Fact-Free and Obscene

Writing against the tide of leftist sentiment for an Israeli cease-fire, Thomas Sowell hits the nail on the head, although he somehow manages to succeed in being generous at the same time:

Israel was attacked, not only by vast numbers of rockets but was also invaded -- underground -- by mazes of tunnels.

There is something grotesque about people living thousands of miles away, in safety and comfort, loftily second-guessing and trying to micro-manage what the Israelis are doing in a matter of life and death.

Such self-indulgences are a danger, not simply to Israel, but to the whole Western world, for it betrays a lack of realism that shows in everything from the current disastrous consequences of our policies in Egypt, Libya and Iraq to future catastrophes from a nuclear-armed Iran. [links dropped, bold added]

Sowell continues, likening the calls for a ceasefire to "discussing abstract people in an abstract world". Sowell can be forgiven for making the common mistake of thinking that abstractions (proper ones, anyway) have nothing to do with concrete reality. Perhaps such an error -- or the fact that Sowell is a true gentleman -- explains why he described this as "grotesque" rather than the way I describe it: obscene. The left, which once battled prejudice, now practices fact-free moral condemnation sanctimoniously. (I can't call moral equivalence here by any other name.)

The left's treatment of Israel may feel like a parlor game or even a noble cause to many. However, I find both the complete disregard of what the Israelis face and the fact that this disregard has real consequences deeply disturbing. Like the excellent Caroline Glick article I commented on recently, I highly recommend reading this piece in its entirety.

-- CAV