Perspective/Proportional

HotAir linked this:

On CNN a few moments ago, Christiane Amanpour, in the midst of an otherwise completely warped report on the Gaza war, said that over the past year only two Israelis were killed by Hamas rocket fire. Her point in the segment was to insinuate that Israel is overreacting to Hamas attacks that have been largely harmless. In order to do that, she had to abstain from mentioning important facts and context, such as that Hamas’ attacks in 2008 more than doubled — to 3,278 — from the 2007 number. And this figures in the six-month “lull” period, during which “only” around 100 rockets were fired. She also did not mention that the range and deadliness of Hamas’ rockets increased as well, putting around 15 percent of the Israeli population under Hamas’ missile umbrella. (The “disproportionality” fetishists also never get around to noting that Israel has conducted less than a thousand air strikes in response to over 7,000 Hamas rocket attacks since 2005.)

Thus is the history of this episode of the conflict re-written almost in real time, from one of a gathering danger to one of a boring nuisance. Oh, and eight Israelis, not two, were killed by Hamas in 2008. Amanpour’s “errors” always seem to work in one direction, don’t they?

Good Commentary, but there is one thing alluded to here that needs to be spoken aloud. Do we judge conflicts only by the casualties? I mean, yes there were only 2-8 Israelis killed by Hamas in 2008, but isn't that only because Hamas isn't very good a warfare? Didn't they WISH to kill more Israelis? It's like someone who tries to murder someone else. Does it not count if the murder doesn't take place? Isn't that what we call "attempted murder?" 7000 rocket attacks since 2005 from Hamas tells me that they really wanted that number of dead to be "proportional." Just because they are unable to make that happen makes Israel the bad guy?

I don't get it.

Let's say several armed gunman starting shooting at a school in America. Let's say they only killed two teachers. They tried to shooting everyone, but they were just bad shots. Let's say our SWAT teams came out and took all the gunmen out. Would anyone claim that the SWAT team took "disproportional" actions? Should the SWAT team have only killed two of them?

Ridiculous.

*Had to add this. I found it at LST, It's a blog called "A Soldier's Mother."
It's a Mom of an Israeli soldier. She doesnt' want him in this war. She wants him home, as all mother's do. So why does she put on a brave face and not tell him that?

What gets lost, but what is so critical to remember, is the timeline here. Gaza fired on Israel, has been firing for many months and years. They chose the timing of this action, not Israel. To expect any nation to sit quietly while hundreds of thousands of people come under fire is arrogant and naive, and the Palestinian leadership showed both these sins and many others in the last few weeks.Gaza sent hundreds of missiles at our cities, our schools. Last week, the air force began to fight back. Earlier today, artillery joined the fight, and then tonight, many ground units, the navy, the engineering division and more moved in.
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They say we hit several mosques, places of worship. That too is a lie and our answer is very simple, as I wrote on Friday: A House of God is not an arsenal, and an arsenal is not a House of God. The minute you use a mosque to house explosives and terrorists, it becomes a legitimate target. This is true of your home as well. So, if you are going to store explosives and rockets in your home, the army of Israel kindly requests you not to store your wives and children there too.
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There was one problem with the hit on the Hamas leader's home. He indeed was not home - but the Palestinians didn't bother to evacuate the building. The man's four wives and eleven of his thirteen children were killed. One son survived. The other child died years ago when he decided to kill himself for the "divine" pleasure of becoming a suicide bomber to murder Israelis. So, this man who stored explosives in his home with his wives and children wakes this morning to a new reality - his wives, his children, and his explosives are all gone. I can't help but wonder what he mourns most.
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Oh, and one more prayer - please take care of those Palestinian gunmen who are hiding themselves and their weapons in hospitals - especially in the maternity wards among the innocent newborns.Oh, wait - one other - please ask the Palestinians to choose between praying in a mosque and storing weapons there because, if they store weapons there, like the two we have already bombed, we are going to bomb those structures too. A House of God is not an arsenal and an arsenal cannot be a House of God.

She types this in between going to the bomb shelter. We can learn alot from her. Bookmark her. Learn what is really going on in this war. Learn from someone who had everything to lose....and still believes in the fight. She tells the story that isn't always told. Why are "civilians" killed? Because Hama chooses to use them as a shield. The intentionally do this.

Do I know this for sure? No. I'm not there. But Hamas is a terrorist organization. If there is anything I have learned in the last 6 years is that terrorists will do anything with any innocent person, including blowing up the handicapped and disabled with suicide vests to kill other innocents, and cutting off heads of civilians on videotape for the world to see.

So you can kinda see why I choose to believe this mother instead of them.