Little Drummers

Last week, reports the Jerusalem Post, Israel's former Sephardi chief rabbi, Mordechai Eliyahu, wrote a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert informing him that there was absolutely no moral prohibition against the indiscriminate killing of civilians in Gaza. What good news for Ehud! And the rabbi's son, Shmuel Eliyahu, chief rabbi of Safed, helpfully elaborated regarding what's needed to prevent the Palestinians from launching rockets into Israel: "If they don't stop after we kill 100, then we must kill a thousand," "...and if they do not stop after 1,000 then we must kill 10,000. If they still don't stop we must kill 100,000, even a million. Whatever it takes to make them stop." Thank you, Shmuel, for setting us straight. The Palestinians, however, do see things a bit differently. Ali Abunimah writes for Electronic Intifada from Chicago about this latest outrage. On a related note, people should try to watch John Pilger's outstanding (somewhat recent, 2002) video on the Palestinian situation. [Caution: powerful, extremely graphic images.]