Wet Hair

“I was just scrambling. I was in the shower – my hair’s wet so I’m just grabbing everything, throwing on the first clothes I have and running to the shelter. The biggest feeling is “just fear and panic”.

Marielle moved to Israel from the US three years ago. She relates here the dash to the shelter when the rockets came over from the Lebanon. These attacks, she says, are “a really insane reality I’ve had a hard time wrapping my head around. It’s unfathomable to a lot of people how a rocket barrage like that could happen, terrorist attacks, and you’re just expected to carry on.”

And this on the same day that yet another Israeli strike on Gaza killed 51 people in Khan Younis, a further strike killed 3 people in Damascus, and over 1000 people have been killed in Lebanon.

So Marielle, firstly, were you not aware of the fact that Israel had been in conflict with its neighbours for nearly 80 years before you moved there? Having to go to a shelter with wet hair must have been a deeply traumatising experience but trying to dig out the crushed bodies of your family and neighbours with your bare hands from the rubble of your apartment building is just a tad more difficult to deal with.

You carry on, don’t you, Marielle, just like the Palestinians in Gaza have had to do for a year, with their homes destroyed, their livelihoods eliminated and their families wiped out. Last week, An Israeli strike that targeted a local Hamas leader killed 22 people, of which 13 were children. Their little bodies were ripped apart, with 8 more kids needing to have limbs amputated. So Marielle, take some time to consider these people before you bitch about having wet hair.

Killing 22 people to take out one single Hamas operative is an acceptable kill ratio, Marielle? Your prime minister and his war cabinet obviously think so. As long as an Israeli spokesman (they are always men) assures us that a warning was issued about 12 seconds before these strikes happen, then their consciences are clear and they will be welcomed into Paradise when they die.

How about the pilots who fly these missions? Do they sleep well at night? Surely they must think: “Am I going to kill a bunch of kids today?” as they take off in their US-made F-16s.

Speaking of pilots, yet again Great Britain decided to get involved in the conflict by authorising the RAF to help destroy rockets and missiles launched by Iran. Given the rather piddly size the UK armed forces, it’s reasonable to assume that this involved a handful of British warplanes and that their effect was minimal. Now Iran has issued this statement:

“Should any country render assistance to the aggressor, it shall likewise be deemed an accomplice and a legitimate target.”

So, you Brits, expect more terrorist attacks in the future, whether they be bombs planted in concert halls, random knife attacks in the street, or vehicles ploughing into pedestrians, they’ll be coming your way real soon. Be stoic, be British.

Why does Britain need to get involved; just so it can prove to Israel and the US what a jolly great friend it is? In all of their wars, the US has the Brits by is lapdog side, gazing rather disparigingly at all the marvellous American hardware. Kuwait, the invasión of Iraq, Afghanistan, the attacks on Syria…it appears that the UK still needs to flex is imperial muscles and show to the world that it’s still got some of that old, Churchillian, bulldog spirit, by jove. Bloody stupid if you ask me.