Ed. note: I usually try to avoid writing about the monthly Israeli-Palestinian wars because hardly anyone can comment on it in a civilized, rational manner and I'll probably regretting making an exception but here goes...
The most famous line of the US Declaration of Independence reads, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."
I've concluded that this line is not true. Because whenever erupts the monthly violence in the Middle East, what I hear is that either (though not both) Israeli lives or Palestinian lives are worth more than those of any other human being.
Why?
Because when a few Israelis get killed by Hamas rockets, it's an outrage that requires a massive, completely disproportionate military response. If hundreds of Gazan civilians die in the process, it's unfortunate but it's 'worth it' if it saves the life of one Israeli civilian. There you have it quite explicitly and unashamedly. The life of one Israeli civilian is greater than the lives of hundreds (soon to be thousands?) of Palestinians.
But Israel apologists are not unique in this regard. Several hundred Palestinians have died during the recent Israeli aggression against Gaza. There has been deafening international condemnation of this action.
Some of it has been from Arab countries. Most of these countries have human rights' records that are at least as bad, if not far worse, than Israel's. Most of these are countries that arbitrarily arrest people, make sure opponents are 'disappeared' and ban free speech... except of course when it comes to anti-Israel protests.
A lot of the protest comes from western Europe. They claim it's a disgrace, an outrage, amassive crime against humanity what Israel's doing to Gazans. These poor civilians who had nothing to do with Hamas rockets shouldn't be murdered, claim European (and a few American) protesters.
But this also begs the question. A few hundred have died in Gaza and this has provoked international outrage, especially from the western left. By contrast,5.4 MILLION people have died during the last 10 years of war and chaos in the DR Congo. Are there mass protests in the European streets about this far greater tragedy? The Central African Republic. Burma. Darfur. Northern Uganda. North Korea. There are at least half a dozen places around the world with a humanitarian situation comparably bad to Gaza. You haven't heard about most of them.
Why? Because the Israel-Palestine is a cause celebre. Some see Israel as a projection of their own militaristic tendencies. Some see Palestine as a projection of their own anti-imperialist beliefs.
The truth is that, with a few exceptions, global "concern" for the Israel-Palestine situation really has little to do with the Israeli and Palestinian civilian victims of the violence. The concern has to do with supporting or opposing the US' unconditional support of everything Israel does.
If you oppose this, then Hamas is justified in rocketing Israeli villages and using civilians as human shields. If you support this, then Israel is justified in bombing UN schools and banning humanitarian assistance from Gaza and, if they felt like it, nuking the Occupied Territories.
Viewed objectively, viewed as a human being rather than as a member of one tribe or the other, ALL of these are war crimes. Too bad hardly anyone views it that way.
If the US government weren't involved in this, most Americans wouldn't give a damn what happened to Israeli civilians and most of the rest of the world wouldn't give a damn what happened to Gazan civilians. Just ask the Congolese. Or the Burmese. Or any of the thousands of political prisoners in Syria or Egypt or Iran. Who's protesting on their behalf?
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