Middle-East

Today on Muslim Wakeup!, Henri Piccioto sounds the clarion call of Jewish dissent regarding the conflict in Lebanon. "There is a saying ``two Jews, three opinions.'' Now we are told ``1 million Jews, one opinion.'' Don't put words in this man's mouth; he's not taking it. Kudos, Mr. Piccioto.

 Also, is there a truce on the horizon?

You're young, female, and terrified by the very real prospect of being hit by a Hezbollah missile. What better way to deal with your trauma than to go and sign your name or write a nasty message on a shell about to be fired into Lebanon.  

(Never mind that the shell you signed is far more likely to kill a Lebanese child than a Hezbollah fighter, but anyway...)

This well-known photo is an interesting contrast to all the footage we've been seeing of gun-carrying Hezbollahi young men. The Hezbollahis are made to represent Arab/Muslim masculinity run amok, not only guilty of kidnapping, but also of penetrating the Israeli border time and again with erratic rocket attacks. Even their poorly aimed missiles---erectile disfunction?---still cause death and mayhem.

The BBC carried this story yesterday, along with a good discussion of what exactly constitutes war crimes under the Geneva Convention. It's refreshing to see mainstream media attempt for once to argue this sort of thing through rather than fall back on tired and lazy stereotypes.

According to the BBC's analysis, Hizbullah was definitely guilty of war crimes for firing missiles into civilian areas in Israel. Whether or not Israel is also guilty of war crimes in its response depends basically on two things; whether it tried sufficiently to avert civilian casualties, and whether the force of the response was disproportionate to the provocation it faced. As in all things legal, there is a big element of subjectivity to both these questions.