More than Bad Aim

Now I know why I don�t like watching the news. There never seems to be something that is guaranteed to raise my blood pressure more than a few points (I�m talking enough points to make the blood vessels on my head begin to throb painfully here, folks, really seriously nasty stuff). It would seem that today was no exception � I knew I shouldn�t have looked, but the World Cup (oh, sorry, the FIFA World Cup) is on, and I wanted to see if there were any interesting headlines relating to this wonderful event.

Instead, I found that there had been an � unfortunate incident � a euphemism for something really bad � in, where else, Israel.

This shouldn�t really surprise anyone with an IQ above, well, groundwater � but it is nevertheless upsetting. It isn�t upsetting because it is unexpected, but rather because it is so unnecessary. There is no reason for this violence to be taking place.

This most recent situation is a case in which Israel has crossed the line. An air strike against militants driving on a road in Gaza launched a rocket attack that ended up killing seven civilians, two of which were children.

Always looking to justify their actions, the IDF indicated that the militants were going to launch Katyusha rockets against southern Israel, so this was a pre-emptive act. Unfortunately, the witnesses said that several missiles were fired at the car, one of which found its mark. Herein begins the real tragedy � and crime. According to the witnesses, another missile was launched after the initial attack � after the car was hit (the target) � after a crowd had begun to gather around the scene of the attack.

Some of those gathered were medical employees who were on their way to see if they could help in any way. They were killed, as was a father and son. Innocent civilians.

Do I need to say that they were Palestinians? Is that even important? Well, I don�t think it matters � the dead and injured could have all been tourists from China � but we all know it was Gaza; therefore they were Palestinian.

Perhaps someday we will have advanced enough as a species to be able to live together regardless of our differences. Someday.