A Modest Proposal

Richard Cohen, one of our nation's longest serving total editorial doofuses, has identified the critical moral distinction between Hamas and Israel:

Of all the points of disagreement between Israel and Hamas, maybe the most profound is this one: Israel cares more about sparing innocent lives — including those of Palestinians — than does Hamas. Not only have Hamas and other militant groups this year sent more than 700 rockets crashing haphazardly into southern Israel, but also Hamas instigated yet another war where the chief loser will certainly be its own people. If hell has a beach, it’s located in Gaza.

The Gaza Strip is a congested, fetid place. It is densely populated and in the slums and housing blocks, Hamas has hidden its weapons, explosives and rocket launchers. Israel has gone out of its way to avoid civilian casualties. Its air force has used new, highly accurate ammunition aiming for rocket-launching sites and government installations. For the most part, it has succeeded.

Commenter Malcolm Lloyd suggested that this terrible moral inequity could be remedied if the US would spend a few billion on outfitting Hamas with weapons accurate enough for more discriminate murder. Given the means, perhaps Hamas would be wise enough to see the moral superiority of dispatching an occasional Israeli general or defense minister (and his immediate neighborhood) instead of random citizens.

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