Justification for Gaza bombing 'cynical', says son of decorated RUC officer
In a personal subsmission to irishexaminer.com, Richard Irvine argues that if the thinking which seems to inform and justify Israeli actions in Gaza held sway in the North during that conflict, the bloodshed which took place would have been immeasurably worse.
He writes: "According to the Israeli discourse given credence today my home would have been classed as a command and control centre - he took telephone calls from his colleagues and sometimes they even came round for drinks and I don't know what else.
"With the obscene discourse that is currently in play ... the destruction of our civilian home and perhaps the killing of me and the rest of my family would have been a reason for the bombers to feel moral outrage and beat their chests at the cruel cynicism of a father who would use his own family as human shields."
Mr Irvine, whose father was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal in 1975 for his role in bringing about the surrender of a UVF gang, suggested only cynicism would allow someone to "try and pass off the slaughter of civilian relatives as proof of their own moral superiority."
He goes on: "My father wasn't hiding behind me and the rest of my family. He was participating in a conflict at great risk to himself and us because he believed that it was the right thing to do - for himself and for us.
"So, please can we stop hearing from Israeli spokespeople how when they bomb a home and wipe out a family it proves the moral difference between them and Hamas. It doesn't. It merely proves how cruelly cynical they are."
Mr Irvine's full submission can be read here
