When are we going to learn that it is up to the strong to end the cycle of violence!
Are we not a Christian nation? Didn't Jesus teach, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God"?
What is happening between Israel and Hezbollah is total insanity on Israel's part. Of course Hezbollah started it IN THIS INSTANCE by capturing the Israeli soldiers ... but, my god, Israel then decided to make heroes of Hezbollah through collective retribution toward the civilian population of Lebanon?
And now after making a complete mess of everything, Israel wants the UN to come in and bail them out with a peacekeepng force?
Sure thing, stir up the hornets nest and then run for cover.
Any metaphor quickly loses relevance in this situation.
Let's be clear. Hezbollah IN THIS INSTANCE stung the Israelis first. Dah! Let's not even ask why, let's just stipulate first causes. How does that justify collective retribution against the civilian population ... something Israel is saying is justified because the they claim the civilians are hiding the Hezbollah soldiers?
Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions collective punishments are a war crime. Article 33 states: "No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed," and "collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited."
By collective punishment, the drafters of the Geneva Conventions had in mind the reprisal killings of World Wars I and II. In the First World War, Germans executed Belgian villagers in mass retribution for resistance activity. In World War II, Nazis carried out a form of collective punishment to suppress resistance. Entire villages or towns or districts were held responsible for any resistance activity that took place there. The conventions, to counter this, reiterated the principle of individual responsibility. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Commentary to the conventions states that parties to a conflict often would resort to "intimidatory measures to terrorize the population" in hopes of preventing hostile acts, but such practices "strike at guilty and innocent alike. They are opposed to all principles based on humanity and justice."
As Bob Herbert writes in today's NY Times OpEd Section, "Yes, Virginia, the world is going mad."
He's writing regarding the spread of nuclear weapons capacity/capability ... it's all about escalating the tolerance for violence.
On the other hand, maybe we're simply reverting to Jehovah as God ... forsaking our the enlightenment taught by Jesus, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God."
King James Version, Old Testament, Joshua 6:17-21:
"And the city shall be accursed, [even] it, and all that [are] therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that [are] with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.Which version of God do we follow? Which do we forsake?
"And ye, in any wise keep [yourselves] from the accursed thing, lest ye make [yourselves] accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
"But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, [are] consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.
"So the people shouted when [the priests] blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
"And they utterly destroyed all that [was] in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword."
One of the valuable lessons we learn from the New Testament is that the strong must break the cycle of violence ... if it ever is to be broken. If we allow the bullies to have their way, we subscribe to fear and the jungle rather than hope and civilization.
It isn't just the lessons of their prior occupation and the ten years earlier bombing of same village with the same outcome that Israel has failed to learn, it is the lessons of their own ancient history.
Violence ALWAYS sets in motion payback, until someone is willing to step forward and say, "It stops here."
How many times do we have to crucify the Christ in us before we learn the lesson?
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