Where is the outrage?

Gaza devastation from Israeli bombings -
originally reported by ABC as Israelis fleeing to a bomb shelter

We have become accustomed to the one-sided reporting of the American and Western media on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  The current outbreak of fighting is getting similar biased coverage and little to no reaction from most of the world's governments.  The disruptive but useless rocket launchings into Israel are being treated similarly to the devastation being wreaked by Israeli bombing raids into Gaza.  As of this morning, 204 Palestinians have been killed and 1450 wounded.  Most of these are civilians and include numerous children.  According to the UN,  1,370 homes have been destroyed, directly displacing 8,200 Palestinians, and 600,000 people were at risk of losing access to water supply.   The Israelis have suffered 1 death and "several" wounded. 


The increase in hostilities started when Israel assassinated seven Hamas members after declaring Hamas responsible for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers.  The fact that Hamas had nothing to do with the incident and that another group took credit for it apparently meant nothing to the self-appointed judge, jury and executioner.  Hamas responded to these murders by launching rockets into Israel - which. of course, gave Israel the excuse to overreact and begin the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.


Why is the world not outraged at the latest Israeli war crimes?  Have we become so used to the tragedy that is Gaza that we no longer care?  Have we become so inured to the collective punishment of these stateless people that additional hundreds of mostly civilian deaths mean nothing? 


Declaring America to be Israel's great friend and asking for peace, as Obama did in an op-ed piece in Haaretz, is fine and good.  Meanwhile, the killing of Palestinians continues.  As long as the United States continues to condone - by its inaction, by its military aid and by its use of the veto in the UN - Israel's illegal actions, nothing will change.  Gaza is deemed to become unlivable by 2020.  The ongoing blockade and the devastation being wreaked by the Israeli attacks may hasten that date.

18 members of the family of a Gaza police chief were killed in an Israeli air strike
.Photo in Al Jazeera is by Mohammed Salem/Reuters

Al Jazeera reported on the promised escalation of attacks by Israel after Hamas rejected the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire.  "Hamas said it never received a cease-fire proposal, and added that any deal that did not address its preconditions could not be approved. The group is demanding that Israel end its seven-year blockade on the occupied territory, recommitment by Israel to the terms of the 2012 cease-fire that ended the last offensive and the release of scores of Hamas members arrested across the West Bank in past weeks.  Hamas also wants Egypt to ease its Rafah border closure, which along with Israel's control of Gaza's other borders has economically strangled the strip and restricted the movement of its residents."  The same article reports on the Human Rights Watch's statement.  HRW said that " 'providing warnings does not make an otherwise unlawful attack lawful,' and condemned both Israeli and Gazan attacks on civilians. Israeli airstrikes investigated by HRW have been targeting civilian structures and often unlawfully killing civilians. 'Deliberate or reckless attacks violating the laws of war are war crimes,' the rights group said in a statement.  HRW also condemned Israel's attacks on the family homes of alleged Hamas members. 'The presence of a single, low-level fighter would hardly justify the appalling obliteration of an entire family,' Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director of HRW, said in the statement. 'Israel would never accept an argument that any Israeli home of an Israel Defense Force member would be a valid military target.' "


Link to petition requesting Obama to demand that Israelis refrain from bombing Gaza hospital