Chip Off the Old Block
I put up a post the other day which included the ravings of Gilad Sharon - son of the former Israeli Prime Minister - Ariel Sharon.
See post dated 20 November 2012 - Final Solution.
Ever since I have been thinking about how ridiculous Gilad's argument were - not just because they come straight out of The Bible or at least the 'eye for an eye' mentality of the Old Testament - where God's chosen people could smite their enemies with complete impunity.
Up to and including the slaughter of their enemies - once the fighting was over.
No the thing that got me was the complete unfairness of it all - the demagogic use of language to make false and vicious claims about the people of Gaza.
Take Gilad's claim that the Gazans are simply getting what they deserve because they voted for Hamas - 'so hell mend them' - so to speak.
Now I'm not sure of the election figures but like any election elsewhere in the world - I'm pretty certain 100% of the people of Gaza did not vote for Hamas.
Some will have voted for Fatah the more traditional PLO group - which is in control of the West Bank - many others including children and young people will not have had a vote at all.
Yet everyone in Gilad Sharon's eyes deserves the same collective punishment - which is really what the Israeli action is all about - punishing the innocent as well as the guilty.
Fine for biblical and possibly even medieval times - but not in the 21st century if you ask me.
I suspect few people would agree with Israel's moral stance on this issue - except maybe extreme Islamic jihadists who would like to wipe Israel off the face of the map.
Likewise with Gilad Sharon's invocation for Israel to look to Hiroshima and Nagasaki - for both military and spiritual inspiration.
As if the events in Gaza are comparable with - War in the Pacific, Pearl Harbour, the invasion of numerous 'Pacific rim' countries by the Imperial Japanese army and navy - and war crimes on a mammoth scale against innocent civilians and captured allied soldiers.
Get a grip Gilad is what I would like to say - though I suspect I may be wasting my breath if Sharon junior is just another chip off the old block.