Monday, January 12, 2009

Haifa was not hit

Haifa was not hit. Don't worry we're all ok. This is the message we passed along to my wife's grandma after she got ver worried when she heard that Haifa was hit yesterday. I was here, nothing happened. At least nothing out of the ordinary - other then me buying shoes, which I don't normally do.

There is a push now to ban Balad, one of the Arab political parties, from participating in the upcoming Knesset elections. The party's platform includes armed struggle against the state and the destruction of its Jewish character. Kadima is trying to look more and more right wing because of the war is actually going to support the motion, while Labor is going to vote against.

The natives are getting restless and there will probably be more riots if the motion actually passes. the last time they did this the supreme court invalidated the vote and let them participate.

Balad's official response to the proceedings are that they stand by their platform.

The question is should a democracy allow a voice calling for the state's destruction? If the majority of people vote that they prefer a dictatorship to a democracy, do they take away their own inherent right to be self-deterministic? When the majority of German's voted for Hitler, did that make the actions that he did, which he promised before he was elected, moral? Or moral for the German people? Or is democracy not equal to morality?
If the majority of Gazans vote to annihilate Israel, does that make them all the enemy and remove from them any status of innocent civilian?

Deep thoughts by Sim

1 comment:

traintalk said...

We can see how the post '67 euphoria took hold and transformed a lightening victory into a long term quagmire foreseen by Yeshayahu Leibowitz. We see that dozens of rabbis are now calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza because of the "appalling" (read post-necessary) bloodshed. http://digbig.com/4ychq
And if you do not approve of Achinoam Nini's open letter to Gazans, perhaps you will listen to UK Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: "We say to those who criticise Israel: you want Palestinian children to grow up with hope; so do we. We care for life. This is why we say to Hamas: stop killing the Palestinian future." http://digbig.com/4ychs
Peaceful outlet for the expression of differing points of view must be preserved at all costs. If leftists suck, rightists whip and this time we have an opportunity to demonstrate greater maturity in victory. For some background on how the US tried to make Gaza safe for democracy, see this:
http://digbig.com/4ychy
I pray we do post-Operation Cast Lead with care and that we become a better nation and a more precious citizenry.