The news of Israel's bombing attack on Gaza is absolutely terrible. Here is a dispassionate article from Al Jazeera in English. AL Jazeera has some of the best news coverage in English there is. Here is commentary from Bernard Avishai, an Israeli journalist and author, and here, and here. And here's the most recent coverage from the New York Times. And here's the BBC's coverage. The New York Times presents some photos here.
Palestinians in Gaza are virtual prisoners, their movements tightly controlled. Movements of medical personnel are controlled. Israel controls and limits Gaza's access to water. Gaza is dependent on increasingly limited humanitarian food distribution from the UN and others.
My mother used to say you become what you hate. Many of the Israelis alive today did not suffer under Nazi Germany which was the worst suffering one can imagine, but they did not. Yet they act out against the Palestinians I think their revenge against the Nazis, and have, in effect become the persecuters, the torturers.
Yet Obama refuses to speak out, to speak personally, to speak from his heart. I am deeply, deeply disappointed. To say "There is only one president..." is to throw up a smoke screen. His self-interest seems blinding in light of this new explosion of tragedy.