Reply #25: Strenger found Israel's retalition in those cases reprehensible

[azurnoir]

Then there are those of us who feel that the price for being a civilised state is that you cannot fire at schools, even if an inhuman enemy fires from within. We feel that the ground incursion should have been avoided because we believe that the inhumanity of your enemy must not dictate your own deeds. No one can help but be horrified by the pictures of killed, maimed and terrified Palestinian children. And even though we despise an enemy that is not bound by any rules of recognisable civilisation, we must not let them dictate the terms of engagement.

Along with many other Israelis, I am enraged and disappointed by Israel's failure to restrict the use of force according to basic humanitarian values, and by its insufficient use of international help. We feel that Israel should have defined attainable objectives, such as a more durable ceasefire under international auspices and enforcement, and that this could have been achieved after the first few days of air strikes. And we feel horrified by the human price of the escalation of the ground incursion.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/09/uni...