Disgusting liberal exceptionalism

'Witnesses and analysts confirm that Hamas fires rockets from within populated civilian areas, and all sides agree that the movement flagrantly violates international law by targeting civilians with its rockets.

But while B’Tselem's Ms Montell describes the rocket fire as a "blatant war crime", she adds: "I certainly would not expect my government to act according to the standard Hamas has set for itself - we demand a higher standard."'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7811386.stm

Actually, you demand a ludicrous standard no one will ever attain, and which most countries scoff at.

So all sides agree that '[Hamas] flagrantly violates international law by targeting civilians with its rockets' huh? I challenge the author of this piece to find me ten quotes from mainstream news outlets stating baldly this fact. I could find you ten times ten quotes stating that Israel is committing war crimes in those mainstream news outlets. The fact that this particular statement only appears at the very very end of this piece, which I bet about ten percent of readers eventually get to, tells you everything you need to know about the sympathies of the author(s) and also the importance given to delineating the precise nature of what is going on in Gaza.

I'd like someone (I don't have the time sadly) to compare how many wailing gnashing of teeth inquiries into the minutiae of international law accompanied reporting of the recent Russian invasion of Georgia, which trashed every known principle of legality and justice. I suspect you will search in vain. And yet you can get very expensive QC's like the America-hater Phillipe Sands to contribute time and energy to bitching out the Israelis. Ah, liberals. You can't live with 'em, and you can't legally shoot them. What a quandary.