Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Gaza's "Holocaust"

Jonathan Cook- Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai’s much publicised remark last week about Gaza facing a “shoah” — the Hebrew word for the Holocaust — was widely assumed to be unpleasant hyperbole about the army’s plans for an imminent full-scale invasion of the Strip.

More significantly, however, his comment offers a disturbing indication of the Israeli army’s longer-term strategy towards the Palestinians in the occupied territories.

Vilnai, a former general, was interviewed by Army Radio as Israel was in the midst of unleashing a series of air and ground strikes on populated areas of Gaza that killed more than 100 Palestinians, at least half of whom were civilians and 25 of whom were children, according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.

Read on

8 comments:

liberal white boy said...

It is not a holocaust, it is a disputed right to life.

Anonymous said...

What does that mean?

Anonymous said...

It means somebody in Gaza does not recognize your right to exist across the border and wants to destroy your life. They call you "entity". They keep shelling in the hope you will collapse and emigrate, sooner or later. And they say over and over that this is their goal. Is it clear now?

Anonymous said...

I see, but couldn't we then say it's a holocaust because on the other hand, Gazans are called Gazans, and just entities, so they are recognized humans, I think, yet they are still massacred under Israeli attacks, a good dozen a week!

Anonymous said...

As I am sure you know, the word holocaust is completely inadequate in both cases, north or south of the border, unless we are talking about propaganda of course

KGS said...

What a load of crap. You guys are obviously ignorant of Hebrew. Stop the whining and demand that the Gazans be treated as adults, that they end the incitement of Israel and Jews and the brainwashing of their youth.

When they begin to train their people to live for life instead of death, then maybe there will be finally a light at the end of the long tunnel.

Anonymous said...

Kgs, be a bit more polite please. It's easy to hide behind letters and be as ignorant, without knowing it, as those you accuse of being so.

Kate's Typewriter said...

kgs, perhaps you will find this recent clipping from 'the economist' interesting:

"The youth are very pessimistic because there is no hope," says a member of Hamas' secret governing council, the Shura. "Girls and boys are coming to my door to be suicide-bombers. I try to convince them to go and live their lives."

Is it an internally-created mindset the pushes the youth towards 'living for death', as you say? Or is the result of external pressures they can no longer stand up under?

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