On Changing Reality

Regarding the ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip by Israel which have so far as of this writing killed almost 500 civilians and uncounted injuries, the Conservative yes men of Israel are attempting to justify this crime against humanity with some pretty bizarre rhetoric. The Israeli Goverment itself explained last night on BBC that they are trying to change the reality on the ground in Gaza. When ever a nation starts talking about changing reality, it's time to start running! The Neo Cons used the line that America "Creates its own reality" as a justification for the Iraqi Invasion. The historical evidence is damning proof that when ever a nation tries to control or change reality for it's own purposes, it creates another reality which it could never have anticipated.

A very good example of the unreal rhetoric coming out of the neo conservative noise machines is this quote by NRO’s Andy McCarthy wonders whether the strikes will “demonstrate that terrorism is a loser for those who vote for it.”

The question is whether the Palestinian people are educable. Which brings me back to the first point: the Palestinians voted to put in power — i.e., vest with the power of a quasi-sovereign government — a terrorist organization which thinks legitimate governing consists of bringing about the annihilation of its sovereign neighbor and, meantime, targeting the said neighbor’s civilian population with bombing attacks. When you do that, you make yourself a target.

It’s one thing to defend Israel’s disproportionate attacks as a legitimate attempt to destroy Hamas’ capacity to launch rockets into Israel, but it’s quite another to defend them as an attempt to “educate” the Palestinian people. The former is debatable, the latter is a forthright embrace of terrorism, the use of force against civilians to achieve a political goal.

McCarthy’s advocacy of violence against people who vote the wrong way raises an obvious question. Granting, for the moment, McCarthy’s simplistic interpretation of Hamas’ election, (which was more a vote against Fatah’s incompetence and corruption than it was for Israel’s destruction) if Palestinian civilians have made themselves targets by voting into power a party that advocates the destruction of Israel, have Israeli civilians made themselves targets by voting into power successive governments that have continued a military occupation while expropriating Palestinian land? Have Americans made themselves targets by voting in governments that support that occupation? According to McCarthy’s reasoning, the answer to both questions is yes.

This is very similar to the justification offered by Osama bin Laden for attacks on American civilians in his November 2002 “Letter to the American People“:

The American people are the ones who choose their government by way of their own free will; a choice which stems from their agreement to its policies. Thus the American people have chosen, consented to, and affirmed their support for the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, the occupation and usurpation of their land, and its continuous killing, torture, punishment and expulsion of the Palestinians. The American people have the ability and choice to refuse the policies of their Government and even to change it if they want.[…]

This is why the American people cannot be not innocent of all the crimes committed by the Americans and Jews against us.

Allah, the Almighty, legislated the permission and the option to take revenge. Thus, if we are attacked, then we have the right to attack back. Whoever has destroyed our villages and towns, then we have the right to destroy their villages and towns. Whoever has stolen our wealth, then we have the right to destroy their economy. And whoever has killed our civilians, then we have the right to kill theirs.