EDITORIAL – Sometimes, one side is right, the other is indisputably wrong
(Image: Twitter/X)
NOTE: This editorial was originally posted on Oct. 11, 2023. A year later, on the anniversary of the massacre, not much has changed.
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.
Some will quickly point out that there are many disturbing images of the results of Israel’s counterattack as well. Bob Rae — who, by the way, has Jewish roots — also once said that no death is less than another.
Around the world, there have been pro-Palestine rallies praising the Hamas attack on Israel and condemning what they call Israeli colonialism.
This, predictably, has resulted in clashes with pro-Israel rallies, raising tensions even more.
Certainly, there are legitimate grievances against Israel. Two sides, politically, to the conflict. But how can the wanton murder of men, women and children, of young people and old people, possibly be justified under any circumstances?
How can such inhumanity be defended no matter the reasons? The Holocaust, the genocide in Rwanda, the atrocities of ISIS and so many more were all defended with “another side.”
But some things just aren’t acceptable, ever. Those who now decry the death and destruction rained on Gaza by Israel must ask themselves, who was the cause of it? Whose actions brought it about? And to what possible end? Hate is no justification.
Two sides? Sure, but sometimes the simple fact is, one is right, the other is wrong.
Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and was a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. 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 
The pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel rallies that took place in many parts of Canada yesterday are a disgrace. These rallies celebrate cold-blooded murder, sexual violence and espouse extreme racial hatred. How is this allowed in Canada? If protests took place in Canada espousing hatred and promotion of violence against anybody other than Jews, never mind blocking streets with the tacit permission of police and Parliamentary Protection officers, they would likely (and correctly) be shut down immediately, and the perpetrators taken to jail. How did that not happen in this instance? How do our university professors and other public officials that actively condone and promote these activities still have jobs? They should have been dismissed out of hand on October 8th 2023. This is ridiculous and shameful, and should be called out for what it is by our spineless current provincial and federal governments. We have wishbones where backbones belong.
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Is there a perspective that we need to consider: that there are more than “two sides?”
What I mean is, and has been alluded to above, is that Hamas does not represent the views and actions of all Palestinian people and supporters.
The Israeli government does not represent the views and actions of all Jewish people and supporters.
However, the actions of “both sides” to the conflict pre and post October 7, 2023 have largely put the world into two “camps” and we’ve witnessed the horrific results in Israel, Gaza and elsewhere.
The conflict historically and moving forward is far more nuanced, as has been pointed out above and elsewhere. Unfortunately, we’ve largely been pushed into a “you’re either for us or against us” narrative.
We need to dig deeper and be better than that in figuring out how to co-exist in peace.
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Oh and one more question. Where does it say in the Quran that the Jews have the right to that land?
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Since you know more than most around here why isn’t the two states solution not a palatable one from Netanyahu?
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IMHO the Oct 7 attack was the result of 75+ years of oppression of the Palestinian people, and 55 years of military occupation. It certainly did not start with Oct 7, but was the unfortunate and deadly Palestinian resistance that has been building and has been stymied for years. The Netan-yahoo (deliberate misspelling) bears a great deal of the responsibility, for he with financial aid, strengthened Hamas and not the PA in order to bring division between the two groups, and prevent a unified Palestinian uprising. That is not my opinion, but fact from one of his Likud speeches, and from reports in the NY Times. The Palestinians have been harassed, cut off from water and their land, raided and killed by settlers, imprisoned with out charges, had their homes destroyed – and a whole lot more by Israel and the IDF. The current extreme right-wing government has only exacerbated the issues. And IMHO Israel has gone way over the top in their response to Oct 7, and needs to be held accountable by both the ICJ and the ICC. But as long as the US continues to unconditionally support Israel and supply weapons, Israel will continue to operate under that cover. To see the genesis of this conflict, go back in history and not just to Oct. And BTW, I distinguish between Judaism and Zionism – it is the latter ideology which has caused this protracted conflict through the decades. I’ve been to the occupied territories and have seen what really goes on. I was a strong supporter of Israel until my eyes were opened.
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Palestine, as Mr. Taylor writes certainly did not start with Oct 7
Bob Rae does not represent Canadian values with a narrative “you are with us or against us” as Europeans have been part of the Middle East tragic history since the Crusades. No one can justify October 7th.
Palestine became a British mandate after defeat of the Turks in WWI. Historically British presence in Eastern Mediterranean is centuries old. This was an anti-Russian presence. By supporting the Turks UK controlled the Russian exit to the Mediterranean.
Protecting the Suez Canal guaranteed billions in wealth in transit, stolen from India that built the estates in England.
European presence in the Middle East was to protect the Oil which replaced coal as new energy to power British warships HMS Dreadnought.
Canada was part of this presence to this day. These are the values we protected. Certainly not all of us but many who controlled the narrative protected it. Your and Media narrative protects it.
British weakened by WWII was replaced by USA to protect the above-mentioned corporate interests (energy) as well as its global outreach in the Cold War with USSR
Mel, you ask a very good question at the end of this one-sided narrative. First you are right “some things just aren’t acceptable, ever” but why is it that you and Bob Rea don’t answer the questions “who was the cause of it?” Whose actions brought it about? And to what possible end?”
Of course, as you write “hate is no justification” and words do not, and cannot, fully describe the horror” of Oct. 7th nor the horror that is taking place in Gaza.
The Palestinian people of Gaza, and many people in Israel, did not choose this war. Where is the humanity in your words Mr. Editor for the 17000 children and their mothers who were killed in Gaza. Did they choose it? Where is the respect for human rights, UN Charter and history that you ignore.
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