I worked with a captain who had a fine suggestion for a fellow officer spending far too much time with his head in the radar cowling: “You could just look out the damned window.” I paraphrase.
Did any of us need the International Court of Justice to tell us whether what we’ve been seeing in Gaza, after months of live-streamed scenes of endless carnage, is actually a genocide? Endless streams of body bags, many of them pint-size. Endless piles of rubble, excavated by human hands. Endless, indiscriminate bombings – 29,000 and counting. Endless lines of trucks bearing relief, denied entry. Genocide, slaughter, catastrophe – you are free to call it whatever you like.
During his visit to Ramallah, during the Second Intifada, Jose Saramago, the Nobel Prize-winning author, said that, “A sense of impunity characterizes the Israeli people and its army. They have turned into rentiers of the Holocaust.” (The Guardian, Dec. 28, 2002)
Naturally, Saramago was labeled an antisemite, now a stock phrase for anyone who deigns to criticize the only country in the world where “self-defense” is permissible language for murder and theft.
With the ubiquitous hand of the United States resting heavily on the scales of justice, perhaps it’s time for the U.N. to pull its head out of … its radar?
Durin Chappe
Sullivan
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.