While its neighbors such as Syria demonstrate a particular malevolent disregard for human life, why is it that Israel continues to be singled out with uniquely evil attributes?
Take The Independent, which has published a series of front page articles exposing how some banks have invested in companies that produce cluster bombs. Ignoring any other examples of cluster bomb usage, Chris Atkins inserts the following into his comment piece:
The really awful thing about cluster bombs is their longevity. They kill and maim decades after they were dropped, which is presumably why Israel deposited millions of them in the last three days of its Lebanon invasion in 2006.
The fact that unexploded cluster munitions can cause damage long after they have been dropped is not in dispute and it is legitimate to debate the efficacy of using such weapons (which are legal under international law) to begin with.
Atkin’s assertion, however, that Israel dropped cluster bombs on Lebanon with the specific intent of causing indiscriminate deaths and injuries for decades after the event, is a view that attibutes demonic qualities to Israel that has no basis in reality or logic. Israel takes extreme measures to avoid civilian casualties even when its enemy, in this case Hezbollah, operates from within civilian areas.
But then in the minds of some, Israel is just an evil killing machine.
Send your considered comments to The Independent – [email protected]. Remember – letters for publication in the newspaper must include the sender’s name, postal address and daytime telephone number.
