Wednesday, January 7, 2009

United Nations Secretary General on Gaza, Hamas, and Israel: Almost Good News

I'm impressed. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that fighting should stop right now in Gaza (that's not what impressed me), and:

"Ban criticized both Israel for its bombardment of Gaza and Hamas for firing rockets into Israel and urged members to act 'swiftly and decisively to put this crisis to an end.' " (FOXNews)

Criticism of Israel and Hamas?!

Coming after the Palestinian president very nearly blaming Hamas for triggering the current unpleasantness, and an Iranian newspaper 'accidentally' printing a story critical of Hamas, telling someone besides the Jews in the Middle east to stop fighting is almost hopeful.

I suspect that, at best, the United Nations will embrace the idea that Hamas attacks on civilians are equivalent to Israel's attacks on ammunition dumps and control centers. Still, acknowledging that Hamas might have some responsibility is a step away from the 'it is the fault of the Jews' attitude I've come to expect.

And, if the notion of moral equivalence stopped being so fashionable, we'd have serious progress.

Related posts: In the news:

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The fighting in gaza must stop when Israel has destroyed Hamas,

www.politicsandthefuture.blogspot.com

I myself am another War on terror and global news blogger. This war in the middle east is shaking the war on terror world.

Brian H. Gill said...

Anonymous,

I'm inclined to agree, about the importance of the Palestinian chauvinists in the War on Terror.

Despite my focus on Hamas over the last few days, I don't think that removing Hamas would end the problem of anti-Israeli and anti-outsider terrorism in the Middle East.

There are, in my view, too many people in that part of the world who haven't gotten over the shock of discovering that not everybody is just like them.

Unique, innovative candles


Visit us online:
Spiral Light CandleFind a Retailer
Spiral Light Candle Store

Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.