2/27/2010

Israeli news roundup

Posted by Andrew | Labels: , , , ,

According to the Israeli paper Haaretz, US Special Envoy George Mitchell tried to resign from his position, citing his lack of progress and the favored bias toward Israel in some parts of the State Department.

In another clear move that Israel is very happy with the current situation, and has very little desire to seriously pursue peace talks with the Palestinians, Israel is planning to build 600 more homes in occupied East Jerusalem. All settlements within East Jerusalem are considered illegal under international law.

Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal on the future of political assassinations and Israel's recent hit on a Palestinian in Dubai.

2 comments:

Bruce Kratky said...

I still find it hard to believe that Israel's agents were somehow "unaware" of the security that existed in Dubai and in particular that hotel. This whole thing sounds fishy and I can make no judgement as to what I think went on. This fellow was definitely on Israel's "spit list" if not "hit list". Motive certainly was there. That Moussad is somehow now incompetent is beyond credulity.

As for assassinations, the comment by the author that if one would actually keep us from going to war it could be a good thing resonates with me some. Still, killing someone is serious business. I don't trust government types to tell you the truth. I think it is a good thing we have limits on assassination. I don't like the drones, the hell fire rockets and the like. It is too impersonal, too detached from the reality of what killing is like.

As a bomber pilot my father talked about the altitude factor and how it could allow you to not "think" about what you had just done. Now, the drone being flown by someone who is in Florida or Virginia, who can leave work for a break and get a Big Mac for lunch, and then go back to work, facing no personal danger, and kill one hundred people with the turn of a joystick and the pressing of a button makes WWII bombing missions seem outright visceral. There is a huge morality play going on here I must admit. I am not a fan. Still, I would not want to be in Pakistan trying to ferret out a bad guy and killing him before someone killed me. I would not want my child to do that job. Yet, there are some in our society, all societies, who relish the idea.

If these killers were in fact Israeli agents, at least they got down and dirty. It was personal, it was a target, there was no colatteral damage.

3:40 AM  
Andrew said...

I definitely agree with you on the depersonalizing of war. It is frightening and a harbinger of the future of warfare - bloodless for the victor and utter destruction for the victims.

As for the assassination, it seems rather clear that it was Mossad. Israel has definitely screwed up pretty badly at least once before (Khaled Mishal) in Jordan. My guess is that Mossad underestimated the level to which Dubai has upped their security apparatuses and reach. Or maybe they just don't care, as their agents are beyond the reach of international law. I do feel bad for the dual-passport Israelis who are probably fearing for their lives now.

9:16 PM  

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