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8/7/06
The MORALITY OF ISRAEL'S POSITION
Monday, August 7, 2006
1:32:00 AM EDT
"Ladies and gentlemen, world leaders. I, the prime minister of Israel, am speaking to you from Jerusalem, in view of the harsh images from Qana. Any human heart would falter and shrink at these images. No words can console in light of the magnitude of this tragedy. And yet, I look you in the eye and say loud and clear: The State of Israel will continue the military operation in Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces will continue to attack targets from which Katyushas and other rockets are fired into hospitals, old age homes and kindergartens in Israel. I have instructed the security establishment and the IDF to continue to hunt down stockpiles of Katyusha rockets, launching grounds and launchers from which these barbarians are shelling the State of Israel.
We are not hesitating, apologizing or relenting. If the rocket fire at Israel continues from Qana, we will continue to bomb Qana. Today, tomorrow, the day after that. Here, there and everywhere.
The children of Qana could be sleeping peacefully in their homes now, if the messengers of Satan had not taken over their land and turned our children’s lives into hell.
Gentlemen, it is time for you to understand: The Jewish state will no longer be trampled underfoot. We will no longer permit anyone to take advantage of population centers to bomb our citizens. No one will be able to hide any more behind women and children in order to kill our women and children. This anarchy is over. You can condemn us, you can boycott us, you are welcome to stop visiting us and if need be, we will stop visiting you.
I serve as a mouth today for six million bombed Israeli citizens, who serve as a mouth for six million annihilated Jews, who were burnt to dust by savages in Europe. In both cases, the ones responsible for these criminal acts were inhuman barbarians, who set themselves a simple goal: To erase the Jewish race from the face of the earth, as Adolf Hitler said, or to wipe the State of Israel off the map, as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says.
And you, just as you did not take the matter seriously at the time, you are ignoring it now. This, ladies and gentlemen, leaders of the world, will not happen. Never again. We will never again wait for the bombs are late in landing on the gas chambers. We will never again wait for salvation that will fail to come. Today we have our own Air Force. The people of Israel can now stand against those who seek their lives. They will no longer be able to hide behind women and children. They will no longer be able to claim innocence.
Any place from which Katyusha rockets are fired into the State of Israel, will be a legitimate target for our strikes. This should be said clearly, once, before the entire world. You are welcome to judge us, to ostracize us, to boycott us and to defame us. To kill us? No.
Four months ago, I was elected by hundreds of thousands of citizens to the post of Israel’s prime minister, on the basis of my plan to unilaterally evacuate about 90 percent of the area of Judea and Samaria, the cradle and birthplace of the Jewish people, to end the greater part of the occupation and to enable the Palestinian people to turn over anew leafand calm the situation until the conditions are ripe to reach a final status arrangement between us.
The prime minister who preceded me, Ariel Sharon, withdrew fully from the Gaza Strip to the international border, and gave the Palestinians there an opportunity to build a new reality for themselves there. The prime minister who preceded him, Ehud Barak, ended the extended Israeli presence in Lebanon, and pulled the IDF back to the international [border] line, leaving the land of the cedars to flourish, develop and fortify its democracy and economy.
What did the State of Israel receive in return for all this? Did we get a single moment of peace? Was our hand, extended in peace, greeted with an encouraging handshake? Ehud Barak’s peace initiative at Camp David unleashed a wave of suicide bombers against us, who shattered and tore to bits over 1,000 civilians; men, women and children. I do not recall that you were so upset then.
Could this have happened because we did not allow close-up shots to be broadcasted on television of the dismembered limbs of the teenagers at the Dolphinarium? Or of the shattered lives of those who were celebrating the Seder night, and were massacred at Park Hotel in Netanya? What can be done, that is how things are on our side. We do not brandish and shake bodies before the cameras. We mourn quietly.
We also do not dance on the rooftops at the sight of the bodies of our enemies’ children. We express true regret and sorrow. All these are the bestial patterns of behavior of our enemies. Today they are rising against us. Tomorrow they will rise against you. You are already familiar with the murderous taste of this terrorism. You have already tasted it. You will yet taste it.
Take Ariel Sharon’s withdrawal from Gaza. What did it bring us? A hail of Kassam rockets against peaceful communities, attacks and the kidnapping of a soldier. Then too, I cannot recall you reacting with such alarm. And for the past six years, the pullout from Lebanon has been met with the invective and the crimes of a dangerous and extremist Iranian proxy, who has taken over an entire country in the name of religious fanaticism and is trying to take Israel hostage, on his way to Jerusalem and from there to Paris and London.
A huge terrorist infrastructure was established by Iran on our border, threatening our citizens, gaining strength before our eyes, awaiting the moment when the state of the ayatollahs becomes a nuclear power in order to bring us to our knees. Make no mistake: We will not be brought down alone. You, the leaders of the free and enlightened world, will be brought down along with us.
