Can a moral society accept the present suffering in Gaza?
“The level of harm to the civilian population is unprecedented”, said an all-star line-up of Israeli human rights organizations at a group press conference in West Jerusalem at midday today. They were speaking of the people in Gaza. Since the start of the Israeli Defense Force’s Operation Cast Lead on 27 December, the human rights groups said, ‘military forces are making wanton use of lethal force which has to date caused the deaths of hundreds of uninvolved civilians and destroyed infrastructure and property on an enormous scale. In addition, Israel is also hitting civilian objects, having defined them as ‘legitimate military targets’ solely by virtue of their being ‘symbols of government’.” And, caught in the middle, are “1.5 million civilians in extreme humanitarian distress”. But to say, as the human rights groups did, in the same breath, and in a polite and even-handed way, that the IDF is providing “limited help” is both a gross exaggeration and a huge understatement. See our ear
