"Murder"

1000 people....over 1000 people have been killed now in Gaza. In the short span of what most would not even call "murder" due to the need to be politically correct. Is murder not defined essentially as the act of killing someone (actus reus) with the intention (mens rea) to do so? Does it matter if we call this murder in the first degree or the second? Indeed, for those who still wish to be soft in their language, grant me, for now, just that it MIGHT be considered murder. I ask this simply for the sake making my point. So then is it murder in the second degree? A killing caused by a dangerous lack of consideration for the preservation of human life is at LEAST the case here. Israel has recently engaged in activities that have left over 1000 dead. Over 1000 people who struggled in their daily lives to get food and water and hope for the new day. Often, in the news Media, we hear defenses made claiming that Israel is doing this to enforce its sovereignty and to protect its citizens. So is the life of one Israeli citizen worth the lives of 1000 Palestinians? Is the defense of Self Defense one that can honestly be applied here? If person A were to stab person B in the to death because he was afraid that person B would somehow cause him damage, would our own legal system if the USA consider this a valid defense? Let us then hand person B a pencil...a very sharp pencil. Is it OK now to call this self defense now? Let us then raise the ranking of person A to the level of a police officer or a soldier and person B can be a poverty stricken man who has recently lost his only employment because the place where he worked was recently destroyed by a bomb. I personally still fail to see the self defense argument in the given situations. It also seems to be clear that as the situation is made more analogous to that of Gaza and Israel the self defense argument becomes weaker and weaker.

Here I stop and ask a favor of you. Do not take my word for fact. Look up the facts for yourself. Find them in the numbers released, or in the history books. Ask as many sources as you can and look for the most unbiased ones you can find. Then tell me that I am wrong in any of the claims I have made thus far.

For now I would like to make one more point. If you ask any official member of the Israeli Government or Armed Forces they will not hesitate to tell you that the actions being taken by Israel are well planned and have had hours and hours of thought put into them. When asked if this continuous killing is necessary, many will tell you that they are compelled by their sense of reason to act as they do and that the end justify the means. So if, in fact, the death of these 1000 people involved planning and much thought towards the consequences, and, in fact, the act was willfully chosen as the best option, then perhaps to say that this is second degree murder is not enough. How long then are we to continue arguing over the acceptability of these deaths? two more weeks will easily double the number dead and triple the number injured. How many more sons will never again see their mothers? How many more fathers will be left without a family to care for. How many more tiny beacons of hope will we allow to be blown out? To put it simply: how many more of our own human race will we allow to be murdered?