Skruples wrote:
There seems to be a double standard being thrown around by alot of the Israel supporters. I'm not going to make any judgements about whether Israel is justified in attacking Lebanon, but heres the way it looks.
Hizbollah attacks Israel by launching attacks on civilian centers. They are branded terrorists. I'm not going to dispute this.
Israel counters by launching attacks on Lebanon, targetting primarily civilian centers, and killing primarily civilians. This is written off as a justifiable military tactic, and furthermore the Lebanese brought it on themselves by allowing Hizbollah to launch attacks. Do you see where I'm going with this? Why isn't Hizbollah in turn justified in attacking Israeli civilians for the same reason? After all, they're "allowing" the Israeli military to kill civilians. An eye for an eye is not going to work.
Again, before I get flamed for being a scum-sucking terrorist-loving hippie, I am not disputing Israel's justification for the conflict. However, given Israel's vast military advantage, I find it hard to believe they are incapable of killing less civilians. Furthermore, it is my belief that they're just making their situation much worse by making themselves seem like the bad guys in the eyes of the middle east. What is the average Middle Easterner going to see when he watches the local version of their news? He's going to see alot of dead Lebanese civilians, killed by a country that many influential people are telling them doesn't have a right to exist.
This isn't World War 2. This isn't even Vietnam. The wholesale bombing of civilian targets should not be considered appropriate strategy when attempting to deal with a stark minority of the population. I've made this analogy before, but it fell upon deaf ears. It would be like the United States police throwing a few hundred random people in jail because some criminals happened to operate in their neighborhood. Would you consider that appropriate? Of course not. But somehow it's ok when Israel does it.
Say what you will about Hizbollah, I'm not going to argue. Just don't delude yourself into thinking that bombing schoolchildren is going to help Israel win any wars. It's been said many times, the people that Israel really wants to kill, the terrorists, thrive on civilian deaths. Israel will lose all semblance of moral superiority if they continue on the path they've chosen.
Most Middle-easterners already hate Israel, and its not like killing civilians is a justifiable tactic, its not, but the terrorists hide IN the civilian population