Way Past the Puking Stage

Hamas "regrets" civilian deaths, Israel unmoved

Any younguns out there who don't know any better - and you know who you are; the type that show up to anti-Israeli apartheid rallies and what not - may be either surprised and/or encouraged by Hamas's overture, and angry at Israel's intransigence.

Well, let me tell you something. I've been watching the Israeli-Palestinian thing since the late 1960s and it puts the old tale about the boy who cried wolf to shame. It reminds me of the little merry-go-round fixture found in many playgrounds. You know, the ones where the kids get the thing spinning at a dizzying clip and have to hang on for dear life or be spun off in a furious trajectory that lands them on their heads or crushed against a nearby fence from whence they proceed to puke. It's been going round and round and round and round for decades, folks, and there's no puke left to heave so it's no surprise to me that Israel is "unmoved".

Be sure to read the whole thing to see if you can detect the truth. If you're having trouble let me point out a few key paragraphs:

"In response to the report, delivered to the United Nations this week, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said on Friday: "For years Hamas has boasted about deliberately targeting civilians, either through suicide bombings, by gunfire or by rockets. Who are they trying to fool now?"

At least one senior Hamas official, who declined to be named, said the movement remained ready to conduct "martyrdom operations" -- suicide bombings of Israeli buses, cafes and the like, which have not, however, been seen for several years.

[---]

"Israel, which has furiously rejected Goldstone's report as unbalanced, says Hamas deliberately puts Palestinian civilians in harm's way in order to shield its fighters and to exploit international pressure on Israel over civilian deaths."

Yup. Martyrs don't necessarily have to be active participants dear younguns. And as anyone who has been watching knows anyway, unlike your indoctrination, a Palestinian child's training for "martyrdom" begins during toddler-hood. Those Palestinian human shields are simply doing their duty as cannon fodder, kinda like you are when you're out marching and shouting slogans. All in a day's work, that. A bit more deadly, perhaps, but if you think like Hamas does, you'll agree that a Palestinian's life is cheap anyway. Much cheaper than an Israeli's. Just look at the balance sheet.