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Nations United Against Israel

Most the world seethes as Israel defends itself


By Stan Goodenough
December 28, 2008

The international community was in uproar at the weekend following Israel's decision to finally act against the relentless rain of rockets on Jewish communities in the south of the country.

Only the United States and Great Britain indicated an understanding for the Israeli action and laid the blame for the crisis firmly at Hamas' door.

“Hamas’ continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop,” said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said her country “strongly condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and holds Hamas responsible for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence in Gaza.”

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on the Hamas terror group "to cease all rocket attacks on Israel immediately" and said that he could "understand the Israeli government’s sense of obligation to its population."

Both Britain and America cautioned Israel - which in any case always employs surgically-precise strikes against the terrorists rather than wide-open attacks on the terrorist-supporting civilians - to do everything possible to avoid "collateral damage."

According to the London Sunday Times - the positions adopted by the Bush and Brown administrations put those nations on "a collision course with their European allies."

And with other world leaders.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon led a chorus of condemnations, Saturday saying he was "deeply alarmed" at Israel's use of "excessive" force and demanding an "immediate halt to all violence”.

His bias was echoed by French President Nikolas Sarkozy and by a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The European Union demanded "an immediate ceasefire" and the United Nations Security Council issued a statement Sunday morning expressing "serious concern" and calling for "an immediate halt to all violence," as Israeli airstrikes against Hamas targets continued.

In Rome, Benedikt XVI pontificated that "the terrestrial homeland of Jesus cannot continue to be the witness of such bloodshed which is repeated ad infinitum."

The pope implored the international community to do "all it can to help the Israelis and Palestinians on this dead-end road... and not to give in to the perverse logic of confrontation and violence but to favor the path of dialogue and negotiations."

Arab responses (see separate story) were predictable.

The press had its say too:

Media analysts believed neither Hamas nor Israel would heed the Security Council, and that its call really represented a "foundation" on which the nations would build an increasingly insistent demand for an end to the fighting.

Fumed the Sunday Times: "The wave of attacks marked a violent end to President George W Bush’s sporadic Middle East peace efforts."

A Sky News reporter stated irresponsibly and inaccurately that in Gaza "women and children are dead and dying simply because of where they live."

And CNN's Ralitsa Vasseliva said the "ceasefire" that had been in place had been weakened by, among other things, Israel's blockade of Gaza [an Israeli action in response to the rockets - Ed] and "increasingly hardlined positions by politicians on both sides."

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