Posted by
Moshe Phillips on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 6:00:00 AM
Innocent Gazan Civilians? Where?
1/7/2009
Steven Plaut
Innocent Gaza civilians, huh? A three hour ceasefire so that "innocent Gazan civilians" can go shopping today?
Are Gaza civilians really innocent? Let us bear in mind that the years of rocket savagery by the Hamas were a direct result of the vast majority of the residents of the Gaza Strip voting for the Hamas in the elections, such as they were, that were held there.
The vast majority of Gazans brought the Hamas into power with their votes. Those same people, and they are the vast majority, are not innocent. Those who did NOT vote for the Hamas voted for other terrorist groups, like the various wings of the Fat'h. Basically no one in Gaza voted against terrorism.
Democracy is not just majority vote decision making but it is also holding that same majority accountable for how it votes and for the consequences of their votes.
People who vote for terrorism are legitimate targets for Israeli arms and bombs. And since virtually all Gazans voted for terrorism, at least those above voting age did, let's stop all the silly talk about them being "innocent civilian bystanders."
That is not a call to bomb civilians. It IS a call to ignore the fact that civilians might get hurt in Gaza when Israel bombs armed terrorists.
German and Japanese civilians got hurt when the Allies bombed Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan. Gazan civilians are no more innocent than were those German and Japanese civilians.
People who do not like it when Gazan civilians get hurt should not support Palestinian terrorism and savagery and aggression. Israel's official policy should be: Hide a Hamas terrorist in your building and die.
---
Plaut was born in Philadelphia, PA and is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Haifa and a writer.