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Last update - 00:00 11/06/2006
The blood on our hands
By Bradley Burston

It was easy for us, much, much too easy, to have gone through this entire weekend, and still not see the blood on our hands.

One reason is that we don't watch Al Jazeera. Another is that we don't really see ourselves.

We immediately found no end of ways to disengage from the tragedy of a family erased for the crime of picnicking on a beach.

The World Cup was one method. Another was reflex.

The ineffable anguish in the image of a girl running on a beach where her family lay in pieces on the sand, was shown again and again and again on Al Jazeera, but it passed swiftly from Israeli television screens and from the Israeli consciousness, replaced, in many cases, with indignation over the world's propensity to pre-judge and condemn us.

It wasn't us, we told ourselves. And if it was us, we were more than justified.

"I categorically reject all the attempts to impugn the morality of the Israel Defense Forces," said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, opening the cabinet session on Sunday.

"The Israel Defense Forces is the most moral army in the world. It has never conducted a policy of harming civilians, and is not doing so today."

Were we, in fact, at fault?

The army's front commander for Gaza, Major General Yoav Galant, said Sunday that "the picture is unclear. The artillery fire has been well-analyzed, and the question marks are multiplying as to whether the artillery fire was the cause of the incident."

Say he's right. Say it wasn't our fault. Say we dismiss as irrelevant the fact that five IDF shells landed nearby at the same time, and that the trajectory of the sixth is unaccounted-for.

Pretend, for argument's sake, that the army's statements on the incident were not meant to confabulate, that is, to unconsciously replace fact with fantasy in someone's memory.

Make believe that it was only coincidence that when Army Radio said the probe was to determine who was responsible for the killing of the Ghalia family, it suggested that the choices were "an Israeli artillery shell, or a Palestinian Qassam rocket that landed in the area by mistake."

And while you're at it ...

Say the blood that is on our hands is not that of Ali Ghalia, the father of the family, his wife Ra'isa, four of his daughters, one aged 2, and his eight-month-old son

Say the blood is not that of Mohammed Dura, the 12-year-old boy killed early in the Intifada in a crossfire between Israelis and Palestinians.

For every Mohammed Dura, there have been hundreds and hundreds of Palestinians killed by the IDF in error, in conjunction with the killing of terrorists, or because overwhelming force and remote technology was applied in order to minimize the risk to Israeli troops.

There was no news crew to film them, so the world cares nothing for them. And neither do we. Their tragedies are no less unbearable, surely no less unbearable than the hundreds of our own the world cares nothing for.

We can live with it, as we live with the idea of sending thousands and thousands of artillery shells into one of the most crowded districts on the planet, in order to try to hit three-man mobile crews firing a rocket not much bigger than a broom - the equivalent of going after a fly with a pile-driver.

We live with it because we Can't Just Do Nothing, as if thousands of shells, many of them directed at open spaces calculated precisely to hit nothing, are the only possible alternative.

We can live with it, fundamentally, because we don't know what else to do, and because the only thing left for us to believe, is that it's wrong to negotiate.

"The entire protest was ugly from the standpoint of morality," said senior Likud lawmaker Yuval Steinitz, referring to a small demonstration of leftists near the house of IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz Saturday morning - a rally that included Olmert's daughter Dana.

The demonstration was over the killing of the Ghalia family in Gaza, and in favor of resuming peace talks, even with a government with whom we share only mutual abhorrence.

"Instead of demonstrating against the side that fires Qassams with malice aforethought against civilians, Israeli civilians, the civilians of Sderot," Steinitz added, "they protest against the side that, as a last resort, must defend its citizens, is obligated to defend its citizens, and responds with fire."

In the long run, if we are to be able to live with it, it will be because in fighting Qassams, we have developed smarter and smarter ways kill fewer and fewer Palestinian civilians. On Sunday, soon after a 60-year-old Sderot man was critically wounded when a Qassam slammed into a school, the IAF attacked a Hamas rocket crew as they prepared to fire another, killing two of them and wounding the third. There were no civilian casualties.



