Garbanzo Toons: Moral Equivalence? I Don't Think So

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Moral Equivalence? I Don't Think So

First we have this report on the UN's stand on the current violence in the Middle East.

The U.N. humanitarian chief accused Hezbollah on Monday of "cowardly blending" in among Lebanese civilians and causing the deaths of hundreds during two weeks of cross-border violence with
Israel.

[ . . . ]

On Monday, he had strong words for Hezbollah, which crossed into Israel, captured two soldiers and killed eight others on July 12, triggering fierce fighting.

"Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending ... among women and children," he said. "I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men."

There was the usual condemnation of Israel and its use of "disproportionate force", but it wouldn't be the UN if it didn't take every possible opportunity to hammer Israel. The fact that the UN "Humanitarian" Chief castigated Hezbollah as it fights for its miserable life against UN whipping boy, Israel, tells you that Hezbollah has sunk so low that not even the UN can ignore its depradations.

On the other hand, we have this report on IDF tactics against Hezbollah.

The IDF was still encountering Hizbullah gunmen who were shooting form inside mosques, hospitals, and schools. They take advantage of the population, Assulin said, "But the IDF has high moral values and does its best to avoid harming anyone uninvolved."

None of this will make the slightest difference to those who insist on claiming a moral equivalence between the IDF and Hezbollah because they are both using violence to achieve their goal. But I thought I would point it out, and let the "cycle of violence" folks know that they'd better hope Israel wins. That is the only way the violence will stop.

Labels: Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon