A pretty good summary of the Palestinian's plight from Rashid Khalidi: http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/collective-punishment-gaza
Maybe few people really care about the Palestinians' suffering, but I hope that these current atrocities
at least make the Israelis disgusted enough with their gov't/military
to demand some changes. If they follow the outside free press, Israelis
can't be happy with the commentary (much less the actual actions carried
out ostensibly for their protection). Possibly the int'l community
could consider boycotts/sanctions/colder relations with Tel Aviv,
because after all we did that to Apartheid South Africa, Cuba, and Iran -
and those regimes were far less murderous. Someone has to be held
accountable, but alas the US has veto power in the UN. It may not make much difference anyway, when the US continues to support the Israeli machine. Major figures on the Hill (incl. "progressive" leaders) denounced the UN report of Israeli war crimes and reiterated their unwavering support. In Washington, no major figure made a statement after the UN school bombing left 15 kids dead (only Obama's WH press secretary said it was "indefensible"), but when reports surfaced that Hamas may have kidnapped ONE Israeli soldier, you'd think Pearl Harbor was bombed again. In light of the outrageous body counts this month, the deadlocked Congress was able to overwhelmingly approve $225MM for the Iron Dome (maybe that is just a "defensive" system, but the donation frees up funds for Israel to buy offensive weapons). No infrastructure bill, no jobs bill, no immigration bill (until today at least), and no progress on the multitude of other pressing issues. In light of all the spending cuts and austerity, we will continue to finance the killing of unarmed noncombatants. I don't get it.
Millennials are less supportive of Israel than older Americans: link
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