Weekly Commentary: Correcting Mr. Bush's caveat on Israel right to defend
itself

Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 10 January 2008

"How Israel deals with the rocket attacks I would hope is done in a way that
not only protects herself, but worries about innocent life. And I'm
convinced the Prime Minister does. He understands he has an obligation to
protect Israel. He also understands that he's got to be circumspect and
reasonable about how he does it, so that innocent people don't suffer."
President Bush at press conference - Jerusalem 9 January 2008

Disturbing words.

Especially when you take into account that when the president of the United
States of America answers questions at a press conference his remarks are
anything but off the cuff.

Contrast this with what Mr. Bush said about the Israeli checkpoints in
response to a reporter's question in Ramallah today:

".the whole object is to create a state that is capable of defending itself
internally, and giving confidence to its neighbor that checkpoints won't be
needed..The security of a state is essential, particularly in a day and age
when people simply disregard the value of human life, and kill. And so these
checkpoints reflect the reality."

Where does this leave Israel?

President Bush accepts the necessity of Israeli checkpoints given the
current situation without conditioning them on the impact of the checkpoints
on "innocent" Palestinians. But when it comes to protecting innocent
Israeli civilians being attacked by Palestinians terrorists who are shielded
by "innocent" Palestinians that's a different story.

Commander in Chief Bush surely would never dare impose such a constraint on
American forces fighting in Iraq - and that is a case of weighing the lives
of American soldiers - not American civilians - against the lives of Iraqi
human shields.

Again. Mr. Bush's remarks are anything but off the cuff.

It is best to address them rather than ignore them.

The point must be driven home that just as "checkpoints reflect the reality",
given the "reality" of the heavy Palestinian use of human shields, the kind
of large scale Israeli operation now required to put an end to the rocket
attack nightmare from the Gaza Strip could very well entail considerable
suffering on the part of Palestinian human shields.

This won't be Israel's fault just as the checkpoints aren't Israel's fault.

The loss of life among Palestinian human shields will be the combined fault
of the terrorists who exploit them and the Palestinians who knowingly opt to
serve as human shields.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il