Moral Equivalent? I Got Your Moral Equivalent.

Moral Equivalent?  I Got Your Moral Equivalent.  On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked the United States on its own soil by bombing Pearl Harbor.  Over 2,400 Americans were killed that day and the USA was pulled into War World II.  With the war winding down to a finale of an Allied invasion of the Japanese homeland and all of the bloodshed such would entail, a difficult decision was made.  An atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.  It is estimated that this bomb killed around 150,000 people.  When Japan refused to surrender, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing around 70,000 people.  On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allies.

On July 9, 2014, Israel began an offensive into the Gaza Strip in response to more than 150 rockets that had been fired from there into major Israeli cities. 

In both cases, one side of a dispute played the role of provocateur by launching surprise attacks.  In both cases, the victimized party responded by dealing directly with the attackers in a forceful and effective fashion.  In both cases, that response was undertaken with reluctance because all other avenues of ending the conflict had failed. 

The bombs that fell on Pearl Harbor were blind; they killed with no distinction. The bombs that America dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were indiscriminate.  The radioactive poisoning made no distinction between babies and soldiers; between civilian adults and political leaders.  The incredible destructive forces of the unleashed explosions made no distinctions between schools, hospitals, homes, and military installations. 

The rockets that Hamas chooses to hurl into Israel also know no discrimination.  They kill children and adults equally.  They destroy without discernment.  The missiles that Israel fires in response towards the Gaza Strip, although being as targeted as possible towards military targets, also kill innocents. 

What are the similarities and what are the differences in this analogy?  Both cases are a matter of surprise military attacks.  Both cases involve a warranted and powerful response by those attacked towards their attackers.  Both responses were an effort to end the conflict, disarm the original attackers, and bring a cessation to the bloodshed.  Japan surrendered and the war ended.  Hamas continues to fire rockets, plant bombs, and kidnap Israelis.  Oh, and by the way, Hamas also continues to call for the death of all Jews and the dismantling of Israel. 

Does any American have the moral foundation to criticize Israel for their actions in this conflict?  If our nation, once again, found itself in Israel’s situation, would we be complaining that our counter attacks were killing civilians?  Would we allow our children, our families, our friends, our homes, our neighborhoods, our businesses to be indiscriminately blown up without responding in a meaningful and absolute fashion?  I think not.

Not only should our president stand before the world and declare our unconditional support for the nation of Israel in its quest for survival; not only should our president be clear that we stand side-by-side with our only DEMOCRATIC ally in the middle east today; not only should our president be completely unambiguous about how this nation supports Israel because we hold the same values and ideals…he should do this not in Washington DC, but in Jerusalem.