This piece by Gideon Levy in the 31/12/2008 web version of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, and the response it stimulated, caught my eye, and is in contrast to the anodyne discussion of Israel's actions in the mainstream UK media. It ends:
"Maybe if they [the pilots] were to confront the results of their
"wonderful work" even once they would regret their decisions, they
would reconsider the effects of their actions. If they were to go just
once to Jerusalem's Alyn Hospital Pediatric and Adolescent
Rehabilitation Center, where for nearly three years Marya Aman, 7, has
been hospitalized - she is a quadriplegic who runs her wheelchair, and
her life, with her chin - they would be shocked. This adorable little
girl was hit by a missile in Gaza that killed almost her entire family,
the handiwork of our pilots.
But all of this is well hidden from the pilots' eyes. They are only doing their job, as the saying goes, only following orders like bombing machines. In the past few days they have excelled at this, and the results are there for the entire world to see. Gaza is licking its wounds, just like Lebanon before it, and almost no one pauses for a moment to ask whether all this is necessary, or unavoidable, or whether it contributes to Israel's security and moral image. Is it really the case that our pilots return safely to base, or are they in fact returning to them as callous, cruel and blind people? "
But all of this is well hidden from the pilots' eyes. They are only doing their job, as the saying goes, only following orders like bombing machines. In the past few days they have excelled at this, and the results are there for the entire world to see. Gaza is licking its wounds, just like Lebanon before it, and almost no one pauses for a moment to ask whether all this is necessary, or unavoidable, or whether it contributes to Israel's security and moral image. Is it really the case that our pilots return safely to base, or are they in fact returning to them as callous, cruel and blind people? "
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