Not much to think about when it comes to Gaza
Israelis soldiers took the right actions on the Gaza border on May 15. In that situation, most would have responded the same way.
In reflecting upon the events in Gaza last month when 61 Palestinians (58 of whom were members of Hamas, an organization officially listed by the United States as a “terrorist group” that not only refuses to recognize Israel as a nation but repeatedly calls for its destruction), I would like to address all the Jews in Britain and their philosophical soul brethren here who are condemning Israel for these deaths (“A Jewish prayer for Gaza victims rally makes British Jews lose their cool,” June 1).
Envision the following scenario: Tens of thousands of Mexicans, attempting to storm the U.S. wall at the Arizona border, hurl baseball-sized rocks, firebombs, burning tires, and fire-kites at U.S. Border Patrol guards. Tear gas and rubber bullets do not succeed in dispersing the mob, and the wall is physically damaged as they attempt to break down the barrier and enter the country.
What would U.S. government officials and military leaders in Washington, D.C., instruct those border guards to do?
Now imagine that you are the mother of an 8-month-old infant whom you love and would do anything to protect from any kind of potential harm. You leave your home a safe distance away and go the U.S. border wall, where a massive mob is being repelled by tear gas and missiles. Would you carry your infant in your arms and proceed anywhere near such a conflict?
Any sensible reader’s unbiased responses to these two scenarios (quite real, not at all hypothetical or hyperbolic) will immediately and unequivocally establish the critical validity of what Israeli soldiers were obliged to do at the Gaza border on May 15.
Cyril H. Wecht, M.D., J.D.
Pittsburgh
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