The continued violence in Gaza has sparked protests all around the world. It seems that Israel is winning very few friends over this and for the first time, the world is not afraid to openly criticise them.
I find it odd that the world tiptoes around Jewish relations. We openly critcise the Arab, but feel apprehensive toward doing the same to the Jew. Surely the Jew has made mistakes, been wrong, and in some cases been unlawful, selfish and unnecessarily cruel. But we stand back and say nothing, for fear of being seen as anti-semitic.
Throughout the Presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both courted the Jewish vote, but there was no such courtesy for the arab vote, as that would have been seen as gleaning votes from ‘terrorists.’ The tiptoeing continues even in the light of these attacks on Palestinians, with world leaders not saying too much. It wasn’t until British singer Annie Lennox verbalised her disgust and sadness at what Israel is doing to the Palestinians, that we actually saw someone stand up and criticise Israel for what they are doing.
What I want to make very clear here is that criticism of a race based on what wrong they do and not who they are is totally different from open criticism about a race based solely on ‘the way they look’, ‘the things they eat’ and ‘cultural differences.’ I do not, and never will tolerate blatant hateful racism. What we have tended to do over the years, in relation to members of the Jewish community, is to say nothing derogatory. The Jew and the holocaust are intertwined. It is somehow seen in bad taste if we think of blaming the Jew for anything. They have suffered enough. It is like we have felt an enormous sense of guilt since the end of World War Two, and to make the Jew feel better, we have allowed them to become immensely powerful. It’s similar to the mother spoiling her child, because she was responsible for something bad that happened to that child earlier in his life. To hold the Jew to account is just not on.
Israel has suffered less than ten casualties out of this latest violence. Palestinians have suffered close to 500. For the Israeli’s to say that they must take this course of action, as Hamas are shelling Israel constantly, and it is Israel’s right to protect its citizens is a nonsense. Are all those 463 dead Palestinians Hamas members? Does it need a slaughter in Gaza to avenge the deaths of four Israeli citizens? Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Zipi Livni are pretty gung ho about it, and have no intention of stopping what they see needs to be done.
Riyad Mansour, the permanent Palestinian observer to the United Nations, told reporters earlier that it was the Security Council’s responsibility “to bring Israel into compliance and to stop this aggression immediately”.
“Israel cannot continue to behave as a state above international law – this is the law of the jungle,” he said.
The man has a point. We, as a collective, jump up and down when we see people like Robert Mugabe, Hugo Chavez, Saddam Hussein and the generals of the Burmese junta snub their noses at international law, but Israel stands alone as a nation that can do no wrong, and waves a very big stick indeed.
Hillary Clinton, as the next Secretary of State, needs to show a bit of a tougher line towards Israel than what she showed earlier this year
At a pro-Israel conference here on Monday night, Mrs. Clinton told an audience of 1,000 that Israel deserved “every bit of our support”
Barack Obama was just as strong in his support, but did at least avert to the Palestinians.
Mr. Obama, meanwhile, is making a personal overture to Jewish voters that threads together history from slavery to the Holocaust to Jim Crow. Yet he is also talking about the needs of the Palestinians.
both quotes from:
It is time we said something to Israel, and we said it loud and clear. No, we are not anti-semitic if we criticise, and no, we do not support terrorism. But we do want to see the end to the mindless slaughter of innocent Palestinians. It’s as simple as that.
Enjoy your day