____________________________


Previous blogs:


When Arabs kill Arabs, when Arabs divide the land
Marrano Zionism, Black Eyed Peas, and Shahar Peer
Why the Occupation will never end
The day Israel ceased to exist
PROMOTION: Mamilla Hotel
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Click for anti-Semitism
The excess of words on the internet makes distinguishing fact from fiction a difficult task.
Obama duels Israel
U.S. demand for settlement freeze may just be bid for achievement, writes Zvi Bar'el.
  1.   Hey Bradley,are you for reopening negotiations? 15:49  |  Dror 11/06/06
  2.   The blood on our hands 15:50  |  yocheved 11/06/06
  3.   gaza deaths 16:10  |  izaak 11/06/06
  4.   You`re wrong Bradley 16:12  |  sh 11/06/06
  5.   ASHAMED TO BE CITIZEN OF THIS STATE 16:21  |  Ben 11/06/06
  6.   the blood on our hands 16:40  |  avi 11/06/06
  7.   Dror 17:12  |  Vicky 11/06/06
  8.   What is your problem, Mr. Burston? 17:14  |  Mo 11/06/06
  9.   Video not convincing 18:10  |  Eric 11/06/06
  10.   Eric 18:47  |  Dror 11/06/06
  11.   Bradley, You Make Me Sick 19:33  |  Ben Israel 11/06/06
  12.   #8: What Is Your Problem, Mo? 19:40  |  Jeff 11/06/06
  13.   What blood? 19:43  |  john 11/06/06
  14.   Qassam rocket finally hits target 19:54  |  hollingsworth 11/06/06
  15.   Brad is a Liberal Fantasy Thinker 19:58  |  Richard Allen 11/06/06
  16.   Is Hararetz owned by Hamas? 20:58  |  Martin 11/06/06
  17.   many diferent,blood`s,plus jewish? 21:07  |  jorge ernesto toer 11/06/06
  18.   We did not shell them 21:22  |  Efox 11/06/06
  19.   Dan Halutz, Amir Peretz & Artillery Commander ship to War Crimes 21:29  |  Yossi Cronenberg 11/06/06
  20.   No! No! No! Blood on their hands and your mouth 21:56  |  S Judah 11/06/06
  21.   it-s a war, bradley 22:29  |  may 11/06/06
  22.   #18 22:53  |  hollingsworth 11/06/06
  23.   Bradley Burston 00:37  |  Roger Bannister 12/06/06
  24.   Accidents and murder 00:40  |  David 12/06/06
  25.   efox...we did not shell them. 00:56  |  Amir 12/06/06
  26.   re. Hollingsworth 01:01  |  Efox 12/06/06
  27.   re. Hollingsworth regarding Qassams 01:09  |  Efox 12/06/06
  28.   An Apologist For Terror 06:58  |  Anton Benjamin 12/06/06
  29.   Unfair What is the average Israeli to do? 08:24  |  Shalom Freedman 12/06/06
  30.   The blood on OUR hands? 08:37  |  Rodney Sanders 12/06/06
  31.   and what if the IDF didn`t cause it????? 08:56  |  Shmuel 12/06/06
  32.   Bradley, you jumped the gun, again! 09:14  |  jdyer 12/06/06
  33.   Gaza beach massacre 10:03  |  Jadwiga Singer 12/06/06
  34.   Bradley; Another apologist for Arab terrorists. 10:37  |  Daisy 12/06/06
  35.   Martin; The answer to your question is YES! 10:37  |  Daisy 12/06/06
  36.   Israelis have to stop the violence first, learn from history 10:41  |  Mario 12/06/06
  37.   Shalom Freedman speaks for many 11:05  |  sh 12/06/06
  38.   To Mo, the filthy war was started by Israel in 1967 11:25  |  John 12/06/06
  39.   To Daisy 11:30  |  John 12/06/06
  40.   The real traitors! 12:36  |  Honi 12/06/06
  41.   It needed to be said 14:36  |  Jenna 12/06/06
  42.   Burston,it`s not a Hamlet,it`s survival of the State 14:49  |  Absolute Sweden 12/06/06
  43.   bradley good article but to whom to talk?Mitza told me in 2002 14:50  |  arthur 12/06/06
  44.   Go, intifada, go! 14:59  |  Thomas 12/06/06
  45.   Bradley Burston 15:13  |  Hanni 12/06/06
