A question via Gay Orbit: “For those who believe Israel is wrong to do what they’re doing, and that they should stop with the bombardment of Lebanon, what would you suggest?”

I don’t have all of the answers.  I wish I did, although I have a few suggestions.  But I wonder what has been accomplished to save two military personnel.  More than 20 Israeli soldiers killed?  To save two?  And hundreds of Lebanese civilians killed?  To save two?  And hundreds of thousands displaced?  To save two?  Countless millions — perhaps billions — in infrastructure destroyed?  To save two?  We all need to be honest enough to admit it has absolutely nothing to do with those two soldiers.

Both sides are woefully wrong in many respects (although, equally, both sides have legitimate complaints, none of which excuses their actions).  The Middle East crisis is that Israel exists.  From the “enemy’s” perspective anyway.  That’s not something we’re willing to address (it requires we dismantle a sovereign state, and that’s not an option).  Much of the hate runs so deeply now that even if Israel were somehow destroyed (as a nation, not as a people), it would not be sufficient to resolve the conflict.  Look at Iraq for proof.  They would just be forced to aim the hate at different targets (Jews in general, their Arab brothers, the U.S., shall I go on?).  Oh, but look.  The hate has already festered so long that it isn’t just targeted at Israel.  Oops.  My bad.

It’s a mess — a cluster fuck, if you will — and there are no easy answers.  What I do know is that Israel’s answer is wrong, Hezb’Allah’s answer is wrong, America’s answer is wrong (again, look at Iraq), and finding an answer is far more complicated than this “little” spat between neighbors.  It takes people smarter than me to know how to address such bitter hatred for everyone and everything, and that’s the real problem over there — with everyone involved.  Even America.  It’s all so very sad.

All I know is that I can’t personally tow the official state line in this regard.  Israel’s no more right in their actions than those they wish to punish.  Sincerely address the Palestinian issue.  Reach out to Syria and Iran despite the engendered hate.  Stop the kind of silly overreaction that kills hundreds of civilians and causes significant collateral damage.  Britain didn’t bomb London to root out the terrorists there.  America didn’t bomb those flight facilities that trained the 9/11 terrorists.  There’s a level of common sense that’s expected in this kind of conflict.  Israel is demonstrating no common sense whatsoever.

Again, this does not excuse Hezb’Allah, but — and you know how much I absolutely hate clichés — two wrongs don’t make a right, and that’s true even if our preznit thinks otherwise.  Terrorism is terrorism, and targeting civilians is terrorism.  Wrongfully destroying whatever power a fledgling democratic government might have is wrong.  The presence of terrorists does not mean everyone is a terrorist and everything exists to support terrorism.  Killing children is always bad.  Destroying shipments of medicine is evil.  Dropping bombs on international aid workers is normally a terrible idea.  Displacing hundreds of thousands of innocents is a humanitarian crisis.  Devastating the infrastructure of a sovereign nation in order to flex your muscle in front of a minority who are terrorists is immature and disgusting, not to mention rather spiteful and unbecoming a state.  Israel, like America, has become what the civilized world should oppose.