Rose, I appreciate your read, and at the same time, Mark, I appreciate your points.
I hope I'm not being a broken record here, but -
Of the options open to Israel (I don't see Israel's chosen course as the only option available,) I do maintain that by the standards by which nations respond to acts of war, and by the dictates of just war theory, Israel was justified in taking the action she (or "it") took.
But your point is that I present this as established fact, whereas for you and others here, it is in doubt. There's a certain arrogance in declaring "victory" on a given point and just moving on. In my own defense, I have been looking for responses that could be objectively classed as refuting Israel's right to her actions, and I do not see them. BUT, that is my subjective evaluation.
Mark, I've found your interactions here to be mature and honest, and as you say of your last post to me, even self-deprecating. And I've also caught myself on occasion responding with a little bit of a snide tone not merited or invited by your posts, maybe leading to the "who's qualified to have an opinion" notion I see creeping in here. If I'm doing that in a scattershot way, turning the discussion into my own little free fire zone, that just makes me an ass. I have no intention of "silencing" any other voices. It's the really unsupported trashers of Israel, Jews, and/or Semites I cannot just walk away from, and Mark, you have never come across that way (um unless I said you did.)
KIDDING THERE.
So if nothing else, Mark and Rose, please don't whack at each other on account of my phrasing or argument. On a personal level you're both among my faves, so I'll step back from the provocative aspects of the post in question -- I am wrong, it is not objectively established!!! -- in exchange for nipping this clash in the bud.
I know I show passion for the subject matter, and that sometimes bleeds over into heavyhandedness. I know a smidgen of history, and if I turn that into a club, I apologize. I would be the last one to say that no Jew can be against a given action of Israel's, or that no non-Jew can have a significant insight into these events.
I certainly also think it would be wrong to use the "Anti-Semitism" charge like a club against those who disagree. I think on occasion during this debate, the charge has applied. Rose, I think you (and your quoted source) are right, that the world is having one of its "Mel Gibson" moments... But I haven't seen that attitude in Mark's posts, nor has he generally designated himself a Hezb'ologist. He's gone out of his way to acknowledge that there's more to casualty figures than meets the eye, while expressing sympathy with the victims... a sympathy my own posts may not reflect, or seem to reflect, at times.
Just about everyone here's been remarkably civil given the subject matter... you guys are both among the civil types (as I think I am, at least sometimes...) I hope this last exchange is a momentary flareup!
Dan
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