{"id":29061,"date":"2023-10-13T13:43:30","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T20:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=29061"},"modified":"2023-10-13T13:43:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T20:43:31","slug":"moral-clarity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/10\/13\/moral-clarity\/","title":{"rendered":"MORAL CLARITY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is no moral clarity in wreaking vengeance on innocent people.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
ROBERT REICH<\/a> OCT 12, 2023 (robertreich@substack.com<\/strong>)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stood next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a military base in Tel Aviv and said \u201cToo often in the past, leaders have equivocated in the face of terrorist attacks against Israel and its people. This is \u2014 this must be \u2014 a moment for moral clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blinkin is correct. Moral clarity requires that the world condemn the atrocities committed by Hamas militants as unmitigated evil.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this does not render morally justifiable retaliatory airstrikes on Gaza that have so far killed 1,417 Palestinians, including 447 children, and wounded 6,368, according to Gaza\u2019s health ministry. Or the siege of a city of 2.1 million people who have gone days without electricity, water, or food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wounded in Gaza needing intensive care now have no beds that can hold them, and the number of injured exceeds the hospitals\u2019 capacities. The International Committee of the Red Cross warns that \u201cwithout electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More than 300,000 people in Gaza are now homeless. More than 338,000 have left their homes in search of safety, but border crossings into Israel and Egypt are blocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israeli troops are now moving toward the border with Gaza in preparation for a possible ground invasion. I fear what is to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It could prove to be very bad for Israel as well as for those trapped in Gaza. As Thomas L. Friedman writes<\/a>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

What Israel\u2019s worst enemies \u2014 Hamas and Iran \u2014 want is for Israel to invade Gaza and get enmeshed in a strategic overreach there that would make America\u2019s entanglement in Falluja look like a children\u2019s birthday party. We are talking house-to-house fighting that would undermine whatever sympathy Israel has garnered on the world stage, deflect world attention from the murderous regime in Tehran and force Israel to stretch its forces to permanently occupy Gaza and the West Bank.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In his private meetings with Israeli authorities, I hope Antony Blinken is calling for restraint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justifiable moral revulsion must never be confused with retribution. There is no moral clarity in wreaking vengeance on innocent people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is no moral clarity in wreaking vengeance on innocent people. ROBERT REICH OCT 12, 2023 (robertreich@substack.com) Today, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stood next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a military base in Tel Aviv and said \u201cToo often in the past, leaders have equivocated in the… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1201,840],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29061"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29062,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29061\/revisions\/29062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}