Hezbollah’s Qana Massacre

Aug 1, 2006 | Dollars & Crosses

Additional questions arose yesterday about the Israel Air Force's strike on a building in Qana on Sunday, even as the number of fatalities in the incident appeared to be much lower than originally published. The Red Cross announced yesterday that 28 bodies, including those of 19 children, had been found at the site. Additional bodies are expected to be found over the coming days.

"They [Hezbollah] are a lousy army. They only win when they hide behind baby carriages." Please remember this when you hear about the "atrocity" of the Israeli bomb that killed many civilians in Kafr Qana, a place from which Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets at Israel. Unlike previous administrations, Mr. Olmert has my respect when he says: "They were warned to leave. It is the responsibility of Hezbollah for firing rockets amid civilians."

Terrorists and their supporters have lost the right to complain about civilian casualties, since all they have is one goal: this entire war is to target civilians. Every single one of the more than 2,500 rockets launched into Israel, is launched into populated towns filled with women and children. Just today, another explosive belt meant to kill civilians in Israel was detonated harmlessly by our forces in Nablus.

So don't cry to me about civilian casualties. Cry to those using babies and wives and mothers; cry to those who store weapons in mosques, ambulances, hospitals and private homes. Cry to those launching deadly rockets from the backyards of kindergartens and schools. Cry to the heartless men who love death, and however many of their troops or civilians die, consider themselves victorious as long as they can keep on firing rockets at our women and children.

Save your sympathy for the mothers and sisters and girlfriends of our young soldiers who would rather be sitting in study halls learning Torah, but have no choice but to risk their precious lives full of hope, goodness and endless potential, to wipe out the cancerous terrorist cells that threaten their people and all mankind. Make your choice, and save your tears.

That terrorists have been unsuccessful in killing more of our women and children is due to our army, God and prayers, not to any lack of motivation or intention on their part. If you hide behind your baby to shoot at my baby, you are responsible for getting children killed. You and you alone.

The Israeli public, which has been united in support of the government's military actions in Lebanon, stood firm yesterday despite the international uproar over the deaths on Sunday of more than 30 children and several adults in the town of Qana. "We won't bend," read the headline on a front-page column by the leading political commentator for the Ma'ariv newspaper.

"It's time you understood, the Jewish state will no longer be trampled upon," wrote Ben Caspit. "We won't allow anyone to exploit population centers to bomb our citizens. You can condemn us, you can boycott us, you are invited not to visit us, and if necessary, we will stop visiting you."

Three weeks into the war, the heavy civilian death toll in Lebanon has not changed most Israelis' perception of the war as an existential conflict over the right to live without the threat of Hezbollah rockets, as well as a proxy battle with an Iranian government bent on destroying the country. ...

In a defiant nationwide address yesterday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the army would continue to hit Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon despite an international chorus calling for an immediate cease-fire.

"There is no cease-fire, and there will be no cease-fire," Mr. Olmert said.

"Citizens of Lebanon, we regret the pain caused to so many of you, the fact that you had to flee your homes and places of residence and the unintentional harm to innocents, but we do not apologize for it.

"We will not give up -- not even for a moment -- our right to protect the state of Israel and defend our lives."

The perversity of today's international outcry lies in the fact that there is indeed a disproportion in this war, a radical moral asymmetry between Hezbollah and Israel: Hezbollah is deliberately trying to create civilian casualties on both sides while Israel is deliberately trying to minimize civilian casualties, also on both sides. In perhaps the most blatant terror campaign from the air since the London Blitz, Hezbollah is raining rockets on Israeli cities and villages. These rockets are packed with ball bearings that can penetrate automobiles and shred human flesh. They are meant to kill and maim. And they do.

But it is a dual campaign. Israeli innocents must die in order for Israel to be terrorized. But Lebanese innocents must also die in order for Israel to be demonized, which is why Hezbollah hides its fighters, its rockets, its launchers, its entire infrastructure among civilians. Creating human shields is a war crime. It is also a Hezbollah specialty.

The Immoral Opposition to Cloning

Jul 31, 2006 | Dollars & Crosses

IRVINE, CA--This month marks the tenth anniversary of the birth of Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal. "That impressive scientific advance opened up a world of possible life-saving treatments--yet in the name of 'morality,' some perversely oppose cloning," said Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute.

"Motivated by a religious morality that says it is wrong for human beings to 'play God,' the opponents of cloning claim cloning cheapens human life by making it just another part of nature scientists can manipulate and control.

"This is a profound inversion of the truth. Cloning has the potential to stimulate scientific advances that would drastically improve human life, perhaps giving us the ability to someday create new skin for burn victims, or spinal rod cells for victims of paralysis.

"Those attempting to stand in the way of such advances are the real enemies of human life." 

