Tomorrow, we’ll celebrate moving the Dream a bit closer to reality. Today though, I’m looking to Gaza. There’s finally a cease fire. Hamas still stands, as expected. Their capacity to launch rockets in the short term is doubtless diminished and some of their leaders are dead. The butcher’s bill:
Overall, 1,314 Palestinians were killed during the war, including 412 children and 110 women, the United Nations reported Monday, attributing the information to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
Thirteen Israelis died after the war began Dec. 27, including three civilians struck by Hamas rocket fire.
Not sure how many dead Israeli soldiers but it sounds like better leadership, plus better known territory and an opponent that lacked Hezbollah’s armament kept the count a good deal lower than the recent Lebanon war.
So what strategic ends were achieved? Hamas is hurt but is attracting much more popular support than it did prior to the war. Collective punishment, that is to say causing civilian suffering so they pressure militants, is again being tried to keep the piece. In solid terms, the main impact is that the current government of Israel, as of the last articles I read about a week ago, has regain much of the popularity it lost through the foolhardy Lebanon war. So maybe Netanyahu, the leader of Israeli’s hardline party, may not win in the coming elections or he may win by a smaller margin.
None of the goals that were predictably achievable or actually achieved justify more than a thousand dead, As for me, I want no more to do with Israel’s current leadership than with any Democrats still standing by the Iraq war. If the only way to win an election is to kill 400+ enemy children, then it’s time to lose the election. King’s opposition to the war in Vietnam, one waged by his political allies in the Democratic party, is sometimes downplayed but is key to his legacy. To call for non-violence only when it comes to the actions of the stateless, to the action of others, shows no particular moral insight.
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