Lebanon - the movie
I can't get the war in Gaza out of my head. I blog about it with reluctance, but it dominates my thoughts. For the need to understand, not the politics behind it, but the human side of it, I watched the movie, Lebanon, which I had saved on my T-Box. It is about the most powerful war film I ever saw, the war seen though the view-finder of a tank and through the eyes of the four members of the tank crew. It is clear that these four would be scarred by their experience for the rest of their lives. Is it now 69000 young Israelis called up for the war? All those who fight in Gaza, witness the destruction, see the mayhem and death, will remember it for ever and will feel diminished by it, scarred, and guilty. I wonder whether Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett, Liberman, the newly elected President Shimon Rivlin, the settlers' parties that put pressure on the politicians to engage in this war and reject alternatives, ever tried to put themselves in the shoes of the young men whom they sent in to fight on their behalf. It is easy to have an opinion, be a peacenik or war monger in peaceful New Zealand where nothing much affects our lives. I wonder what outcome the Israeli leaders who got these thousands of young men into this brutal conflict expected from this war.
Why do you claim that it is the right wing politicians supporting this war? For the first time that I can remember, there has been support for a military operation from across the political spectrum. Left wing figures like Labour leader Yitzhak Herzog, and author Amos Oz have come out strongly in support of the current military action.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Bibi has seen the horrors of war first hand, and has lost a brother fighting for Israel, and has a son currently serving in the army - so he is very aware of the impact that this war is having. However he is probably also aware of the impact the missiles are ahving on the Israeli children who are afraid to sleep in their own beds at night or afraid to go to the toilet in case there is an alarm.
Not clear what the objective of the war is or what it should be, but a situation in which a whole generation of Israeli children have never played outside without fear cannot continue.