A mail comparing Israel and India

I had got this comparison between Israel and India by e-mail. Later a friend of mine showed it to me on his screen. I said I saw it before.

ISRAEL

POPULATION: 7 million (less than half of Mumbai)
SIZE: Less than that of Kerala
ACT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST IT: 2 soldiers kidnapped by Hezbolla, 1 by Hamas
RETALIATORY ACTION: war on Lebanon and Gaza

INDIA

POPULATION: 1 billion+
SIZE: 6th largest in the world
ACT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST IT: 200+ dead in Mumbai blast, 8 in Kashmir
RETALIATORY ACTION: a speech by PM

So is the mail (and those who called my attention to the same) trying to say that we should feel happy we aren't killing innocent people in retaliation? ("More than 54 civilians, at least 34 of them children, have been killed in a town in south Lebanon in the deadliest Israeli strike of the conflict so far", says BBC, July 30).

And some people seem to be busy pointing out that the smoke wasn't as thick. Or did they mean that Israel was dropping food packets for the poor Lebanese and the stories of air-strikes on civilians was propaganda made up by some Reuters and BBC journos who had vested interests?

[I recall meeting an Israeli friend who said he would have probably turned a militant too had he been born a Palestinian. I had written about it here.]

* * *

May be I'll get the mail again in a few days, or may be by now people are more comfortable not mouthing words like Lebanon (Lebanon is the homeland of artist, poet and thinker Kahlil Gibran).