Poor innocent put-upon Israel

I must say I am relieved to learn that all the biased, ill-informed, mindless supporters of Israel aggression are not limited to Washington D.C. It seems that Nicole Kidman and some 84 other Hollywood biggies have taken out an ad condemning Hezbollah and Hamas. I guess they believe, along with Howard Dean and pretty much the entire Washington establishment, that the continuing festering problems in the Middle East are all the fault of Hezbollah and Hamas. In their view Israel is completely innocent, a poor nation trying to be a good neighbor but surrounded by vile Arabs trying to destroy them for no reason other than that they exist and/or they don't like freedoms. Hezbollah and Hamas started it, that's their credo.

Now, even when I was five years old my mother (may she rest in peace no longer having to put up with this utter nonsense) taught me "there are always two sides to every story." I believed she was right then, and I believe it now. Listening to Kidman and her cronies, along with the malevolent war criminals in Washington, you can only conclude that as far as they are concerned there is only one side - Israel's.

Is it not the case there have been repeated skirmishes across the borders for months, even years on end, involving violations by both sides? Is it not a fact that Israel has been illegally occupying Palestinian, Syrian, and Lebanese territory? Is it not true that Israel has violated something like 68 consecutive UN resolutions, far more than any other nation ever? Is it not the case that Palestinians have been subjected to daily humiliations just trying to cross the check points and go about their daily business? Is it also not true that Israel has consistently done everything they can to prevent a viable Palestinian state? Has Israel not been told repeatedly that if they truly want peace they should withdraw to the original agreed-upon 1967 borders? And is it also not true they have consistently not only refused but attempted to claim more and more Palestinian land, going so far as to actually bulldoze established orchards, kill Palestinian livestock, build a patently illegal wall, and so on? And is it not so that Hezbollah and Hamas came into being mainly as a result of Israeli colonialism and aggression?

So please, can't we at least go back to my mother's sage advice and agree there might actually be two sides to the problem? Is that really too much to ask or consider? I am hardly an authority on the Middle East but even I know that if you delve even slightly into the history of this situation you will know there are, indeed, two sides to the story. I guess this is just too simple-minded a view to get any attention in Washington or Hollywood. So let's just keep the violence going for another thousand years or so. Remember, it's good for business.

In our Democratic booth at the country fair we have literature and campaign buttons, the usual fare. Today we had two requests for buttons, both from obviously mentally retarded persons. Sigh!