What the Price of Democracy Should Be

I reiterate that this Blog is not intended to be a "me, too" type media organ.  I post on it when I (A) am inspired by an event or an idea to express myself; (B) have a clear vision or a definitive conundrum; and (C) believe that, at the moment, nobody else in the world is expressing the view in quite the same way as I am.

Of course, I do have some very strong and unabashedly pro-Israel sentiments regarding the current conflict between Israel and Hamas.  But, until now, hundreds if not thousands of like-minded authors have already expressed essentially what has been coursing through my brain on the matter; until now, I have had nothing material to add.

But now, I wish to express a sentiment which has gotten little if any traction in the media, mainstream or otherwise.

The Hamas government now in Gaza was elected by the people of Gaza through the democratic election process.  While the quality of the ballot-casting and vote-counting in the process may or may not pass muster by what, until now, have been the standards in America (which, in turn, may or may not be fulfilled in any given electoral district in any given election), it nevertheless is a reflection of the collective sentiment of the denizens of Gaza.  And this sentiment is not limited to the ballot box.  Gaza Arabs do willingly support and willingly collaborate in many of the Hamas policies and activities, including and especially those policies and activities that are hostile to Jews.  And make no mistake about it -- Hamas and its retinue would not hesitate to do the same to the people of America if geography and logistics were conducive to it.

Israel should, of course, make reasonable efforts to minimize civilian casualties to the extent it can do so while protecting its own people, civilian and otherwise. And I hasten to note that many of the casualties reported by Hamas, the UN, and/or the media as being civilians were in fact active combatants in the service of Hamas.

And, of course, much of the tunnel construction work was done by child slave labor -- Hamas using Arab children to do the work.  Where are the anti-sweatshop people on this one?

But the people of Gaza are now in a situation in which they had a hand in making.

I would like to see a peaceful resolution of the current situation in Gaza.  The reality, however, is that the Arab world typically gets itself into an unstable situation, asks the West to extricate it from that situation, and then stymies all Western attempts at resolution.  This pattern is once again replaying in Gaza.

And so, while I certainly do not advocate the intentional directed killing of civilians in Gaza (regardless of whether by Israeli operations or by Hamas operations), neither am I overwrought with extreme guilt or pity for those civilians in Gaza who are victims of collateral damage by Israel's efforts to protect its residents from the excesses of Hamas emanating from Gaza.