Israeli soldier dies of wounds from Gaza violence

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-EXCITE

JERUSALEM (AP) - The Israeli military says a soldier has died from injuries sustained in a Palestinian rocket attack that occurred before a cease-fire with Hamas took effect.

The army says the reserve officer succumbed to his wounds Thursday, a day after he was hit. He's the second Israeli soldier killed in the fighting.

Four Israeli civilians were killed and dozens others wounded by rockets fired from Gaza into residential neighborhoods during the fighting that ended in cease-fire Wednesday night.

Palestinians say 161 people, including dozens of civilians, were killed in the eight-day conflict.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20121122/DA2N598G0.html

[cactusfractal]

1. One soldier dies... BREAKING NEWS!

161 dead civilians... Meh. Nichevo.

[KimonoGirl]

2. Did you miss that single throw away line at the end?

Lucky those 161 murdered Palestinians even got a mention. /sarcasm

[cali]

3. There have been scores and scores of articles

quite a few posted here at DU about the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza, including articles that listed the names of those killed. There have been articles in the NYT, The New Yorker, The New Republic, the Daily Beast- just to name a few. And that's as it should be, but don't make the claim that those articles don't exist or haven't been posted here.

[bluedigger]

4. And there will be equivalence when each gets their own article.

[cactusfractal]

15. What you said...

I got busy with GluttonFest 2012 and didn't get back to the thread. But that's exactly right.

This reportage of individual military deaths is ridiculous. It's not news, really, when an individual uniformed serviceman meets a violent end. That is, after all, their purpose. As GySgt Hartmann said, and it extends to everyone who serves at the sharp end of the spear, "Marines die. That's what we're here for."

What IS news is civilians being bombed to death. Military folk have a reasonable expectation of violence; kids at home in an apartment block have no such reasonable expectation of being blown to bits... unless they're in Gaza, I guess.

But what is the "correct" ratio? If one dead soldier merits an article, how many civilians must die to deserve similar coverage? Do we know their names? Their town of origin? What they aspired to be had they not ended up at the receiving end of air-to-ground ordnance?

But their pictures will be on posters in Gaza. They will be martyrs and the cycle of violence will continue. I suppose this is what happens when all you have is your life without the distractions of consumerism and pop culture. We don't do martyrs, do we?

[yurbud]

5. Like the "Kill a Turk and rest"

I WAS reminded this week of the old tale about a Jewish mother taking leave of her son, who has been called up to serve in the Czar’s army against the Turks.

“Don’t exert yourself too much,” she admonishes him, “Kill a Turk and rest. Kill another Turk and rest again…”

“But mother,” he exclaims, “What if the Turk kills me?”

“Kill you?” she cries out, “Why? What have you done to him?”

http://exmypar.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/kill-a-turk-and-rest/

[Bill Drat]

6. Ones a tragedy, 161 is a statistic

Right comrade?

[Archae]

7. Was it 161?

Hamas is notorious for inflating the numbers of those killed by Israel.

[Ken Burch]

10. Sounds like Huck Finn's response to Tom's Sawyer's Aunt Sally when she asked if anybody had died

in the steamboat explosion:

"No ma'am"...killed a n____r"

To which Aunt Sally(thinking she was talking to Tom instead of Huck, and supposedly setting a good example to a family member)said in reply

"Well, that's good. You know sometimes people get killed.&quot emphasis added).

[oberliner]

12. Yes - the Palestinian deaths have received no coverage at all

Are you kidding?

[Odin2005]

8. How many thousand Palestinian civilians will they murder in retaliation?

[oberliner]

13. Do you have another Nazi comparison you can use?

That might help get things rolling.

[Piazza Riforma]

9. I will paraphrase the usual line that Israel trots out when someone points out deaths

by the IDF - "It is unfortunate that lives have been lost. But Palestine has a right to defend itself against a crushing embargo and de facto state of siege by an aggressive enemy committed to its destruction."

Imagine if a foreign power came in, sealed off your state's borders, capriciously denied entry to lifesaving food and medicine, clamped down on fuel shipments, repeatedly refused people the ability to leave even to go to school.

Imagine you had to stand in a checkpoint in the blazing sun for hours just to get to an appointment in "their" territory.

Imagine your 10 year old child being shot down by a 19 year old conscript who has deemed him a "threat" because he walked a little too close to the border.

Imagine this foreign power DEMANDING that you clear ALL decisions your government makes with them.

Imagine this foreign power doing all this because you voted for the party they didn't like.

Now the only way to get out from under this is to give up your right to democratically pick the government of your choice, surrender your right to defend yourself and your livelihood and subjugate yourself to the foreign power's authority. This of course means that "settlers" and soldiers can destroy your crops and take your homes with impunity, the foreign power can dictate who enters and exits YOUR territory, they can dictate who your government will be.

But you must not resist all this or you're the bad guy.

[azurnoir]

11. One thing in the OP made me smile

a single sentence

President Barack Obama had personally lobbied Netanyahu to avoid a ground offensive and give the cease-fire a chance.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20121122/DA2N598G0.html

[oberliner]

14. An OP about a dead Israeli makes you smile

That's really sick.

[azurnoir]

17. Did you not read my comment? what made me smile had nothing to do with the dead Israeli

and you know highlighting something with a false insinuation like that only makes people go back and look to see what was said

[oberliner]

18. I did read it

That was pretty far down in the article. I wasn't smiling.

[azurnoir]

19. ah so the POTUS 'lobbying' Netanyahu for peace did not make you smile

Last edited Sat Nov 24, 2012, 02:50 AM - Edit history (1)

well okay then I understand but for me it was a bright moment in an otherwise depressing OP

[Mosby]

16. when are those american christians going to stop trying to dictate Israeli foreign policy?

Damn those christians!