Lisa,

First of all, let me say that I'm sorry when any innocent people get killed.

Here are just some thoughts I have...not necessarily coherent or unified.

First of all, I confess to a certain numbness and sympathy fatigue, and I presume a lot of people whom you have a problem with feel the same way. Shoving down my throat a heavily edited video of a girl running on a pearly white beach with sirens in the background does not garner sympathy. It's like when T.V. dramas amp up the violence year after year after year and kill off characters in a violent manner to get ratings up. You become immune. Why should I feel more horrified about this than Israelis who are getting killed by rocket attacks but don't have the convenience of a camera crew standing there? Or the kids being slaughtered in Sudan? I got off the subway just after a sixteen year old kid got shot and killed at a stop in Brooklyn five years ago. It was terrible. But there were no camera crews. It didn't even get covered in the local paper.

So, I guess I've gotten a bad case of sympathy fatigue when it comes to the Palestinians. It's terrible, and I confess to it. I feel sorry for the family, but I also ask: Who is this girl? Why isn't she bloody? Why is she still alive, without a cut, if everyone else is slaughtered? I know I'm politically incorrect and unenlightened. But I can't seem to help it.

And what's so brilliant about shutterfool’s post? It sounds pretty scornful of the pro-Israeli blogosphere. Of course some Israeli bloggers are insecure and might even sound insensitive. Unfortunately, I know how they feel. Look at Al Dura and the Jenin fiascos, and the incessant focus on the situation over there, in contrast to media indifference about other parts of the world, where genocide is taking place. Kids in Brooklyn getting shot.

And shutterfool's, "we will continue to occupy them and they will hate us," seems like a cheap political potshot. I mean, didn't a withdrawal from Gaza take place under Sharon, and isn’t a withdrawal being planned right now?

And Norm’s citing of Human Rights Watch, without noting its anti-Israel agenda and Marc Garlasco’s history of disseminating propaganda, or at LEAST pointing out the obvious discrepancies in the Palestinian film and Garlasco’s claim of having found a crater, is disingenuous. You don’t have to be a forensic specialist or “military expert” to know that one man’s statements after a crime scene has been significantly compromised wouldn’t pass a litmus test in an article about a Bronx murder case. So why is it heralded in this situation in a war zone? There is legitimate doubt about Garlasco. Bloggers and writers have the right to acknowledge it, without being written off as insecure reactionaries.

I understand your apparent fatigue with all the ugly machinations – claims and counter claims, I'm tired of it, too – but I still think it's necessary for Israelis and Jews to defend the country that represents them from being vilified. It might all seem petty and distasteful, but what are the options, given ceaseless propaganda from the other side? I’d love to hear some realistic alternatives if you have any.

You started out this thread by excoriating “both sides” for being political, but your position of pontificating about the tragedy on “both sides”, and linking to bloggers who basically dismiss Israelis who are concerned about media bias and are angry about the poor coverage, is as political as any other stance.

Maybe you share my fatigue, but we are voicing it in different ways.

Who knows.

brooklynsax's comment makes a lot of sense on many levels, but all the same let's hope we don't lose the instinctive humanity to weep for a bereaved child, whatever political use might be made of her loss. Let's hope, too, that that same child will one day remember her own capacity to weep for Israel's bereft and grieving.

Rob:

Let's hope.

The loss on the Gaza beach is a tragic one.

That it is being exploited by the press to libel the Jewish state only makes it worse.

Lisa, I look forward to hearing what you have to say, even if you disagree. This is a great blog and I dig posting on it.

Later.

I'm not saying we should weep for the deaths of our enemies. We can refuse to do that, and still claim our humanity.

But the moment we fail to weep for the inconsolable grief of an innocent child, whoever she might be, is the moment we have lost it.

hi lisa!
you can safely count me as an admirer of your's.for someone who tries to visit your blog atleast once a day,ofcourse to be disappointed for the lack of regular posting :) and as person who personally has no dog in this fight,i am neither a jew/israeli nor a palestinian/muslim,it is hard to miss the stark difference in your posting about the bombings in tel aviv in april and the gaza beach incident.the pictures(of the suicide bomber and samer,whereas none about the tragedy)you chose for the post,the 'a day in the life of a reporter' tone of that post compared to the emotional one about gaza beach.
hope you will take this rightly!

Hi Anonymous -

Thank you for your kind words about my blog.

I took the photos of the April 17 suicide bombing myself, because I was there. That is why I posted them. You will notice that I did not post any photos of dead or wounded people.

I was not, of course, present on the beach in Gaza last Friday. You can look at the photos I took of Gaza when I visited on another occasion here.

Anyone who wants to see photos taken of the beach in Gaza last Friday can find them on the news sites. My blog is not a news site.

I hope you'll take my response the right way, too.

hi lisa!
actually you did post pic of one wounded mr.rami biara, which was puzzling as you did not post pics of any dead or wounded,hmm how should i say,jews? we all know that your's is a blog and not a news site :)
keep up the good will!

I have to say I am glad that the rest of us don't have to live up to the standards that Lisa is held to by her readers:

The perfect objectivity. The absolutely equal mention of both palestinian and Israeli tragedy and the relentless scruntiny we subject her to should we feel she is favouring one side in her storytelling over another.

Were this a newspaper, I would understand the demands, but some of us are criticizing Lisa for sharing the stories that captivate her curiosity because they don't equal our own assessment of "the situation". It seems unfair -this is a personal blog;)

As for anonymous - keep in mind that Lisa is immersed in Israeli culture, and takes certain things as given truths to her audience (eg that she supports Israel and the people there).

Sometimes it seems that each time she mentions a compelling story about a Palestinian, people expect her to turn around and remind her audience 'But of course, Israelis have an equally compelling narrative and are also victims of great suffering and injustice and I support the state of Israel'.

Well said, Adina. I was thinking the same things while reading Lisa's initial post and subsequent comments regarding this topic, but some of the comments just made me too mad to respond in a reasonable, calm manner (and that would be a big understatement!). You did a good job. I just hope that people actually take your words to heart.

hi adina!
my apologies! i have not grasped yet, the essential difference between an opinoin piece in a newspaper about,a book written about,a film made about or a blog posting about 'stories which capture our curiosity'.
adina:I have to say I am glad that the rest of us don't have to live up to the standards that Lisa is held to by her readersi.-As a blogger(which i am not) i would take that compliment anyday.
if i have stepped on any toes, it was unintentional.nothing more to say :).

Hi Lisa,

I hope it will not be out of place to add an observation of my own.

Best.