Words Unspoken

The closest that the mainstream media comes to criticizing Israel is to mention that some people think—possibly—that 'disproportionate force' is being used. Disproportionate? Will somebody please tell me then, for heaven's sake, what proportionate force would look like and where the line would be? To make just one obvious comparison: the fact of the matter is that Serbia never did anything to Kosovo on the scale of what Israel is doing to Lebanon, yet Milosevic was brought before an international tribunal on charges which included, in regard to Kosovo, war crimes and crimes against humanity. To their great and lasting credit some senior UN officials have been using realistic language about Israel, yet almost everybody else has proven incapable of discussing or reporting events with neither fear nor favor. This is a pity. If we can't use words like murder, war crimes, and crimes against humanity to describe what's happening—apt words—we implicitly find ourselves in collusion with the bloody deeds. (Image credit AP, for fair use.)