EDITORIAL – Sometimes, one side is right and the other is wrong
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
ONE OF THE BEST comments on public reaction to the terrible attack on Israel by Hamas came from Canada’s UN ambassador Bob Rae in the first hours after it was launched.
Rae, surely one of the most candid and articulate spokespersons when it comes to Canadian values, said this: “Those who are so quick to turn to ‘both sideism’ and ‘whataboutism’ should absorb this picture of an Israeli woman being driven in an open air cart through the streets of Gaza. What ‘context’ justifies or excuses this cruelty?”
Since he made that comment, there have been many more videos and reports on news sites and social media that are even worse — people being grabbed as hostages, blood-stained walls, piles of bodies, beheadings and now threats of live-streamed executions.
Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
You raise the interesting question of ‘how far is too far?”
There are always civilian casualties in war. We westerners have long accepted the ongoing persecution, displacement and murder of people in countries “over there” right up to the present day.
This horrific attack is no worse than many going on right now in other places so why the uproar this time? Do we believe a line has been crossed? What determines or justifies that line? Does it depend on who the victims are?
Nothing about war and violence is right and people taking ‘sides’ is at the root of it.
As the Rabbi Michael Adam Latz said, “My hope is that one day the children of Isaac and the children of Ishmael will come together and tell the extremists to go take a hike so we can eat hummus and dates and watch our children frolic together.”
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So long as the barbarism continues both sides are in the wrong. And any other group taking part in such barbarism is also wrong. Clearly the formation of the territories of Palestine and Israel after WWII by the UN was unfortunate initially. I have no idea what the solution is, but an open air prison resulting in several barbaric mini-wars since their formation have now developed a situation that will be drawing in a number of other states and so – – – the barbarism continues. There’s got to be a more humane way of solving the over-population problem we face, or is it simply underlining that our imperfect species is just another rung in the continuing ladder of evolution?
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You make a very good point if we were talking right now about peace talks gone awry. I don’t think showing kindness is what we are talking about here. No one expects kindness from a terrorist. These were brutal dehumanizing acts of terror. One does not need to know context to condemn that. EVER
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Don’t forget there are many historical lessons that need to be learned before coming to some sound judgment on this topic.
Western interests have caused tremendous deaths tolls on civilians populations throughout that area of the world. Why would Israel and its allies be condoned for the ongoing bullying and bloodshed they caused? When you treat someone with hatred and contempt why would you expect kindness back? Please explain.
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