  46.   Negotiate with whom ??? 15:33  |  hadag nakhash 12/06/06
  47.   IDF has fired thousands of shells into Gaza 15:33  |  Judith 12/06/06
  48.   The blood stained IDF 15:44  |  Stig 12/06/06
  49.   BURSTON EVIDENCE EVIDENCE EVIDENC E 15:44  |  paul harris 12/06/06
  50.   That was a terrorist act by the IDF 16:04  |  Stephen Murray 12/06/06
  51.   evidence evidence evidenc eEVIDENCE evidence 16:09  |  paul harris 12/06/06
  52.   To everyone justifiying these murders... 16:09  |  Stephen Murray 12/06/06
  53.   John #38 16:13  |  Gee 12/06/06
  54.   The blood is real, and so are the deaths 16:24  |  Jacob Blues 12/06/06
  55.   Bradley Burston 16:24  |  Solomon 12/06/06
  56.   15 Qassams targeting Sderot today, and counting 16:27  |  Jacob Blues 12/06/06
  57.   STOP BLOODSHED: RECONQUER GAZA,ELIMINATE ALL TERROR)))))))))))))) 16:48  |  -VOICE of MOSHIACH 12/06/06
  58.   The Record is the Indictment 16:55  |  Yaakov Sullivan 12/06/06
  59.   Wrong on Israeli policy, Mr. Burston 17:00  |  Ben Gurion 12/06/06
  60.   On Behalf of the Palestinian Propoganda Machine 17:04  |  M. Duvduvani 12/06/06
  61.   Jacob Blues #56 surprise, surprise!!! 17:05  |  Yaakov Sullivan 12/06/06
  62.   To Eric 17:09  |  Muhammad-Ali 12/06/06
  63.   Editors. Where do you stand? 17:17  |  Sidney 12/06/06
  64.   No Yaacov, there is no "surprise" 17:24  |  Jacob Blues 12/06/06
  65.   Yaacov`s empty lots 17:28  |  Jacob Blues 12/06/06
  66.   ET TU "BRUTUS" (BRADLEY) !!!! 17:36  |  S 12/06/06
  67.   Yaakov Sullivan #61 17:41  |  Gee 12/06/06
  68.   Stephen Murray`s continued tirade 18:06  |  peter 12/06/06
  69.   Paul `the bomber` Harris, 18:20  |  Boris Yeltsin 12/06/06
  70.   # 60 M. Duvduvani. On behalf of the Plestinian Machine.CORRECT! 18:25  |  S 12/06/06
  71.   The blood on our hands 18:28  |  Benny Barak 12/06/06
  72.   #68 peter ask murray if he would have put you on a train in 1942 18:31  |  paul harris 12/06/06
  73.   Gee and his rationals ad nauseum #67 18:36  |  Yaakov Sullivan 12/06/06
  74.   Burston lies again 18:37  |  s.davies 12/06/06
  75.   paul harris - he certainly would have tried 18:51  |  peter 12/06/06
  76.   S. Murray, Y. Sullivan, etc: Tzahal (IDF) can make us all proud 18:53  |  Dennis M. Starkman 12/06/06
  77.   S. Murray, Y. Sullivan, etc: Tzahal (IDF) can make us all proud 18:53  |  Dennis M. Starkman 12/06/06
  78.   COMMENTS ANDANTISEMITISM 18:56  |  CESARE 12/06/06
  79.   Yaakov Sullivan #73 18:57  |  Gee 12/06/06
  80.   Zooming and Booming 19:12  |  Mark Lincoln 12/06/06
  81.   Mr Bradley better wash your eyes. 19:14  |  Akram Zekaria 12/06/06
  82.   Waffling and Weaving 19:16  |  Mark Lincoln 12/06/06
  83.   Bradley Burston 19:21  |  Touna 12/06/06
  84.   Gee - you dont understand Sullivans Pro Arab mind 19:34  |  pace306 12/06/06
  85.   Yaacov Sullivan Get A Grip 19:46  |  sg 12/06/06
  86.   Deal for Europeans who want Concessions 19:48  |  Efox 12/06/06
  87.   "The blood on our hands" 20:01  |  JOHANES Franzen 12/06/06
  88.   Halautz is a known murderer and a bomber of apts. full of kids 20:29  |  Joshua Friedman 12/06/06
  89.   roger bannister 20:31  |  norman A. Blumberg 12/06/06
  90.   Starkman shall never renounce #76 20:32  |  Yaakov Sullivan 12/06/06
  91.   Gee and his delusions #79 20:36  |  Yaakov Sullivan 12/06/06
  92.   So if disengagement isn`t enough 20:39  |  to clean our hands 12/06/06
