2 = 500,000
By Gilad Atzmon
This is obviously the outcome of the newly emerged
Hebraic arithmetic laws. For 2 kidnapped Israeli soldiers
who are still kept alive, 500,000 innocent Lebanese
civilians are displaced. For 2 abducted Israeli soldiers,
Lebanon, a sovereign state, is brought back down on its
knees. Its civil infrastructure is gone. Some
of its capitals residential quarters and southern
villages are already wiped out. Indeed, two equals
half a million is the new arithmetic the Israelis
insist upon imposing on the region. Is it that
surprising? Not at all, as predicted by Gershon Sholem
already in the 1930s: once the Jews start to speak
Hebrew, it wont take long before they consider
themselves to be God.
In the Bible Sodom and Gomorrah were "brimstone and
fire from the Lord out of heaven" (Genesis 13:13;
18:20; 19:24, 29; Hosea 11:8). The two towns where erased
by God for the sins of its inhabitants. In the Biblical
narrative (Genesis 18), God informs Abraham that he is
intent upon demolishing the city of Sodom because of its
gross immorality. Abraham pleads with God not to do it.
God is willing to agree as long as there were 50
righteous people in town, then 45, then 30, 20, or even
just 10 decent people.
While the Biblical tale is saturated with Gods fury
and vengeance, it is Abraham, a morally orientated human
being who insists upon saving the inhabitants of Sodom.
Yet, not many contemporary Abrahams have been raising
their voices within Israeli society. In a demonstration
against the emerging brutal attack against Lebanon, less
than one thousand Israeli showed up. But far more
worryingly, not many Abrahams are noticeable amongst our
world leaders. While Bush was clearly caught up welcoming
the brutal wiping out of yet another Arab country, his
twin ideological brother, PM Blair, supports
Israels right to defend itself.
One should ask the British PM the obvious question: if
indeed Israel is solely engaged in merely defending
itself how come there is no Navy rescue mission of
Britons from Tel Aviv or Haifa? Somehow, Mr. Blair, it is
rather apparent that Israels aim of defending
itself is so extensive in its brutality that it is
actually Beirut and southern Lebanon that are wiped out.
Following Sholems prophecy, it is rather clear
that the almighty Israelis indeed endorsed the role of a
cruel God. Flying American F-16s, the Israelis with
brimstone and fire bomb Lebanese cities and
villages out of existence. Last night, the IAF angels
dropped 23 tons of explosives on a one single bunker in
Beirut. They really want to kill so it seems.
However, within the Biblical tale, even God is willing to
bargain, just present me with 50, 40, 30, 20
righteous people, he tells Abraham. Seemingly,
Israel, the almighty regional God, is far less willing to
bargain. Till this point in time, it has rejected any
ceasefire initiatives. The Israelis want to finish
the job so they say.
One may wonder what exactly is that job which they want
to finish. Indeed they spread collateral damage all over
Lebanon but seemingly they do not touch the Hezbollah.
Instead, rather murderously, they punish the entire
Lebanese people. They flatten Beiruts southern
neighbourhoods, they destroy the Lebanese civil
infrastructures, they destroy the states economy,
half a million Lebanese are now displaced, hundreds are
dead. And guess what, they dont win. Ostensibly,
the Hezbollah is gaining power. In fact, from this point
onwards, the Hezbollah can only win. In other words, the
Hezbollah has won the battle already.
More than anything, it is the Hezbollah that made Israel
reveal its very devastating notion of blood arithmetic
i.e. 2 = 500,000. For those who fail to understand,
people who believe in two equals half a
million can easily nuke whoever they consider to be
their enemies with out the slightest hesitation. 2 =
500,000 is there to suggest that Israel isnt just a
regional danger, it is the biggest threat to world peace.
This is something Ive known for a while but now
thanks to the Hezbollah this will become common
knowledge.
While in the history of the conflict, no Arab army has
yet defeated the Israeli military might, the Hezbollah, a
tiny paramilitary group of patriotic warriors has managed
to transform northern Israeli cities into ghost towns.
They did it without a navy, without an air force, without
tanks. For those who dont know, Israel is all about
good life. It is all about trading in the
stock exchange. Having a BBQ party on the beach. Big
imported pop acts in open-air concerts. Rather than Peace
Israelis are after Shalom which really
means: one-sided security for the Jews only. The
Hezbollah (as well as the Hamas) made it clear to the
Israelis, you will never live in Shalom unless you
dig into the notion of Peace.
It is important to mention that Israel could never win
this war, it could only lose and in fact it lost already.
Israels power of deterrence is minced to pieces by
a lightly armed paramilitary organisation. Considering
the emerging humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, the world
public attention from now on will be dedicated to the
growing devastation the God-like Israelis
have left behind. Israel on its side is going to be left
with a war of attrition. It took the Hezbollah 20 years
to get the IDF out of Lebanon. The Israelis know very
well that if the IDF fails miserably in defeating the
Hezbollah, no army in the world can do the job any
better. Hezbollah is there to stay. Israel is now left
with a very hostile neighbour and a very strong Hezbollah
on its very vulnerable northern border.
The Old Testaments almighty God is indeed merciless
at times, he acts with fury and vengeance but he
isnt vulnerable. In Genesis 18 the people of Sodom
do not fight back, they just pass away. The one who looks
back with awe is transformed into a salty statue. But the
God-like Israelites are rather vulnerable.
One billion Arabs are waiting for them behind the corner.
One billion Arabs who are humiliated daily by an
Anglo-American Zionised west that backs
Israels right to defend itself. One
billion Arabs that are looking at stolen Palestine,
smashed Gaza and torn apart Lebanon. Those Arabs have a
good reason to be cheered by the Hezbollah. It is the
Hezbollah that gives them a very good reason to look
forward with pride.
But the Hezbollah is not the only winner. Clearly, the
Israeli attack leads towards a huge humanitarian crisis.
While the Americans and British are concerned mainly with
rescuing their citizens in Beirut (many of them indeed
Lebanese by origin), Syria is there to offer safe shelter
to a growing flood of thousands of Lebanese refugees.
While Blair and Bush engage in giving the green light to
Israeli brutality, it is Syria that gives a hand to the
real victims. It is about time we shake off our views and
admit that from a purely ethical point of view. It is
Syria and Iran who support the oppressed people in this
battered region. i.e.. the Palestinians and now the
Lebanese. For me this is more than enough to suggest that
at least ethically, Iran and Syria are the most
progressive powers around.
And just one final word about the God-like Israelites;
indeed, it is very clear that they do not love their
neighbours. But how to say it, people who inflict so much
pain on others probably do not like themselves either.
Even murderers dont like themselves being
murderers.
www.gilad.co.uk
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