The Mark of Zapiro

It’s Almost Supernatural flagged South African cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro (a.k.a. Zapiro) for his take on the Israeli response to the Gilad Shalit kidnapping. Published in South Africa's Sunday Times.

Speaking of the Sunday Times, this staff-ed botches the facts of Operation Summer Rain to take Israel to task:

THERE was a time when apartheid South Africa — under the leadership of PW Botha — was notorious for its cross-border raids into neighbouring countries.
That was when the South African Defence Force was the main instrument used to destabilise South Africa’s neighbours. The Nats argued that these raids were carried out in pursuit of “ANC terrorists” in those countries.

In most cases innocent civilians— many of them citizens of those countries— were maimed or killed.

The latest Israeli assault against the Palestinian people is a grim reminder of Botha’s military tactics against South Africa’s neighbours….

A war that knows no boundaries between innocent civilians and legitimate military targets can only be described as state terrorism.

The comparison between the IDF and SADF couldn’t be more skewed. Unlike the South African raids described by the Sunday Times, Operation Summer Rain has remarkably caused no civilian casualties as of this writing. As this Washington Post editorial writes:

But if Hamas wants to be equated with Hezbollah or define itself as at war with Israel, then Israel has every right to try to destroy the Islamic movement's military capacity, to capture its leaders (it has arrested more than 60 since Wednesday, including eight cabinet ministers) and to topple its government. Isn't that what happens in war?
As it is, Israel's Gaza incursion has been reluctant, slow, carefully calibrated -- and as of yesterday, casualty-free.

The Sunday Times' staff-ed was written before Israeli forces began operating this morning in the northern Gaza Strip. We wonder if the South African Defense Forces encountered this.

Posted at 10:54 AM