Photographs of Healthcare in The Real Cuba

Jul 28, 2006 | Dollars & Crosses

One of the greatest fallacies about the so called 'Cuban Revolution' has to do with healthcare. Foreigners who visit Cuba, are fed the official line from Castro's propaganda machine: "All Cubans are now able to receive excellent healthcare, which is also free."But the truth is very different. Castro has built excellent health facilities for the use of foreigners, who pay with hard currency for those services. Argentinean soccer star Maradona, for example, has traveled several times to Cuba to receive treatment to combat his drug addiction. But Cubans are not even allowed to visit those facilities. Cubans who require medical attention must go to other hospitals, that lack the most minimum requirements needed to take care of their patients. In addition, most of these facilities are filthy and patients have to bring their own towels, bed sheets, pillows, or they would have to lay down on dirty bare mattresses stained with blood and other body fluids.The first four photographs were published in September of 2004 in one of Sweden most influential newspapers, Dagens Nyheter. They were taken at a health facility for elderly Cubans.  The others were taken by people who were living in Cuba until very recently, or who visited the island as tourists.

Bad Cuban Medicine>by Larry Solomon (April 15, 2003) Begging for medicines is common in Havana - next to begging for money to feed children, it is the most common plea - because the government won't use its scarce foreign exchange to import basic drugs that the populace needs. Doctors won't even prescribe drugs for the poor that aren't available in the local pharmacies - the state frowns upon that - but many will write the name of the drug that's needed on a scrap of paper.

Israeli Attack “Deliberate” According to U.N.’s Annan

Jul 26, 2006 | Dollars & Crosses

An Israeli airstrike hit a United Nations post in southern Lebanon late Tuesday, killing at least two of the agency's observers, according to the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon. [...] Daniel Ayalon, Israel's ambassador to the United States, said that "UNIFIL obviously got caught in the middle" of a gunfight between Hezbollah guerillas and Israeli troops. [...] U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "deeply distressed" by the "apparently deliberate" strike. "This coordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long-established and clearly marked U.N. post at Khiyam occurred despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that U.N. positions would be spared Israeli fire," he said in a statement.[...] Ayalon called Annan's statement "outrageous," while Israel's U.N. ambassador, Dan Gillerman, said he, too, was "deeply distressed" that Annan alleged that the strike was deliberate. "I am surprised at these premature and erroneous assertions made by the secretary-general, who while demanding an investigation, has already issued its conclusions," Gillerman said in a statement.[...] About 100 Hezbollah rockets were fired into Israel on Tuesday, striking the cities of Haifa, Carmiel, Kyrat Shmona and Nahiriya, according to the IDF. ["U.N.: Israeli airstrike hits U.N. observer post", July 26, 2006]

Comments The Free West blog: on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon:

[UNIFL] looked on as Hizballah fortified southern Lebanon, it failed to prevent Hizballah carrying out attacks on Israel. Throughout, Hizballah has used UNIFIL to give cover in battle and to limit Israel's options when counterattacking, while UNIFIL's tacit approval of Hizballah's presence has lent it apparent legitimacy.'UNIFIL has provided more security to Hizballah than it has to Israel, thereby increasing the likelihood of conflict and helping to make the current war inevitable. Even if they wanted to, the troops could not escape the distorted political constraints imposed by the organization and the nations that sent them. Nor could they escape the iron law of peacekeeping forces: those that are "successful" are not necessary, and those that are most necessary are doomed to failure.'As recent UNIFIL press releases show, in the last two weeks Hizballah has been firing at Israel from the vicinity of its bases, drawing Israeli fire to the international observers. This is a deliberate ploy to endanger UNIFIL personnel. Israel has fired at Hizballah targets being careful to avoid endangering UN lives. That one shell eventually went astray and killed four UNIFIL soldiers is an accident for which Israel has apologised and which will be the subject of an official inquiry.But to recap: Hizballah deliberately endanger UNIFIL lives; Israel deliberately tries to avoid endangering UNIFIL lives. This is an important difference, because Israel isn't fighting against an army that operates according to normal rules of engagement. The Geneva Conventions are a Western invention that organisations like Hizballah and al Qaeda reject. Their rules are the Koranic rules of war, the rules of war of seventh-century desert brigands. When Israel fires shells and drops bombs it avoids civilian casualties, warning townspeople to leave before they plan their strike. When Hizballah fires its rockets its intention is precisely to cause as many civilian casualties as possible. [...]Hizballah's ethics are totally different from those of Israel. When a Hizballah rocket team fires a Katyusha they hope to kill as many people as possible - the warheads are packed with ball-bearings to heighten their effect. When Israeli artillery units fire shells their aim is to stop the Katyusha teams, destroy their launchers, their stockpiles of weapons, their bases, their infrastructure. What Israel specifically tries to avoid is killing civilians. If an Israeli attack results in the death of non-military personnel this is accidental collateral damage. To judge this as being anything other than negligence is to fall into the trap of ethics by result rather than intent.