Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The case for sanctions against Israel

Israel is one of America's staunchest allies. Her long history of suffering has made us empathetic, almost to the point of continually turning the other cheek even when she is clearly making poor choices.

Last week's massacre at sea with the Turkish flotilla should give us all cause to pause. It was uncalled for and is at minimum questionable. This was a ship bringing supplies for heaven's sake, not a war ship. How can we know that the accounts we are reading as reported by the perpetrators of this horrendous crime are even true? Are we to believe that the Turkish people aboard that ship really opened fire on Israeli soldiers, knowing of their fire power and military prowess? It certainly does not add up to me.

Israel is now conducting an investigation into the massacre - what is needed is an independent, UN sanctioned inquiry - or at least an International one. The Israelis have stated that they don't want an International inquiry lest it be biased, but otherwise, how shall we get to the bottom of what really transpired?

Additionally, until such time as the truth can be ascertained as to exactly what happened and when, we, as the US should take a stance and bring sanctions against Israel so that they understand unequivocally that such behavior is not to be tolerated.

We have been wondering what to do about the North/South Korea conflict and their submarine incident - if we can address that, then surely we should follow suit in this case.

One person's opinion.

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