Palestinians find world is not a very nice place

Following its acceptance as a full member of UNESCO, the population of Palestine finds itself subject to a quite different kind of attack today:

Palestinians hit by cyber-attack following success at Unesco | World news | The Guardian: "Internet services in the West Bank and Gaza have come under "sustained attack" by unknown hackers in multiple locations, according to officials.

"There has been a sustained attack since the morning from many sources in many countries," said Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib. "It is deliberate and continuous."

Computer experts were trying to identify the sources of the attack and the authority would seek assistance from the governments of those countries involved, he said. The attack had interrupted services, causing internet connections to range from "very, very slow to completely stopped".

The authority has no idea who was behind the cyber- attack and the reason for it, Khatib said."

The last assertion, by "the authority," seems disingenuous at best -- the perpetrators of the "cyber-attack" are the people who are most steadfastly against granting the Palestinian people their rights. Those state actors by now are well known, and can be counted on a couple of fingers.

While it's a bit odd to choose the internet as the latest venue through which to flog these beleaguered people, hey, apparently anything goes when you're on the side of freedom and democracy -- or are at least hypocrites of the most egregious kind.

Israel and it's big, dumb friend the US are like a couple of teenagers out to harass and intimidate people they don't like -- always under the cover of anonymity, always while posturing as wholesome and virtuous.

When two nations that ought to be leaders instead resort to childish provocations to express their displeasure at other nations, it gives us all pause. What incentive have other nations -- places like Libya and Syria and the Saudis, that oppress their people -- have to behave in a more civilized manner when the most advanced and prosperous societies behave in such a tawdry and disreputable manner?

Defenders of these two reprobates can spare us the perfunctory denials: no other nation would be so trifling and mean-spirited. For a couple of countries accustomed to being "winners," being denied apparently doesn't sit very well.