One of my readers has corrected me. He told me that Mr Brown made it clear yesterday that a ceasefire would be possible only when Hamas agrees to stop firing rockets into Israel. I have no way of knowing whether I was mistaken or whether Mr Brown made two different statements yesterday. I am happy to apologize if I was mistaken.
However in my blog yesterday I tried to point out foreign politicians’ habitual double talk when it comes to Israel. Tonight I heard the president of France, Mr Sarkozy, make a statement to Israel TV before meeting within our president, Shimon Peres. Sarkozy started by expressing his great friendship for Israel. He then went on to condemn Hamas for firing rockets at Israeli towns. [So far, so good!] Then, he said that as a friend of Israel he was entitled to be frank. [It is the time to get worried when someone says something like this]. ‘As a friend,’ he said, ‘I can say that Israel is strong and that Israel should stop firing for 48 hours’.
Mr Sarkozy knows that this would do nothing to stop Hamas aggression against Israel. So we are back to the argument that Israel is right but it is using too much strength, the force being used by Israel in Gaza is, according to Sarkozy, disproportionate. He backed up his view by suggesting that Israel’s actions are not strengthening Abu Mazen, chairman of the Palestinian authority.
It is common knowledge that France observes the rules of the Marquis of Queensbury at all times. If one man commits a murder in France the French authorities assign only one detective to the case. If Hamas fires 10 rockets at Israel we should clearly not be permitted to fire 11 back. Maybe we should ask the MCC to provide an umpire wearing a white coat to stand on the Israel-Gaza frontier.
Of course both Mr Sarkozy and Mr Brown are friends of lsrael. They say it all the time so it must be true. But why the bla bla?? If there is a murder every civilized country will throw at it all the available resources. If Hamas sends thousands of rockets at Israel in an attempt to kill and maim innocent citizens then Hamas must be dealt with.
Every Israeli whom I know is deeply saddened by the death or injury of any innocent Gazan. But we are more saddened by the death or injury if an Israeli. Israel refrained from retaliating for many months in the hope that Hamas would come to its senses. Mr Sarkozy didn’t rush over here at that time in order to demand that Hamas declare a unilateral ceasefire. So now Israel is acting. And Messrs Sarkozy and Brown should get out of the way until the problem is dealt with.
Sorry, again Mr Brown
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