Bush Blasé About Israeli Brutality

There’s no doubt that Bush gave Israel the nod to go into Gaza.

And as soon as Israel started the bombing, Bush’s spokesman blamed it all on Hamas.

On Monday, Bush himself kept up that drumbeat, even as the Palestinian death toll vaulted to almost 600, and the number of wounded approached 3,000.

“Of course, we would like to see, you know, violence stop,” he said, casually. And he added, condescendingly, “I know people are saying, ’Let’s have a ceasefire.’ And those are noble ambitions. But any ceasefire must have the conditions in it so that Hamas does not use Gaza as a place from which to launch rockets.”

That is the Israeli line, even though only a handful of Israelis have been killed by these rockets.

This isn’t an eye for an eye. It’s a thousand Palestinian eyes for an Israeli eye, and a full set of Palestinian teeth for one Israeli tooth. (Apologies to Norm Solomon for adapting his phraseology on this.)

In the last couple of days, Israel has bombed two UN-run schools and a central market in Gaza.

According to Agence France-Press, “Peoople wounded in fighting in the Gaza Srip are dying because ambulances cannot reach them, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday.

And, according to a Norwegian doctor, Mads Gilbert, who is working in Gaza, Israel also shelled an apartment house with children playing on the roof.

Children.

Israel has killed more than 150 children over the last 10 days.

With Bush’s implicit blessing. And full U.S. military support.

It makes me ill. And it’s got to stop.