So I, today, here and now, am putting an end to this march of hypocrisy. I do not remember such a wave of reactions to the daily killing of 100 civilians in Iraq. Sunnis murder Shiites, who murder Sunnis, and they all kill Americans, and the world is silent. And I find it difficult to recall similar reactions when the Russians wiped out entire villages and torched large cities in order to suppress the uprising in Chechnya. And when NATO bombed Kosovo for nearly three months, pounding a civilian population, then too you were silent. What is it about us, the Jews, the few and persecuted, that arouses all these instincts of cosmic justice in you? What is it about us, that all the rest do not have?
Speaking loud and clear, looking you straight in the eye, I stand today before you, before the entire world, and am not apologizing. Not folding. Not whining. This battle is for our freedom. For our character. For our right to lead a normal life within our recognized, legitimate border. This is also your battle. I pray and believe that you will understand it now. For otherwise, you may regret it later. When it is already too late.
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1:32:00 AM EDT
The MORALITY OF ISRAEL'S POSITION
MORALITY AND THE LAW XLV
By Stephen Ellis
THE MORALITY OF ISRAEL’S BOMBING OF QANA
The following is a reprint of a speech by Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of Israel, made on August 2, 2006. I do not, normally, reprint the opinions of others. This speech is so poignant and facts contained in it are completely true, that I felt it should be shown to more Americans including, without limitation, the approximately eleven hundred readers of my BLOG.
I favor Israel over its enemies or, put another way, I tend to favor civilized thinking over barbaric thinking. To me there is something absolutely primeval about people who bow down to Mecca six times a day and take oaths to kill all who do not. It has bothered me deeply that the world’s press has condemned Israel as "butchers" for their bombing of Qana, Lebanon and the killing of several innocent civilians, but very few of the world’s press seem to care about what happens to twenty times that number of innocent Israeli citizens.
Please take the time to read this speech. It will be well-worth your time.
"Ladies and gentlemen, world leaders. I, the prime minister of Israel, am speaking to you from Jerusalem, in view of the harsh images from Qana. Any human heart would falter and shrink at these images. No words can console in light of the magnitude of this tragedy. And yet, I look you in the eye and say loud and clear: The State of Israel will continue the military operation in Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces will continue to attack targets from which Katyushas and other rockets are fired into hospitals, old age homes and kindergartens in Israel. I have instructed the security establishment and the IDF to continue to hunt down stockpiles of Katyusha rockets, launching grounds and launchers from which these barbarians are shelling the State of Israel.
We are not hesitating, apologizing or relenting. If the rocket fire at Israel continues from Qana, we will continue to bomb Qana. Today, tomorrow, the day after that. Here, there and everywhere.
The children of Qana could be sleeping peacefully in their homes now, if the messengers of Satan had not taken over their land and turned our children’s lives into hell.
Gentlemen, it is time for you to understand: The Jewish state will no longer be trampled underfoot. We will no longer permit anyone to take advantage of population centers to bomb our citizens. No one will be able to hide any more behind women and children in order to kill our women and children. This anarchy is over. You can condemn us, you can boycott us, you are welcome to stop visiting us and if need be, we will stop visiting you.
I serve as a mouth today for six million bombed Israeli citizens, who serve as a mouth for six million annihilated Jews, who were burnt to dust by savages in Europe. In both cases, the ones responsible for these criminal acts were inhuman barbarians, who set themselves a simple goal: To erase the Jewish race from the face of the earth, as Adolf Hitler said, or to wipe the State of Israel off the map, as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says.
And you, just as you did not take the matter seriously at the time, you are ignoring it now. This, ladies and gentlemen, leaders of the world, will not happen. Never again. We will never again wait for the bombs are late in landing on the gas chambers. We will never again wait for salvation that will fail to come. Today we have our own Air Force. The people of Israel can now stand against those who seek their lives. They will no longer be able to hide behind women and children. They will no longer be able to claim innocence.
Any place from which Katyusha rockets are fired into the State of Israel, will be a legitimate target for our strikes. This should be said clearly, once, before the entire world. You are welcome to judge us, to ostracize us, to boycott us and to defame us. To kill us? No.
Four months ago, I was elected by hundreds of thousands of citizens to the post of Israel’s prime minister, on the basis of my plan to unilaterally evacuate about 90 percent of the area of Judea and Samaria, the cradle and birthplace of the Jewish people, to end the greater part of the occupation and to enable the Palestinian people to turn over anew leafand calm the situation until the conditions are ripe to reach a final status arrangement between us.
The prime minister who preceded me, Ariel Sharon, withdrew fully from the Gaza Strip to the international border, and gave the Palestinians there an opportunity to build a new reality for themselves there. The prime minister who preceded him, Ehud Barak, ended the extended Israeli presence in Lebanon, and pulled the IDF back to the international [border] line, leaving the land of the cedars to flourish, develop and fortify its democracy and economy.
