The Unlawyer

While most Filipino bloggers are focused on the dela Paz – Pangandaman spat [Add to that this ongoing feud about blogger credibility between A Filipina Mom Blogger and Manuel Viloria - Ed.], not a few, like the group blog Filipino Voices, and individuals like Caffeine Sparks, the Placeholder, and Sonnie’s Porch, are paying attention to the most recent offensive in the Middle East. Israel, fed up with the resumption by its implacable enemy Hamas of Qassam rocket attacks on its cities and towns, launched an offensive named Operation Cast Lead last December 27th to eliminate this threat, or reduce Hamas’ military power to irrelevance at any rate.

One columnist said: Filipinos tend to pay attention to foreign affairs only if it involves the health and safety of Philippine expatriate workers. If I got it right, he also said that Israel cannot exercise its right of self-defense against Hamas because the latter is a non-state actor, and that the former cannot take strike against its tormentor in either the Palestinian territory or in Lebanon as a consequence.

One of the more interesting things I’ve heard about this latest campaign is how Israel’s foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, also the leader of the Kadima party [Link leads you to Kadima's Hebrew-language website; click on the following link for its Wikipedia entry - Ed.], is so unusually belligerent for a person with her government portfolio. Is it because of the upcoming Knesset elections next month and, being the only woman among the males and former generals leading Kadima’s political rivals, has a need to show her macho street cred? It’s not as if she didn’t work for the Mossad in her youth:

““Tzipi was not an office girl,” said an acquaintance. “She was a clever woman with an IQ of 150. She blended in well in European capitals, working with male agents, most of them ex-commandos, taking out Arab terrorists.”

“Livni has never talked about her years with Mossad, but a glimpse of the nature of the work was given by her closest female partner on European assignments. “The risks were tangible,” said Mira Gal, who became head of her ministerial office. “If I made a mistake the result would be arrest and catastrophic political implications for Israel.””

She is tipped to become Israel’s next prime minister, following in the footsteps of another woman of steel: Golda Meir. It would be interesting to meet and speak with Ms. Livni, but I’m afraid this is a vain hope.

At any rate, her support for an extended ground war has come under fire: Livni squanders the IDF’s achievement.

Of course, protests and counter-protests for and against Israel’s war against Hamas have been held around the world, including some here in Manila. Some observers have noted the virulence marring the anti-Israel demonstrations, as if everything was all the Jewish state’s fault: The Jews Face a Double Standard.

“Have there been any all-night Security Council sessions held during the seven months when Hamas fired 3,000 rockets at half a million innocent civilians in southern Israel? You can be certain that during those seven months, no midnight oil was burning at the U.N. headquarters over resolutions condemning terrorist organizations like Hamas. But put condemnation of Israel on the agenda and, rain or shine, it’s sure to be a full house.”

It’s no wonder that Israel defends itself the way it does: Israel acts because the world won’t defend it.

Most of the arguments against Israel center not on its right to defend itself from Hamas’ rocket attacks – this point is conceded early on – but on what many describe as the former’s “disproportionate” response. I suppose when the enemy is bent on wiping your nation off the face of the earth – a goal that many of Israel’s critics conveniently forget – nothing it seems is too disproportionate when you are fighting for your survival. Put another way:

“How many Jews should have died in the 6300 rocket barrages falling on Sderot, Ashkelon and Netivot since 2005 when Israel disengaged from Gaza to have made Israel´s incursion legal and morally acceptable?”

So, is it Israel’s responsibility to handicap itself against an enemy, in this case Hamas, that had the poor judgment of picking a fight against a technologically superior foe? Is it Israel’s responsibility to retaliate with the same crude weapons fired by Hamas – an enemy that is nevertheless sophisticated enough to launch these rockets from underground tunnel complexes – that has produced thousands of Israeli casualties since these rockets were first fired in 2001?

Ridiculous.