[Times-UK] Michael Gove - There is a wave of public feeling which holds that Western nations that take up arms against terrorist enemies are guilty of near-criminal folly. Their actions will be horrifically self-defeating, the terrorists they target will only emerge strengthened. A wave of criticism hit Israel in the aftermath of the counterterrorist fighting in Jenin, when words such as "massacre" and comparisons with the Russian razing of Grozny bubbled to the surface. The Chechen action cost the lives of tens of thousands of civilians. In Jenin the total number of casualties was 75: 26 terrorists, 23 Israeli soldiers and 26 civilians. Each death a tragedy. But the reality of that grim arithmetic is that it does not add up to the massacre that was reported. As we consider the heart-rending suffering in Gaza, let us also root our reaction in hard, corroborated facts which in some cases are only now emerging firmly. The writer is a Conservative member of the British Parliament.
2009-02-19 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive