thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground—Genesis 4:10
The headline on the right belongs to Hebrew newspaper Yediot Ahronot. It was published on August 7, 1945, the day after the bestial nuclear attack on Hiroshima. It reads: "Two Jews Helped in the Invention of the Atomic Bomb." It shows better than anything else the attitude of the writers, their disregard for human life. Countless innocents had been incinerated to death, in what by definition was a Holocaust. It didn't matter. "Two Jews Helped" was the headline.
| 
"Two Jews Helped in the Invention of the Atomic Bomb"
Yediot Ahronot, August 7, 1945 Hibakusha: Survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki  |
On August 8, 2013, Israel attacked in Sinai with a drone. Four men were killed. The day after, the breaking news headlines were humbler than in 1945; the disregard for life and the rights of others were no less despicable.
"Sinai group says it was target of Israeli drone"
Egyptian Army in Sinai
Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician, August 6-September 30, 1945  |
The line above was the first headline that appeared on the Hebrew media after the attack. It was a typical attempt to circumvent Israel's Military Censor,* thus giving it credibility despite the phrasing. Yet, I waited a bit, until a senior Hebrew journalist closely related to the IDF published on that using circumventing codes "foreign sources say," "Israeli aircraft, apparently unmanned," and similarly ambiguous phrases. Yes, an Israeli drone had attacked in Sinai, Egypt.
|
This was the second time Israel attacked in Sinai after it signed a peace agreement with Egypt in 1979. The first event took place on August 18, 2011, when a series of cross-border attacks took place near Eilat, resulting in deaths to all sides involved. After Mubarak was removed from power, the attack was part of the ongoing insurrection in the Sinai.
The current attack must be seen in the context of the events reported in Israeli Anti-Missiles Fail in Eilat Attack. On April 17, 2013, the Iron Dome Antimissile Battery in Eilat failed to intercept an attack by the Salafi organization named "Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem." The attack caused no damage, but it proved that the Israeli antimissile system—as analyzed here—was good only on paper. Since then, it has been downgraded in the IDF Brave New Plan. Instead, offensive platforms, like killer drones, are favored now.
The Attack
Hebrew media wasn't a swallow announcing the spring; the first news had arrived from Egyptian officials and a formal announcement by Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, the victim's organization.
Egyptian security officials claimed that at 4:15PM on Friday, two explosions were heard about three kilometers west of the Rafah border line, when an Israeli drone had killed five suspected militants.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis said that four of its members were killed while the commander of the unit escaped. The dead were from the Sinai's Bedouin Tribes.
IDF Spokesman and Israeli authorities have not released any comments, though they didn't deny the attack.
Casus belli?
|
Was this a casus belli** event? Can Egypt legitimately declare war on Israel following the latter's aggression of Egyptian citizens on Egyptian land?
The AP news agency quoted two senior Egyptian defense sources claiming that the Israeli airstrike had been coordinated with the Egyptian authorities.
AP's report and the ongoing reactions within Egypt show that this is not a casus belli. Israel and the military dictatorship in Egypt have declared war on the Egyptian people.
|
Dr. Ahmed Aref—Muslim Brotherhood Media Spokesman—published a statement saying there was ongoing attempts within the army to redefine "enemy" in a bid to turn the army's power inward. "We hear about the crimes of the Zionist enemy along our borders as well as an infiltration of our borders and the killing of Egyptians," he said.
A spokesman for the Justice and Freedom Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, said "Can the leaders of the July 3 revolution (the army deposition of Morsi) attack terrorist inside of Israeli territory the same way they permit Israel to attack Egyptian on Egyptian soil?" nailing the topic in a few words.
People are not countries. The latter cannot declare war on individuals, despite the USA obviously thinking otherwise. Envious of America's drone assassinations, Israel entered the same path with the blessing of the USA-backed military dictators in Egypt. In essence, this is not different from Hiroshima's bestial attack on 1945.
Countries cannot declare war on individuals. If the latter are suspected of breaking the law, they are entitled to defend themselves in a proper court acting under published, non-secret laws and in public hearings so that people can see the justice in action. Anything else is State-Terror.
———
* Israel’s Military Censor is technically part of AMAN, the IDF Intelligence Directorate, but it works as an independent unit. Its head is appointed directly by the Defense Minister—a highly unusual step—and is only subject to parliamentary and judicial oversight. Not even the Minister of Defense can give orders to it.
The Military Censor has authority to suppress information it deems compromising from being made public in the media. Probably the most famous event ever censored was the Kav 300 picture (see Kav 300 Forever); the picture was exposed to the Israeli public only after the New York Times published it. This is typical; Israeli news outlets often circumvent the censor by reporting stories "as quoted from foreign news sources," which are not subject to the restrictions of the Israeli military censor.
The trial of Mordechai Vanunu, the assassination attempt on Khaled Mashal (see Mossad, Sonic Weapons & Haled Mashal) and events related to Operation Defensive Shield
and Operation Cast Lead were also famously censored.
The Military Censor has authority to suppress information it deems compromising from being made public in the media. Probably the most famous event ever censored was the Kav 300 picture (see Kav 300 Forever); the picture was exposed to the Israeli public only after the New York Times published it. This is typical; Israeli news outlets often circumvent the censor by reporting stories "as quoted from foreign news sources," which are not subject to the restrictions of the Israeli military censor.
The trial of Mordechai Vanunu, the assassination attempt on Khaled Mashal (see Mossad, Sonic Weapons & Haled Mashal) and events related to Operation Defensive Shield
and Operation Cast Lead were also famously censored.
** Casus belli is Latin for "incident of war," it refers to an incident that allows starting a war. The UN Charter prohibits signatory countries from engaging in war except as a means of defending themselves or unless the UN gave prior approval to the operation.
0 Have Your Say!:
Post a Comment