  93.   No, pace 306 that is not muy position 20:40  |  Yaakov Sullivan 12/06/06
  94.   No sg, it rests its head on the head of the occupation 20:43  |  Yaakov Sullivan 12/06/06
  95.   Re: #38 John - Six Day war 20:50  |  Morey 12/06/06
  96.   hi 20:53  |  lawrence 12/06/06
  97.   #87 franzi is a dont know but blame israel anyway! 21:09  |  paul harris 12/06/06
  98.   #26 your witness 21:13  |  hollingsworth 12/06/06
  99.   Blood 21:16  |  Daniel 12/06/06
  100.   To those happy over this destroyed Gaza family 21:23  |  Dennis M. Starkman 12/06/06
  101.   #73 ignorant yaakov...."occupation" didnt breed terror 21:24  |  SHIMON 12/06/06
  102.   #61 YAakov and his constant need to rid arabs of any blame 21:26  |  SHIMON 12/06/06
  103.   Londo`s ITV News 21:28  |  Leonard Klahr 12/06/06
  104.   yaakov and his baseless accusations #58 21:29  |  SHIMON 12/06/06
  105.   Yaakov J O`Sullivan 21:39  |  Yardena 12/06/06
  106.   S, `et tu "Brutus?"` 22:01  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 12/06/06
  107.   Dennis Starkman 22:25  |  Mark Lincoln 12/06/06
  108.   How can occupation breed terror? 22:31  |  Mark Lincoln 12/06/06
  109.   #106 twisting the knife 22:33  |  hollingsworth 12/06/06
  110.   to John #38 and others 22:34  |  John 12/06/06
  111.   Yaakov "Mallard" Sullivan #94 22:40  |  Gee 12/06/06
  112.   #93 Yaacov`s Position 22:41  |  Dorothy 12/06/06
  113.   The ugly face behind "The blood on our hands" 22:41  |  Steven 12/06/06
  114.   *$84, about sully 22:44  |  vladimir 12/06/06
  115.   Mark Lincoln I`ve been asking you repeatedly 22:46  |  peter 12/06/06
  116.   #27 follow up 22:46  |  hollingsworth 12/06/06
  117.   Cipora - A good sign 22:47  |  Mark Lincoln 12/06/06
  118.   Arab woes on unfair Israeli deaths 22:49  |  Dennis M. Starkman 12/06/06
  119.   Cipora Julianna Kohn concerning Newesri 22:55  |  hadag nakhash 12/06/06
  120.   Bradley , what a brilliant article Bless you. 22:58  |  nina 12/06/06
  121.   CRYİNG GİRL 22:58  |  zaki 12/06/06
  122.   the Only Blood is on YOUR Leftist Hands 23:05  |  Melanie 12/06/06
  123.   A Jew Hating Jew or Just a Jew Hater? 23:14  |  Pamela-Atlas Shrugs 12/06/06
  124.   Al-Jazeera refuses to explain how it gets al-Qaeda videotapes 23:16  |  Jake 12/06/06
  125.   the blood on our hands 23:20  |  alan 12/06/06
  126.   #119, hadag nakhas 23:30  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 12/06/06
  127.   Mark Lincoln-so upset you can blow yourself up? 23:30  |  peter 12/06/06
  128.   #115 no peter he has not and is as usual talkng absolute rot 23:32  |  paul harris 12/06/06
  129.   Haaretz 23:36  |  Arie 12/06/06
  130.   Dear Mr Burston 23:42  |  SA 12/06/06
  131.   Dear Mr Roger Bannister 23:54  |  SA 12/06/06
  132.   the more painful the message, the more racist the reaction 23:59  |  Ernst 12/06/06
  133.   Jdyer - and there lies the shame .. 00:06  |  SA 13/06/06
  134.   Tortured Handringing Is Good If It Is Not Over Dead Israelis 00:13  |  Yoram 13/06/06
  135.   Daisy 00:14  |  SA 13/06/06
  136.   CRYING GIRL /Zaki 00:15  |  nina 13/06/06
  137.   Bradley you jerk 00:17  |  Dror 13/06/06
  138.   what if the IDF is not guilty , then a UN Investigation should 00:18  |  Nina 13/06/06
  139.   Honi RUBBISH 00:19  |  SA 13/06/06
  140.   #93 you cant even tell the turth EVER can you ? 00:30  |  pace306 13/06/06
  141.   nina, pathetic analysis 00:36  |  Jake 13/06/06
