Thousands rally in Tel Aviv for and against Israel's Gaza operation (Ha'Aretz newspaper)
By Noa Kosharek and Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondents
Excerpts from the article.
Thousands of people demonstrated in Tel Aviv for and against Israel's eight-day-old military campaign in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, with police forces struggling to separate the opposing camps.
No clashes have been reported.
"Barak, Barak, Defense Minister, how many children have you murdered today?" yelled out protesters while waving Palestinians flags. "Stop the bombing, stop the killing," others called out at Tel Aviv's Rabin Square.
On the other side of the square, the supporters of the Gaza raids called out "Let the IDF win and bring back Shalit," referring to Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit who was kidnapped by Gaza militants in 2006.
Meanwhile Saturday, thousands of demonstrators held a rally in the Israeli Arab Galilee village of Sakhnin, protesting against Israel's military operations.
The protest was organized by the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee and was one of the largest held by the Israeli Arab community since October 2000.
The Chairman of the Balad Party, MK Jamal Zahalka, said at the rally that there is a need to "try Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi in an international war crimes tribunal for their role in the killing of civilians in the Gaza Strip."
Hadash Chair Mohammed Barakeh said the demonstration was "another important step that we are proud of, which represents an advanced stage in the fight waged by the Arab population and the forces of peace against the massacre of the people of Gaza. This demonstration is the answer to all those who have been gambling on the motivation of Israel's Arab population to voice a strong stance against the mentality of occupation and racism."
"We are here, and we will always be here," he continued. "Until this kind of mentality and those who implement it are erased from history."
Compare the above with the following:
In 1982 the Syrian government killed 30,000 – 40,000 of its own citizens. Assad leveled an entire city with an air bombardment followed by artillery and tank fire. Why? They were anti Baath party, and apparently in 1982 in Syria that was a death sentence. (More at http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread156515/pg1).
The Hama massacre (Arabic: مجزرة حماة) occurred on February 2, 1982 when the Syrian army bombarded the town of Hama in order to quell a revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood. An estimated 7000 to 25,000 people were killed, including about 1000 soldiers. More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hama_massacre
Barry Rubin in 2008 compared Nazis and Hamas in their approach to the people they govern.
Rubin cites the following as a Hamas statement on Hamas' philosophy:
Palestinian Media Watch has reprinted a speech made by Fathi Hamad, one of the top Hamas leaders, on the movement's own Al-Aqsa television station from February 29, 2008. He stated:
"For the Palestinian people death became an industry, at which women excel and so do all people on this land: the elderly excel, the Jihad fighters excel, and the children excel. Accordingly [Palestinians] created a human shield of women, children, the elderly and the Jihad fighters against the Zionist bombing machine, as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: "We desire death as you desire life.'"
The Nazis, in comparison,
How can one explain that the Nazis never behaved in such a way?
As nationalists, though, they had to love their country, at least in their own interpretation of it and excluding all the Jewish citizens of course. They wanted prosperity, happiness, and empowerment for the German people. Consequently, the German army and government viewed it as their duty to protect the people. And if they were the master race, all the more need to protect them.
And that is why--if they had ever thought of it--the Nazis would not have deliberately exposed their people to even more suffering by using them as human shields or stockpiling bombs and bullets in their residential buildings. However chauvinistic and inhumane extreme nationalism can be to others, by definition it has to believe itself to be serving those who it identifies as its followers, constituency, and even subjects.
But radical Islamism is different. Its goal is not to exalt its people--Palestinians or Muslims, as such--but to implement God's will. God is above the people. And the deity must be served no matter how many of the people, even Muslims, die or suffer. Thus we see the massive bloodshed in the Algerian civil war and the terrorist attacks against other Muslims in places like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Even an anti-Israel demonstration in Iraq was hit by a suicide bomber recently.
Thus, there is this tireless emphasis on martyrdom, and people can be martyred even if they don't choose that for themselves. What is startling--and like so many significant facts gone unnoticed in much of the world--is that Hamas never had any program for social development, quality education, improved health, or anything else but warfare for the Gaza Strip. Its only concern was to wage a war of extermination on Israel, no matter how much time and how many lives it cost.
I suppose we - "The World" should feel sorry for the Azans - they are being martyred by their own leadership. But bear in mind that, like the Germans before them, they tolerate the people who are willing to sacrifice them.
Read the reports - the Hamas leadership is in hiding. Instead of leading their masked "militants," they are hiding out - if they even remain in Aza. Let the civilians be a shield to protect them so they can, when they finally show their faces, point at the people who died in the war Hamas' instigated with repeated rocket attacks on Israel.
Hamas is making the Azans cannon fodder and "The World" points the finger at Israel.
Think about it.
Truth in writing. I am a dual national with most of my family in Israel. I have been shelled by our neighbors and watched as the (Israel) government did nothing in return, thereby inviting more shelling.
Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail dot com
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