The Guardian Celebrates, Excuses Palestinian Barbarism
Before, we thought that setting fires to holy places was wrong. Now we know better:
Yesterday, Israel described the attempts to burn down or bulldoze synagogues in four former Gaza settlements as "barbaric". But the buildings were already gutted by the departing force, little more than shells stripped of their religion even before Khami took to the windows with a metal bar. Other men, without weapons or visible affiliation, gazed in amazement at the devastation in the Jewish town that had cast its shadow so darkly over Khan Yunis.
Those sinister Jews, casting their dark shadows everywhere. As to the snarky little "but the buildings were already gutted" - international law and humanitarian norms say that it's a crime to destroy houses of worship. They don't say that it's a crime to destroy only really nicely decorated houses of worship. If you still have any doubts, run this through your mind: if Israel had destroyed an abandoned mosque, would the Guardian be making excuses for them?
And would it be quite so open in its acclamation:
Some came to burn. Many more came to marvel and then plunder. But for young Mohammed Hijezi it was enough just to touch the sea for the first time. The nine-year-old lives a short run from the beach but until yesterday the Israeli military cut off access and he had never seen the sea.
"I came very early, as soon as I had my breakfast and put on my clothes," he said. "I was supposed to go to school. My parents don't know. I was dreaming of swimming. The water is very beautiful and very cold."... There was much to celebrate.
How adorable. And how wonderful that the staff of the Guardian feels uninhibited enough to celebrate with him.
Yesterday, Israel described the attempts to burn down or bulldoze synagogues in four former Gaza settlements as "barbaric". But the buildings were already gutted by the departing force, little more than shells stripped of their religion even before Khami took to the windows with a metal bar. Other men, without weapons or visible affiliation, gazed in amazement at the devastation in the Jewish town that had cast its shadow so darkly over Khan Yunis.
Those sinister Jews, casting their dark shadows everywhere. As to the snarky little "but the buildings were already gutted" - international law and humanitarian norms say that it's a crime to destroy houses of worship. They don't say that it's a crime to destroy only really nicely decorated houses of worship. If you still have any doubts, run this through your mind: if Israel had destroyed an abandoned mosque, would the Guardian be making excuses for them?
And would it be quite so open in its acclamation:
Some came to burn. Many more came to marvel and then plunder. But for young Mohammed Hijezi it was enough just to touch the sea for the first time. The nine-year-old lives a short run from the beach but until yesterday the Israeli military cut off access and he had never seen the sea.
"I came very early, as soon as I had my breakfast and put on my clothes," he said. "I was supposed to go to school. My parents don't know. I was dreaming of swimming. The water is very beautiful and very cold."... There was much to celebrate.
How adorable. And how wonderful that the staff of the Guardian feels uninhibited enough to celebrate with him.
