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Retribution and Israel

Neil John

By Neil John


"Any country on whom a terrorist action has been launched has the complete right of way, to retaliate in a manner it deems fit"
"An act of terrorism whenever and wherever in the world has to be condemned. You can’t have women being paraded naked including their corpses, children being shot, homes being entered and old women and men being killed. Then taking hostages and expecting no retaliation” - Opines Neil John

While the Israelis and the Palestinians have their own issues. The fact is that what the Hamas did was not a military action but a terrorist action. Therefore they and their actions should be treated as such. Militaries have military rules and ethics. Militaries don’t randomly fire at cars, civilians and multiple times on an already dead body.


We need to condemn the use of terrorist acts to define freedom fights. For all those celebrating the actions of Hamas in India, it's the same people who would show the same empathy to the terrorists in J&K, biased by religion and not nationalism. We can’t be dual faced. An act of terrorism whenever and wherever in the world has to be condemned. You can’t have women being paraded naked including their corpses, children being shot, homes being entered and old women and men being killed. Then taking hostages and expecting no retaliation.


All these people saying that the escalation should be controlled or resisted are those that are talking from safe havens. Once they are hit as a nation they will know. Palestine was aggrieved so they retaliated is something, that is often being heard from people justifying a terrorist action. The issue of Palestine and its friction with Israel has been in existence for years. Constantly exploited by Iran and the Hezbollah. The solution is not through an action by an illthought of operation. The repercussions are being felt by the people of Gaza most of whom would have had no clue that the Armageddon is upon them.


The time has come, that for all terrorist actions, the country supporting and giving refuge to these terrorists. The countries enabling these terrorists with money, arms, ammunition and training should be also deemed a terrorist nation. Any country on whom a terrorist action has been launched has the complete right of way, to retaliate in a manner it deems fit. Yes , lots of innocents and non involved people will suffer and die, but so be it. Cause these are consequences of retribution against a terrorist action. The collateral will always be there. Can't help it.



About Israel's way of handling the Palestine issue and occupation of Palestinian lands, that’s another subject. There are issues that are in total contravention of the laws of peaceful coexistence. But Israel is not even 2% of the Middle East. The Arabs are huge, their religion is the fastest growing. Their wars have cascaded into years of apathy and violence. Their refugees are all over the world who have almost changed demographic patterns in countries giving them refuge. If they are so concerned about the Palestinian people genuinely and they want to improve their living conditions, they should give them an open passage to come and settle in their countries,so their children have a better future.


See the refugee issue everywhere. Jis thali mein khate hain, usi mein ched karte hain. Many of these at times escape cruel laws and find themselves better lives in western countries. But once their population grows they end up setting up the same laws they escaped from. Example Belgium.

Also how has the Arab world responded to terrorism so far. Let’s highlight some noteworthy and self justified retaliations.


Saudi Arabia

On 26 March 2015, Saudi Arabia leading a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa launched an intervention in Yemen following a request from Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi for military support after his forces were ousted from Sana’a by Houthi insurgents during the Yemeni civil war. The conflict ignited between the government forces, the Houthi rebels and other armed groups after the draft constitution and power-sharing arrangements collapsed, despite progress in the political transition led by the UN at that time, leading to an escalation of violence in mid-2014. The Houthis and allied insurgents seized control of Sana’a and other parts of the country in September 2014 and in the following months. This prompted President Hadi to ask Saudi Arabia to intervene against the Iranian-backed Houthis - ref from Open Source.


Turkey

Or maybe Turkey's response to the Kurds. The Kurdish–Turkish conflict is an armed conflict between the Republic of Turkey and various Kurdish insurgent groups who have either demanded separation from Turkey to create an independent Kurdistan, or attempted to secure autonomy and greater political and cultural rights for Kurds inside the Republic of Turkey. Insurgency (1996– 1999)

The operation was successful as the Turkish military killed over three thousand insurgents and captured more than four hundred in just two months and destroyed almost all of the Kurdish camps in Northern Iraq with just 114 casualties on their side - Ref from Open source.


Pakistan

Let’s talk about Pakistan. Since 2001, the Pakistan Army has been involved in ensuring internal security and stability through tackling insurgency and militancy in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) of the country. FATA comprises seven agencies, i.e. Bajaur, Mohmand, Orakzai, Khyber, Kurram, North Waziristan, and South Waziristan. PATA of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa includes the districts of Swat, upper and lower Dir, Buner and Shangla. Insurgency is one of the formidable challenges to the security, socio-political stability, and economic prosperity of Pakistan.


The Pakistani Army has resolved to bring changes in its orientation, motivation, thinking and strategy for the last ten years in order to face this challenge. In this regard, the Army has launched five major and some minor operations against the insurgents and terrorists. The terrorist activities of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),Tehrik Nifaz-e-Shariat-e- Muhammadi (TNSM), the fundamental religious organizations and other foreign-related elements are matters of grave concern to Pakistan. These groups pose severe security challenges for Pakistan.


The Pakistan Army has used heavy ground and air weapons during the operations. That has also resulted in enormous collateral damage. The killing of innocent people, including women and children, the destruction of educational institutions as a result of these operations, together with the casualties inflicted by suicide attacks have wide ramifications on internal security. The domestic socio-political situation and the economic conditions FATA and PATA have been rendered fragile as a consequence of all this. The ultimate goal of such operations is to force the terrorists and insurgents out of their strongholds and to destroy their power and military infrastructure in order to stop them from launching future attacks and terrorist activities and to restore the writ of the government - Ref- Military operations in FATA and PATA: implications for Pakistan By Zahid Ali Khan.


We aren’t even talking about Pakistan military’s actions in Balochistan or the Sindh province.


The semantics of a nation's political, cultural and social will cannot be held hostage by terrorist actions. PERIOD. They should be hit back with exponential force in the physical domain. That they realise that for every terrorist action, the retribution will be a thousand times more severe. There has to be no compromise with terrorists and their perpetrators. Peace will only come when security is ensured. Security can be ensured only when the organisations supporting and funding these terrorists are destroyed. In Gaza the humanitarian crisis is going to explode into the faces of the world through social media and news channels. The people of Gaza therefore need to understand that the terrorist organisation called Hamas is not conducive to their peaceful growth. They need to help return hostages, weed out the Hamas, ensure the Palestinian government becomes responsible and use the right and appropriate forum and procedures to highlight their difficulties. I know it’s easier said than done, cause the movement is not a political movement alone, but tries to constantly invoke religion to gain sympathy and support.




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