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Impunity From Sea to Shining Sea
It’s hard to be a victim with impunity.
I’ve been short on time. I’ve tried to satisfy my urge to write with Twitter. Days, and weeks of short 240 character messages could not do it. It just wasn’t enough. And my Twitter feed is littered with news about Israel, Jill Stein and animals that have a low threshold for happiness.
Then I saw a video of a Ukrainian rolling a tank off of a trailer (on the wrong axis). That video reminded me that they are fighting for my freedom.
I was doing fine. Really. I figured I could hold off. I figured that I’d scared my muse away with improperly calculated coffee brews. She's still here.
Then I saw that word. It’s one of my favorite words in the context of conflict. I think about it often when I read about those surreal, asymmetrical conflicts where one side mostly dies and the other (winning) side cries to Congress for more.
A synonym for the word Israel is impunity.
Here’s an example, 24 years ago Israeli forces shot and killed an unarmed father and his son, despite the pleading of the people around them, to let the father and son go:
Were the IDF worried about funding? Nope. Were the IDF concerned for the safety of innocent people? Nope. Reputation didn’t matter. Israel can be obnoxious. They don’t even need a license.
I think they’re being obnoxious for a reason. Israel made a really bad Faustian Bargain: land for violence. The Israelis depend on…