What did the State of Israel receive in return for all this? Did we get a single moment of peace? Was our hand, extended in peace, greeted with an encouraging handshake? Ehud Barak’s peace initiative at Camp David unleashed a wave of suicide bombers against us, who shattered and tore to bits over 1,000 civilians; men, women and children. I do not recall that you were so upset then.
Could this have happened because we did not allow close-up shots to be broadcasted on television of the dismembered limbs of the teenagers at the Dolphinarium? Or of the shattered lives of those who were celebrating the Seder night, and were massacred at Park Hotel in Netanya? What can be done, that is how things are on our side. We do not brandish and shake bodies before the cameras. We mourn quietly.
We also do not dance on the rooftops at the sight of the bodies of our enemies’ children. We express true regret and sorrow. All these are the bestial patterns of behavior of our enemies. Today they are rising against us. Tomorrow they will rise against you. You are already familiar with the murderous taste of this terrorism. You have already tasted it. You will yet taste it.
Take Ariel Sharon’s withdrawal from Gaza. What did it bring us? A hail of Kassam rockets against peaceful communities, attacks and the kidnapping of a soldier. Then too, I cannot recall you reacting with such alarm. And for the past six years, the pullout from Lebanon has been met with the invective and the crimes of a dangerous and extremist Iranian proxy, who has taken over an entire country in the name of religious fanaticism and is trying to take Israel hostage, on his way to Jerusalem and from there to Paris and London.
A huge terrorist infrastructure was established by Iran on our border, threatening our citizens, gaining strength before our eyes, awaiting the moment when the state of the ayatollahs becomes a nuclear power in order to bring us to our knees. Make no mistake: We will not be brought down alone. You, the leaders of the free and enlightened world, will be brought down along with us.
So I, today, here and now, am putting an end to this march of hypocrisy. I do not remember such a wave of reactions to the daily killing of 100 civilians in Iraq. Sunnis murder Shiites, who murder Sunnis, and they all kill Americans, and the world is silent. And I find it difficult to recall similar reactions when the Russians wiped out entire villages and torched large cities in order to suppress the uprising in Chechnya. And when NATO bombed Kosovo for nearly three months, pounding a civilian population, then too you were silent. What is it about us, the Jews, the few and persecuted, that arouses all these instincts of cosmic justice in you? What is it about us, that all the rest do not have?
Speaking loud and clear, looking you straight in the eye, I stand today before you, before the entire world, and am not apologizing. Not folding. Not whining. This battle is for our freedom. For our character. For our right to lead a normal life within our recognized, legitimate border. This is also your battle. I pray and believe that you will understand it now. For otherwise, you may regret it later. When it is already too late.
| NOTE: The following comment was sent to me by the AOL Journals' Editor. I will research the accuracy of the comment and discuss it in a subsequent BLOG:
Comment from: journalseditor "Stephen -- according to snopes.com, the text going around is not an actual speech given by Prime Minister Olmert, but an opinion piece by journalist Ben Caspit, of the newspaper Ma'ariv, written as a "suggested speech" for Olmert. |
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This entry has 8 comments: (Add your own)
-
Dear Halaway:
Thank you for your comments on my recent BLOG. I always appreciate receiving intelligent comments even when they do not agree with my position.
I do, however, believe you are mistaken about the Geneva Convention: The Geneva Convention deals with the treatment of prisoners of war, and I am informed that Israel has meticulously abided by them.
As for the killing of civilians: It breaks my heart, too, but there is no such thing as a war that does not include the killing of civilains. Think of the German bombing of London in WWII; the US bombings of Berlin and Viet Nam, just to name a few. Civilian casualties are a fact of war. Hezbollah's rockets have claimed more than a few as have the multitude of suicide bombers unleashed on Israel.
Perhaps Israel should not have reacted so violently to Hezbollah's incursion into Israel killing some and kidnapping some. Still, if you have a neighbor who (a) is sworn to your extinction and (b) has been sending rockets into your civilian populatioon for years you, too, might feel "enough is enough".
Thanks for writing, -
I find nothing moral about the continued violations of the Geneva Convention by Israel. Such attacks on a civilian population constitute war crimes, as do the attacks on any convoys trying to bring in humanitarian aid. The Lebanese suffered enough with the first invasion of Lebanon in the 80's. The continual onslaught, and the deaths on all sides, break my heart
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Stephen -- according to snopes.com, the text going around is not an actual speech given by Prime Minister Olmert, but an opinion piece by journalist Ben Caspit, of the newspaper Ma'ariv, written as a "suggested speech" for Olmert.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/olmert.asp
Thanks -- Joe
http://journals.aol.com/journalseditor/magicsmoke/ -
It is too bad that Israel's Prime Minister had to give a speach to remind us all of how important the fight in Israel/Lebanon is for all of us. A Democratic nation, such as Israel, should be encouraged to stand up to the onslaught of hatred and violence they have been facing for many generations. I think it has been a long time coming, and sadly many innocents will die for the World to understand that Israel has a right to their own protection. I just hope that our Nation continues to support their effort to fight these terrorists.
8/13/06 6:21 PM
Josh