WHAT?
OK, now I'm impressed.
Hamas authorities in Gaza should immediately launch a "credible investigation" into allegations of serious violations by its fighters during last winter's Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday.
The call came in a letter HRW sent on Tuesday to Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the de facto Hamas government in the Gaza Strip.
OK I am speechless for a change.
"Syme: It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words. You wouldn't have seen the [Newspeak] Dictionary 10th edition, would you Smith? It's that thick. [illustrates thickness with fingers] The 11th Edition will be that [narrows fingers] thick. Winston Smith: So, The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect? Syme: The secret is to move from translation, to direct thought, to automatic response. No need for self-discipline. Language coming from here [the larynx], not from here
[the brain]" -1984 (film) |
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I'll be impressed if they pushed the issue. I'd be more impressed if they had a press conference, rather than just sent a letter. I'd be even more impressed if they issued a full report, rather than just a letter, and I would have been especially impressed if they had done this months ago. This is typical HRW. Cast out a statement so they can claim balance while they preserve their real vigor for Israel.
David Harzony says, HRW Tries To Make It Better:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/hazony/135792
Hamas authorities in Gaza should immediately launch a "credible investigation" into allegations of serious ....
Yes, as credible as the witnesses Hamas oversaw when Goldstone took "testimony".
This is just HRW wriggling to get out from under the glare. A tongue in cheek attempt to get those gullible fools to fall for their hot air once more.
Oh, come on! You're praising HRW for calling on the wolf to police himself?
This will have the same positive effect as a UN Resolution that "condemns the violence on both sides"... i.e. none.
Ummmm - who says I'm praising HRW?
Considering the timing - right after the Bernstein piece in NYT - ?
You guys need to recognize sarcasm when you see it, I guess maybe you don't know me yet:)
The shame of it is, this actually stands out as a bit of a Flying Pig moment. But I don't know how to post graphics:)
Meanwhile defenders of HRW have rightly pointed out that HRW DOES condemn gross violators but the attention paid to Israel so vastly outnumbers both the actual reports and their impact in the press and in the UN that their defense is pathetic.
And, this overlooks the obvious - Israel's position vis a vis the huge Arab League nations, plus other enemies like Iran and freelance terror organizations, its small size and generally precarious situation and the fact that this is an example of an open society, which we should be defending, menaced by the kind of societies which HRW was created to expose.
This is not least because the citizens of these countries are harmed by their own repressive governments.
But also, this recent disaster has created a false "moral equivalence" between Hamas and Israel.
As a parallel example, if one counts sheer numbers of civilians claimed in warfare that would put the WWII Allies in the wrong and the Nazis in the right. For example during the entire war some 30,000 people were killed in the bombings of London and perhaps twice that many are estimated to have been killed in Dresden in one night.
Does this make the Nazis right or their cause acceptable?
Unfortunately there are people both here and in Europe who make that claim. When a memorial was finally erected in Britain, honoring the aircrews who fought for their country, it was slashed with blood.
I think, even respecting the horror of lives lost in warfare, we can't afford that particular rabbit hole because it completely overlooks the causes of war as well as morality in politics - and it's unfortunate that the NGO focus on Israel has made it ever more possible to ignore both morality in government and in intent.
It's also enabled ongoing violent "resistance" rather than arguing for peaceful solutions and wierdly has resulted in the increasing respectability of repressive political systems.
This book was linked in a comment thread on the New Republic blog:
http://books.google.com/books?id=C98wjmRllAcC&dq=stealth+conflicts+virgil+hawkins&source=gbs_navlinks_s
It discusses why the world's worst violence is ignored and also the political agendas of various governmental and non-governmental agencies.
Now. Do you still think I am praising HRW?
The shame of it, agencies like HRW are absolutely necessary to shed light on atrocities and bad governments around the world. The UN or at least the ideal of the UN still represents a great hope for a meeting of the global minds.
But they've been sorely compromised and it's appalling to me that Israel has been a prime element in that moral and political and ethical compromise.
The shame of it is, this actually stands out as a bit of a Flying Pig moment. But I don't know how to post graphics:)
Would someone getting a flu shot do? :-)