Mares Hirchert (I know her real first name but won't tell) supports peace. And is proud of it.
The Livingston Press and Argus spotlighted Mares in a story in editions for Monday (January 5, 2009).
Mares has been waging her Pinwheels for Peace effort in support of a Palestinian kindergarten for months, taking many pictures in Livingston County Democratic Party offices with visiting dignitaries to build support for preventing the destruction of the school.
In recent days, Mares has been emailing the media and public officials urging them to try to halt Israel's offensive in Gaza. Israel's aerial bombardment, followed by its ground assault, has so-far killed more than 400 Palestinians, far more than the four people killed in Israel by Hamas rockets.
American media have for the most part ignored the context of the situation -- neglecting to mention Israel's blockade of the Gaza strip which has left the residents -- including innocent women and children -- there starving and without power for months.
The comments to the Press and Argus article are interesting. While most praise Mares for her dedication to peace, some are attacking her. We consider ourselves a peace-loving nation, but if anybody stands up for peace, they are attacked.
5 comments:
This is so much BS. The media has not ignored the "context." On TV, in papers and in news magazines..as well as the Internet...I've seen countless background pieces that describe the various perspectives.
Speaking of ignoring context...do you see those e-mails? Because I'm curious. While providing context, does Mares mention that Hamas repeatedly says that its goal is the destruction of Israel? Or does that tidbit somehow not get mentioned? I'm sincerely curious.
Hamas is a terrorist organization that uses human beings...including women and children...to commit suicide bombings specifically aimed at civilian targets. Say that sentence a couple of times. Comprehend what it means. For god's sake, did you think it was wrong to bomb the Nazis as well?
Yes, the media has ignored what has happened in both the West Bank and Gaza. It has quoted dozens of politicians who are claiming that Hamas just decides to send rockets into Israel. The story is much more complex than that and goes back for years.
But most recently, the Israelis have blockaded Gaza and made a prison out of it. Look on the map and see if you would like to live in that tiny strip of land without supplies and unable to get out without getting through an Israeli checkpoint.
Don't you remember a few months ago when the Gazans broke down the wall that divided them from Egypt?
War has been good for Israel. We give them lots of weapons and business. If they were not claiming that they are a poor beleaguered people that the Arabs want to eliminate, we wouldn't see any need to prop them up.
Many American and Israeli Jews do not believe we, the U.S. should be doing what it is in the Middle East. The last serious possibility for peace ended when Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated for signing a peace proposal with Arafat. Rabin was shot by a right-wing Israeli.
Donna...you say the Israel is "claiming" that the Arabs want to eliminate them? The stated and repeated goal of Hamas is the destruction of Israel.
I note that in your expansive history lesson, you failed to mention the suicide bombings. If we are going to compare civilian body counts, you should know that civilians killed by Hamas suicide bombers exceeds the civilian deaths in Gaza. You can look it up. Both stories are horrible. The lives lost are tragic on a humanitarian scale. On a practical scale, we are creating a new generation of resentment and likely terrorists. It's awful.
But your simplistic and blind bleatings are no help. Hamas came into the Gaza and failed to help the Palestinians. Instead they concentrated on building a base from which to attack Israel. And they purposely use the Palestinians as shields. They want them to die...so they can attract supporters such as you. They would kill you in an instant, you know. That's not true of the Israelis.
One of the most amazing things I read from someone who thinks like you was a criticism of how the Israelis took over the Gaza Strip in 1967. The author totally ignored the fact that Israel took over the land after it was invaded by Arabs whose intent was to wipe Israel off the map.
You are a useful fool for Hamas.
An American politician last week made this point: If terrorists took over Vancouver and starting lobbing missiles into Seattle, would America sit back and do nothing? Pretty good question. If you were asked the question, I think your answer would depend on whether you lived in Seattle or Detroit. Fortunately, others aren't quite as provincial.
Hamas can stop this tomorrow.
(By the way, do either you or Mares know the names of the hundreds killed by suicide bombs. Or aren't they all that important?)
Dear Anon,
First, I know about the suicide bombers and the rest of the bloody history. I don't condone killing by either side. That's why this has to stop now.
Second, as long as Israel does not reach a settlement with the Palestinians (not just Hamas) this war will continue. When progress was being made in the mid-90s, it was the Israeli right-wing religious zealots that stopped it.
Third, there are a number of Jews in America and the Middle East who want peace and are horrified by their country's actions. We need to start listening to those people, too.
Gaza could be compared to a concentration camp in that no one can get in or out without going through an Israelie checkpoint. Using your rocket example with Vancouver, if Vancouverites could not leave their city, bring supplies in and out, and had to go through an American checkpoint (not just to enter the U.S.) but to access the rest of Canada, they might make some homemade rockets and lob them over.
World War II bombings? You can easily find plenty of evidence that we did much more bombing than necessary to end the war. Dresden was bombed into oblivion for no military or strategic purpose, for example. The blood of those civilians is on our hands.
Once war is unleashed, so will all the horrors and excess killings, torture and other terrible abuses. It doesn't matter if it's in the Middle East or in the U.S. War has its own rules and they are not those of civilized people.
Donna...reasonable response, but I don't know the answer. Nor does anyone during recorded history.
War itself is insanity and leads to inhuman acts. But what do you do? Playing the peace card doesn't work when the other guys aren't interested.
By the way, the Vancouver example came from Sen. Harry Reid.
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