  142.   this could be it. 01:11  |  Chino 13/06/06
  143.   Doesn`t it feel good Mr Burston, 01:17  |  Cornelia Herst 13/06/06
  144.   paul #128- I doubt any of the arabists have been to Israel 01:47  |  peter 13/06/06
  145.   WoW! Bradley another KNOCKOUT statement from you! 01:56  |  Dutch 13/06/06
  146.   #128, Paul Harris 02:13  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 13/06/06
  147.   Peter in Montreal - More 02:54  |  wibism 13/06/06
  148.   Cipora - morbid #146 02:58  |  wibism 13/06/06
  149.   Nina, and "the photographer" 03:00  |  Jake 13/06/06
  150.   IDF Assasinates Caesar, Mossad Agent Casius caught with Smoking D 03:22  |  agger - Umm El Kul N 13/06/06
  151.   read the jerusalem post 03:22  |  mark 13/06/06
  152.   #66 piggish Latin 03:29  |  hala 13/06/06
  153.   Bradley needs to fill space 03:34  |  rich 13/06/06
  154.   BRADLEY BURSTON PUBLICLY CALLED MY SISTER A WHORE 03:34  |  Umm El Kul Naqba 13/06/06
  155.   to Shimon #101 03:41  |  Zeev 13/06/06
  156.   HAMAS killed them 03:48  |  lenz 13/06/06
  157.   re:blood on our hands 03:52  |  AJ 13/06/06
  158.   Shame for IDF 03:53  |  Michael 13/06/06
  159.   to paul harris #128 04:14  |  Zeev 13/06/06
  160.   Israel and Zionism, it all about Arab blood every day 04:24  |  El-Birawi 13/06/06
  161.   Yes, it is just rubbish! 05:29  |  Honi 13/06/06
  162.   Time to search for a new scapegoat, Brad? 05:40  |  Jacob Blues 13/06/06
  163.   #160 El-Birawi - If Arabs cheapen Arab blood why should we value 05:43  |  Umm El Kul Naqba 13/06/06
  164.   #146 ONE OF THE MYSTERIES OF OUR TIME CIPORA 06:21  |  paul harris 13/06/06
  165.   #159 zeev I AM NOT CALLING FOR OCCUPIED JORDAN TO BE FREED 06:27  |  paul harris 13/06/06
  166.   Bradley Burston 06:28  |  G.Ron 13/06/06
  167.   #158 Michael - For What? 06:55  |  Umm El Kul Naqba 13/06/06
  168.   Thanks, Bradley 07:10  |  Faithful Reader 13/06/06
  169.   the blood on our hands 07:30  |  veda flick 13/06/06
  170.   A Special Place in Hell for Bradley Burston 08:39  |  john Anderson 13/06/06
  171.   Uh huh 08:46  |  Mike 13/06/06
  172.   Bradley leading the mob 08:54  |  FOX 13/06/06
  173.   Hamas 09:06  |  LKN 13/06/06
  174.   Honi - To change the subject 09:07  |  SA 13/06/06
  175.   Bradley the "idiot" 09:11  |  LKN 13/06/06
  176.   Burston hardened to Jewish murder 09:26  |  Shaka 13/06/06
  177.   The blood on Jewish hands 10:30  |  Edith 13/06/06
  178.   The IDF clears the IDF 10:36  |  Amir 13/06/06
  179.   how long? 12:33  |  raz 13/06/06
  180.   #178 Amir - IT WAS ANOTHER BASELESS ACCUSATION 13:04  |  Alfred Dreyfus 13/06/06
  181.   to paul harris #165 13:06  |  Zeev 13/06/06
  182.   167 Umm El Kul Naqba 15:51  |  Michael 13/06/06
  183.   Bradley Burston Israels`s worst enemy 16:47  |  AJ 13/06/06
  184.   Who are our heroes? 17:28  |  shd 15/06/06
  185.   Yaakov Sullivan #90, I don`t believe you 05:35  |  Dennis M. Starkman 16/06/06
  186.   Mark Lincoln, #107 05:39  |  Dennis M. Starkman 16/06/06
  187.   to S. Judah #20 20:50  |  Zeev 16/06/06
  188.   Awesome article 14:13  |  Denis 29/06/06
  189.   Good for you Eric 04:02  |  Kicks 06/08/06
  190.   Alpha&Omega 04:43  |  Unbelievable 06/08/06
  191.   to #9 - Eric 11:28  |  fellow man 31/08/06
  192.   #9... cast doubt, and they will maybe- believe u 11:33  |  Jonathan G. III 31/08/06
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