For some, the Gaza war is a PR disaster for Israel's image on the world stage.
For Palestinians it is yet more proof of Israel's genocidal intentions.
But as this story from Haaretz makes clear, the darker the clouds, the brighter the silver lining! For the lucky devils at government-owned Israel Military Industries, the latest Gaza war has been a gift from the heavens!
Operation Over the Cliff has been a godsend. Those "highly sophisticated" Hatzav and Kalanit tank shells have been a great success, as evidenced by those many images of telegenic dead babies circulating on the internet.
IMI has moved beyond "smart bombs" to next generation "super-smart bombs", which have proven themselves so smart over the past month that already there is a massive back-order to the tune of billions of shekels.
Gaza is neither the worlds largest prison nor an independent Palestinian state, but rather a "classroom" that gives IMI and other war profiteers a "marketing advantage"!
And what a timely stroke of luck that this fantastic boost to the bottom line comes just as the government is tidying up the books to privatize IMI.
See, every bad-news story has its good side; you just have to know where to look.
Showing posts with label Operation Over the Cliff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Operation Over the Cliff. Show all posts
Monday, August 11, 2014
Thursday, July 31, 2014
What's the big deal about 1500 civilian casualties in Gaza?
Make no mistake; Operation Off the Cliff is political theatre of the highest order. It's not about tunnels and it's not about rockets; it's about avoiding any "peace" that would threaten the long-term goal of the maximalists in Israeli politics, the eventual consolidation of a "greater Israel" from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean.
Or perhaps from the Euphrates to the Nile... it's always tough to nail down the borders of the Promised Land.
All the blather about "rockets raining on Israel" sounds good but doesn't justify a war that at this moment has taken the lives of 56 IDF soldiers. That's twice as many dead in a couple of weeks as the number of Israeli civilians killed by Gaza rocket attacks over the last 15 years.
Those Gaza rockets have claimed the same number of Israelis in fifteen years as lose their lives every month in traffic accidents.
In other words, there's absolutely nothing about the rocket threat that could possibly justify the thousands of civilian Palestinian deaths in this war on Gaza, and the one before, and the one before that.
Having said that, the war boosters have a point when they accuse the world of hypocrisy for its condemnation of Israel, especially when that condemnation is emanating from that most exceptional nation, the United States.
Afghanistan has never fired a single rocket at the US, but tens of thousands of innocent Afghan civilians have died at the hands of the US military.
Iraq has never fired a single rocket at the US, but hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians died at the hands of the US military.
Vietnam never fired a single rocket at America, yet millions of Vietnamese civilians died at the hands of the US military.
So, yes, it's hard to argue with that charge of hypocrisy.
Or perhaps from the Euphrates to the Nile... it's always tough to nail down the borders of the Promised Land.
All the blather about "rockets raining on Israel" sounds good but doesn't justify a war that at this moment has taken the lives of 56 IDF soldiers. That's twice as many dead in a couple of weeks as the number of Israeli civilians killed by Gaza rocket attacks over the last 15 years.
Those Gaza rockets have claimed the same number of Israelis in fifteen years as lose their lives every month in traffic accidents.
In other words, there's absolutely nothing about the rocket threat that could possibly justify the thousands of civilian Palestinian deaths in this war on Gaza, and the one before, and the one before that.
Having said that, the war boosters have a point when they accuse the world of hypocrisy for its condemnation of Israel, especially when that condemnation is emanating from that most exceptional nation, the United States.
Afghanistan has never fired a single rocket at the US, but tens of thousands of innocent Afghan civilians have died at the hands of the US military.
Iraq has never fired a single rocket at the US, but hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians died at the hands of the US military.
Vietnam never fired a single rocket at America, yet millions of Vietnamese civilians died at the hands of the US military.
So, yes, it's hard to argue with that charge of hypocrisy.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Friends don't let friends commit genocide
Where are all those "friends of Israel" when she really needs them?
Not to goad on the current assault on Gaza, which has become untethered from even the most tenuous ties to reality, but to put the brakes on a campaign that has degenerated into a maniacal mission of vengeance.
Targeting the Gaza power station because it's a "symbol of Hamas?" What kind of bullshit is that? Yes, on some abstract level that may be true, but on a concrete level it's only a power generating station that provides 1.8 million people with electricity.
Operation "Protective Edge/Over the Cliff" was a totally fabricated piece of political theatre to begin with, designed to destroy the Hamas/Fatah reunion. It was never about saving Israel from those terror rockets that are mostly known for not hitting anything.
Let's try to get some perspective; in the 15 years before Netanyahu embarked on this dark adventure, Gaza rockets had claimed a total of 28 lives. In fifteen years... that's barely a month's worth of traffic fatalities!
Twice that number of IDF have given their lives to this political theatre over the past three weeks. Where is the sense in that?
To say nothing of the lives lost on the other side, lives that apparently count for nothing in Netanyahu's war calculus, which is another huge mistake. Every son who lost a father and every father who has lost a son in Gaza these past three weeks has a justifiable thirst for vengeance that will play out for decades.
How does that promote peace?
So where are those who profess to be friends of Israel? In the periphery you have the Harper and Baird types who cannot find anything to say, even after three weeks of outrageously one-sided carnage, other than "Israel has a right to defend itself."
On the main stage, you have the Americans, at least pretending to try to make peace.
"Pretending" is the operative word here. All the drama of flying back and forth to here and there and consulting with this party and that is pure schlock theatre.
Obama could end this with one phone call.
Not to goad on the current assault on Gaza, which has become untethered from even the most tenuous ties to reality, but to put the brakes on a campaign that has degenerated into a maniacal mission of vengeance.
Targeting the Gaza power station because it's a "symbol of Hamas?" What kind of bullshit is that? Yes, on some abstract level that may be true, but on a concrete level it's only a power generating station that provides 1.8 million people with electricity.
Operation "Protective Edge/Over the Cliff" was a totally fabricated piece of political theatre to begin with, designed to destroy the Hamas/Fatah reunion. It was never about saving Israel from those terror rockets that are mostly known for not hitting anything.
Let's try to get some perspective; in the 15 years before Netanyahu embarked on this dark adventure, Gaza rockets had claimed a total of 28 lives. In fifteen years... that's barely a month's worth of traffic fatalities!
Twice that number of IDF have given their lives to this political theatre over the past three weeks. Where is the sense in that?
To say nothing of the lives lost on the other side, lives that apparently count for nothing in Netanyahu's war calculus, which is another huge mistake. Every son who lost a father and every father who has lost a son in Gaza these past three weeks has a justifiable thirst for vengeance that will play out for decades.
How does that promote peace?
So where are those who profess to be friends of Israel? In the periphery you have the Harper and Baird types who cannot find anything to say, even after three weeks of outrageously one-sided carnage, other than "Israel has a right to defend itself."
On the main stage, you have the Americans, at least pretending to try to make peace.
"Pretending" is the operative word here. All the drama of flying back and forth to here and there and consulting with this party and that is pure schlock theatre.
Obama could end this with one phone call.
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