Israeli tanks and troops have entered southern Gaza after warplanes attacked three bridges and knocked out electricity to the coastal strip—in response to the capture of a young Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants. (AP, June 28) But mainstream reports are missing some vital context. A letter printed in the Toronto Globe and Mail, June 27:

Two raids

Toronto -- As someone who has served in an Israeli tank unit near Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, I have nothing but sympathy for the families of Lieutenant Hanan Barak and Sergeant Pavel Slutzker, killed on Sunday in a daring Palestinian commando raid in which Corporal Gilad Shalit was taken captive (Israel, Hamas In Turmoil After Raid On Outpost, June 26). But some perspective and some context are necessary.

This tank base is one of the locations from which Israel has been relentlessly shelling the Gaza Strip for several weeks. Moreover, just one day earlier, on Saturday, Israeli commandos had raided Rafah in the Gaza Strip and captured two brothers, Mustafa and Osama Muamar, who, according to the army, were in the "final stages of planning a large-scale terror attack." All of this is well known but did not make it to the front page. Can it be that Palestinian lives are nothing, Israeli lives everything? That Palestinian captives are nothing, Israeli captives everything?

Naftali Lavie

See our last post on Israel/Palestine.