traps and sophisticated roadside bombs."
. . . Hamas did not, as Condi Rice claims, stage an "illegal coup" in Gaza. It won political power in open elections in January 2006, at which time the Bush administration launched machinations to reverse the results of the election. Hamas did not violate the ceasefire; Israel violated it when it sent troops into Gaza in November 2008, and Hamas did not refuse to extend the ceasefire in December. Hamas offered to renew the peace agreement and Israel spurned the offer.
I doubt even George Orwell expected that a great western nation's information environment could become as utterly corrupted as America's is today. Here we are, almost a decade into the 21^st century, proving the veracity of 18^th satirist Voltaire's admonition that "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

Moyers: Salon.com: "Bill Moyers on Israel/Gaza*" (1/10/09). "glenn greenwald and bill moyers- in one article. good stuff," says betmo.

Engel: Think Progress: "Engel: Israel waiting until Obama’s inauguration to let reporters into Gaza, when ‘viewers simply won’t care*’"(1/8/09). Richard Engel on potential course of Gaza news reporting.

Shlaim : Empire Burlesque: "Crying, Lying and Shooting: A Rogue State Laid Bare*" (1/7/09). To quote:

Former Israeli soldier, and now professor of international relations at the University of Oxford, Avi Shlaim, tells us in the Guardian. You won't see truth like this in an American newspaper,or hear it from the political poltroons playing musical chairs with Senate seats on Capitol Hill.

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are "betmo*" and Jon#.

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

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