"Why Are You Trying to Kill Us?" A Letter to Ehud
Olmert, Prime Minister of Israel
by the Outsider (July 26th, 2006)
Are we to believe
that you want peace with Lebanon
when you pulverize our infrastructure, scattering the limbs of innocent women and children across the blood stained streets
of Beirut?
Are we to believe
that this is a war against terrorism when you have traumatized a generation of Lebanese children, forcing them to live the
rest of their lives in everlasting terror, carrying images of death and destruction wherever they go?
Are we to believe
that your real enemy is Hezbollah when you have murdered hundreds of innocent civilians, erasing everything our people have
worked so hard to rebuild since you last came to Lebanon?
Are we to believe
that you really want the Lebanese government to exercise sovereignty over its Southern border when you’ve crippled its
ability to govern, targeting military bases and communication channels, while destroying all the roads that lead to the South?
Are we to believe
that you are acting in self-defense when only one month ago you held war games in preparation for your invasion of Southern
Lebanon?
Are we to believe
that you are conducting surgical strikes when you use cluster bombs and white phosphorus on our people, illegal weapons that
clearly violate international law because they are known to inflict substantial collateral damage whenever they are used?
Are we to believe
that your response is proportionate when one of your military leaders orders his soldiers to bomb ten buildings in Beirut
for every Hezbollah rocket fired into Northern Israel?
Are we to believe
that you are truly sorry for all the murders you have committed when you callously target civilian vehicles as they desperately
flee their homes because that is what you have told them to do?
More importantly,
are we to believe that you are a peace-loving democracy when it seems as if war is all you know?
To be honest,
Mr. Olmert, we don’t know what to believe anymore.
All we do know
is that as each day passes, you murder more and more of our innocent children, you destroy more and more of our homes, while
you rob us of any hope for a brighter future.
You have made
our lives a living hell, and yet you criticize the international news media for showing the truth to the world.
You have sucked
the life and soul out of our powerless people, creating a generation of children who will know no better than to hate you
with all their might, and yet you claim that this is for the good of Lebanon.
You contradict
yourself at every turn, and so we have no choice but to measure your true intentions by your actions, and not your words.
And judging
by your actions, we cannot help but conclude that this is not just about eliminating Hezbollah. This is not simply a part of the war against terrorism, and this is certainly not for the benefit of Lebanon,
as your devious UN Ambassador, Dan Gillerman, would have us believe.
So, please
explain to us what your true intentions are.
Explain why you have
blocked humanitarian aid from reaching the hundreds of thousands of civilians stuck in the South.
Explain why you have
destroyed all of our bridges, our ports, our main roads, our airports, our homes, and our communication towers.
Explain why more
than half of all the Lebanese people you have so ruthlessly killed have been innocent children, who know nothing of politics,
war, or terrorism.
Explain why almost
one million innocent Lebanese civilians are now homeless refugees, desperately seeking shelter from the wrath of your murderous
war machine.
But, don’t
explain it to me.
Explain it to the
helpless four-year old orphan whose family you murdered while they were peacefully watching TV in the comfort of their living
room.
Explain it to all
the grieving mothers whose children you slaughtered while they were joyfully playing in the streets of Lebanon.
Explain it to all
the innocent children who have been forced to witness the carnage you have inflicted on their people and their nation.
Or as one distraught
ten-year old Lebanese boy who is hiding in the underground parking garage of a shopping mall tearfully pleads:
Please explain why
you are trying to kill us.
