On CNN just now, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said: “There is no proportional response to terrorism” as a defense for Israel’s massive assault on Gaza. And while on some level I agree, the comment lacks a certain understanding of reality. If someone attacks, striking back at them with blinding force is fine, but if they are surrounded by civilians, it’s another story.
For what it’s worth, I think the Israelis have, historically, shown more restraint than any other nation would, including the US. And Hamas doesn’t make things easier in themselves by refusing to allow for israel’s right to exist.
There is a great deal of history here and until both sides are willing to put aside winning, to forget about beating the other guys, to put aside payback and revenge and instead to focus on resolving the situation together, it is just going to keep on keeping on.

Since 9/11, there’s been a theme in the U.S. that if you are critical of U.S. policies, you are basically a terrorist.  This, of course, has dimished significantly as those people opposed to things like the Iraq war have been shown to have been correct in their predictions.

But in a similar vein, it seems that if you oppose Israel’s policies you must then be an anti-semite.

Now, as a jew (and a rational person), I find that pathetic. 

Most people in the U.S. disapprove of the policies in place in China (many of them).  Does that mean most people in the U.S. hate the Chinese?

I think that England is being too soft on the issue of Sharia law.

Does that mean I’m anti-anglo?

I think that Communism doesn’t work.  Do I then hate all communists?

Obviously, the situation is extreme.

Tossing around extreme words does not help.

In many ways, I don’t have much to say about this.  While the attack itself was particularly…showy…it isn’t significantly different from anything in the past.

Honestly and truly, while I do believe that Israel has, from time to time, completely over-reacted, they’ve also show great restraint at other times.  This is made more amazing by the fact that the Palestinians can’t even promise not to launch attacks because of so many independent groups being armed.  The fact is, if some group we had screwed horribly with (say, blacks, or native americans) started launching attacks, the body count on their side would be 10 times what the Palestinians had experienced.

This is made all the sadder by the fact that this simply isn’t going to help the Palestinian cause at all.  It never does.

That said, this whole situation reminds me of a common joke used by comedians.   “Men, when it comes to dealing with your wife, you can either be right or you can be happy.”

This is a case of both sides wanting to be right, regardless of how miserable they get.