The strangest paradox of Israel has been the… contradiction between its obsession with military superiority while still maintaining a canard of vulnerability and victimhood.
Reports of Israel using unconventional and chemical weapons in the occupied territories are nothing new, but new reports suggest a far more sinister class of weapon being tested by Israel on their favorite targets.
Habas Al-Wahid, head of the emergency centre at the Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza city told the journalists that the legs of the injured were sliced from their bodies “as if a saw was used to cut through the bone.” But there was no evidence of ordinary metal shrapnel in or near the wounds.
At Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Juma Saka said that on examination of the wounds, the doctors had found a powder on the victim’s bodies and in their internal organs. Afterwards they removed the microscopic particles which turned out to be carbon and tungsten.
“The powder was like microscopic shrapnel, and this is likely what caused the injuries,” Saka said. Complicating the issue was the death of many patients several days afterwards, although they appeared to recover initially. Accusations that Israel is using Gaza and its inhabitants as a laboratory to test new military weapons, have been made from several quarters.
It defies credibility when Israel’s apologists repeatedly justify Israel’s actions on the grounds of preventing café’s and pizza bars being targeted by suicide bombers, yet condone the use of such macabre and insidious weapons.
Yet, after Olmert’s recent suggestions that 1000 well directed Tomahawk cruise missiles might halt Iran’s non existent nuclear weapons program, you can’t help but wonder if Israel’s leadership is most comfortable when discussing war and oppression.