....and the world reacts with Selective Outrage!
Recently, the UN Security Council had quite an interesting proposal (bit one sided) that was begining to be circulated about via a mixed bag of UN / Palestinian delegation. The proposal's goal was a simple one - The condemnation of Israel for their targeting and killing of Hamas "Spiritual Leader" Shekh Ahmed Yassin. Yassin, the wheelchair bound leader of Hamas was killed after an Isreali helicopter fired several missiles killing Yassin and several body guards as they exited from a mosque. As per usual, international outrage was as quick to follow the killing of a Hamas leader ( go figure). The US decided not to play the "who can condem Israel first" game and pretty much remained somewhat to the side of it...that is till the proposal began making its rounds in the UN.
Although no one knows for sure how much support it had in the Security Council, it pretty much became a dead issue when the US ambassador to the UN, John D. Negroponte, said " Yassin was the leader of a terrorist organization (Hamas), one in which has proudly taken credit for indiscriminate attacks against civilians, including most recently an attack last week in the Port of Ashdod, which left 10 Israelis dead. He preached hatred and gloified suicide bombings of buses, restaurants and cafes...The Security Council should not, and the United States will not, support initatives which ignore this reality". In other words..the US just essentially used what equates to a verbal bitchslap to inform the UN and the world that we wont accept the selective outrage mentality anymore.
The majority of press the world over harped on the phrase "spiritual leader" to describe Yassin..often painting the image of a harmless old man preaching to his flock...he was far from it...from his position in Hamas, he shouted religious edicts, orders, etc. for the death of Israelis and an end to Israel...he celebrated the bombings of innocents in Israel (that includes many Palestinians caught in the blast zones...funny but we never hear condemnation over those deaths....guess they dont count) and was violently opposed to the Oslo accords. While I might not celebrate over Yassin's death I do agree it needed doing and that Israel was well within its rights to target the leaders of terrorist groups (opps..i mean extremists for the politically correct)...if some out there disagree with me then let me ask this simple question...WHO IS MORE DANGEROUS, A SUICIDE BOMBER TARGETING CIVILIANS OR THE INDIVIDUAL WHO INSTRUCTS THAT BOMBER THAT RELIGIOUSLY (WHATEVER RELIGION) IT IS ALRIGHT?
I wonder how many would pick the bomber as the worst?
In the end, Hamas has a new leader...Adel Aziz al-Rantisi, who already proclaimed the usual "Israelis will never know security" speech. Israel is on heightened alert but they knew that going into this. "That may be true but Rantisi should know he may wind up the shortest lived leader of Hamas in history," cited Israels deputy UN ambassador Arye Mekel on tuesday. All in all, Hamas has lost a key personality that won't be easily replaced!
In conclusion, to criticise Israel for any action without equal criticism of the Palestinian terrorists and/or the Palestinian Authority is hollow at best!