I’ve been reading calls for restraint “on both sides” from the United Nations and other countries for several hours. How interesting that these same people never called for restraint when Gaza was launching mortars and rockets into Israel every day.
- EU calls for immediate ceasefire in Gaza
- Egypt urges Israeli restraint on Gaza
- Global community condemns Israeli operation on Gaza
- UK ‘concern’ over Israeli airstrikes
- Sarkozy calls for immediate halt to Gaza violence
- Christmas Spirit shattered in the Holy Land
Seriously, why did these countries and their leaders pay only lip service or refused to speak out at all as Gaza declared an end to the June ceasefire and bombarded Israel daily? From the Washington Post:
After six months of relative calm, hostilities once again are escalating between Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Between Friday and yesterday [Monday, December 22, 2008] some 60 rockets were fired from Gaza at Israel, whose air force responded with strikes against the launchers. So far there have been no serious injuries on the Israeli side, and one Palestinian has been reported killed. But the ugly slide from here is easy to foresee: more rockets fall, and Israel steps up its airstrikes; Hamas turns from homemade rockets fired by proxies to Iranian-made missiles that can reach large Israeli cities. In the last instance, Israel could finally launch the ground invasion of Gaza it has frequently threatened, triggering a bloody conflict that could spread to the West Bank and Lebanon.
Only the Bush administration blames Hamas for ending the ceasefire and showering Israel with rockets:
President-elect Obama has yet to speak out on the Israeli strikes in Gaza, which are the heaviest since the 1967 war. Given his rhetoric during the election and his selection of foreign policy advisors though, it does not look like Israel can count on the US for support after Obama takes office.
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