It's not the What but the How

I am a hypocrite. In an earlier post I said that I would prefer people to protest outside the embassies of violent nations than animal research laboratories. Well today there was a massive protest outside the Israeli embassy and I wasn’t there. Today I felt worthless and lethargic, a state that would have been eliminated immediately if I had been one of the protestors today. But I wasn’t for two reasons. One, I did not know about it. And two, I’ve always thought that these protesters viewpoints are sometimes a little bit easy. They never seem to reflect the difficulties present in the grey area that leaders must operate in. Take the current nasty conflict in Gaza. Palestinian militants have been firing thousands of rockets a day into Israel, causing untold damage and destruction. Israel had to do something. But as usual it’s not the what but the how. Yes Israel needed to act, but not in the way it’s been doing. Its actions are definitely heavy handed. But unfortunately advice on how to carry out a conflict efficient at minimalising civilian casualties is too long and complicated to fit on a placard.