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Two Israeli embassy staff were shot dead late yesterday night as they were walking just outside the Capitol Jewish Museum. The Capitol Police have identified the suspect as one Elias Rodriguez of Chicago. Reportedly, Rodriguez shouted “Free Palestine” as he executed the couple, who were engaged to be married.
I have been meaning to write a “Civil War vibe-check” top-level post. My intuition was that the danger of such a nightmare scenario was receding, having peaked twice, with the mass-shooting at the Congressional baseball team practice game, and the George Floyd Riot/January Sixth Riot forming a stockbroker’s double blow-off top before a consistent decline in risk.
Recently multiple events have made me question this. The Zizian cult killings, the suicide bombing in Palm Springs over the weekend, and now this, make me feel like something is perhaps coming. Maybe not a full Syrian Civil War, but at least another Days of Rage similar to the period in the 1970s after the great wave broke and began to recede. I would appreciate hearing anyone’s thoughts.
Israel bombed an embassy a few months ago and has a long history of fighting dirty. They shouldn't be surprised that they get the same treatment back. The expectation can't be that they can finance terrorism, assassinate people, and bomb embassies and then not get the same back.
Assuming, for the sake of argument, that we accept all your characterizations are accurate, can you give any examples of countries waging war in the modern era whom you would not consider to be "fighting dirty," using the same criteria by which you are judging Israel?
I mean, most countries don't do the pager-supply-chain-explosive thing. I don't think anyone has managed to infiltrate a foreign military's boot supplier, for instance.
I have no doubt that many countries (including the US) are trying to do that and definitely would if given the opportunity.
I also don't see what is uniquely bad about the pager operation. The rhetoric about "they booby trapped office supplies!!!" seems very bad faith and crocodilian. Yes, they targeted a terrorist guerilla organization with supply chain infiltration. And?
Oh, I'm not saying I have a problem with it, simply that I can see why it might be considered "fighting dirty". Granted, the RN once thought the very concept of a submarine was "fighting dirty", so...
I can understand people who have principled objections to certain weapons or tactics, even if I disagree with them. But someone who only objects when it's one particular group that they really hate who uses "dirty tactics," I don't believe their objections are actually based on principle.
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It shows a reckless disregard for the lives of civilians, for one.
I think killing diplomats in a country you're not at war with is much worse though. It undermines everyone's ability to make peace and is just vandalizing the commons of humanity.
Does it really though? These were pagers that were getting encrypted messages from Hezbollah. They set up a front company to rig them. What exactly is a "civilian" doing with an encrypted Hezbollah pager?
These weren't grenade sized explosions, most people lost hands and eyes not their lives. It wasn't something that would take out an entire room full of people.
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How is it more reckless than air strikes?
It may be poor diplomacy, but given that for all practical purposes Iran is fighting a war with Israel, and their officers were in Syria to execute military operations directed at Israel, I don't consider any claims that Israel was "fighting dirty" to be ingenuous.
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