Yesterday, I was chatting on the phone to a driving instructor friend. He told me that he has a number of Israeli pupils, one of whom told him that he hoped my friend wasn't surprised to find that he, the Israeli, didn't have a horn and a tail. I was not going to write a blog item about the Gaza tragedy, but the thought that someone might feel as this Israeli felt has jolted me into action.
I am only too well aware that, for some people, the slightest hint of what they see as pro-Israeli bias provokes them into litanies of condemnation of Israeli war crimes. I myself have encountered this on Facebook, and find it an interesting example of how one subject - the recent anti-Semitic attacks in France and Germany - can be perceived as another subject entirely (Gaza) by some concerned individuals. To be fair, I was not accused of being in the pay of Mossad (I congratulate my critics on their restraint), but I might be after this.
There really is a need for calming down and taking a more detached view of what is happening in Gaza. That does not mean we should ignore what is happening, or show indifference to the suffering of the people there. I simply mean that there are other issues surrounding this horrible situation that we should take into account. I am also aware that, for those being shelled, rocketed and bereaved on both sides, detachment is not an option. That should not preclude the rest of us from having a reasoned debate, whatever views we may hold.
My first area of concern is that Israelis and Jews everywhere really are being demonised. Professor Robert Wistrich has said:
"A recent survey has revealed a troubling rise in anti-Jewish prejudice in Britain. One in five believes the Holocaust was "exaggerated". A similar number believe Jews have too much influence and say they do not want a Jewish Prime Minister. In the last two years, assaults against Jews have increased by 75 per cent and the number of synagogue desecrations by 400 per cent."
Again, the recent violent "Pro-Palestinian" riots in France and Germany have seen openly anti-Semitic language being used by some demonstrators, although it is not clear yet whether these are people from the Middle East, local fascists, or both. Nothing that Israel may be doing in Gaza, or anywhere else, justifies this.
It needs to be said here, though some may say it is "obvious", that the people who campaign against Israeli action in Gaza encompass a wide range of opinions. There will be those who are genuinely concerned about the suffering of the Palestinians; there are people who want to change Israeli policy towards Gaza to being more lenient; the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC), who want to abolish the state of Israel altogether and, of course, the neo-nazis who want to continue the Holocaust where Hitler left off. The recent demonstration on July 19th in London shows there to be growing concern about the Gaza situation - although there were no outbreaks of anti-Semitic violence that day - and I fully support the right of Palestinian supporters to peacefully demonstrate. I would, however, question the PSC's claim that the BBC is biased in favour of Israel; I find the BBC reports from both sides fairly. But that's just my opinion.
What no-one is saying, however, is that Hamas, with whom Israel is engaged in conflict, is not exactly an organisation devoted to love and peace. The Hamas Charter specifically states:
"Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement."
Well, that raises hope for the future of a settlement in Gaza. Hamas is an Islamist organisation, and, as readers of this blog know by now, that does not make them particularly tolerant of different opinions - religious or secular. Palestinian Christians know this well:
"Since Hamas took power in Gaza in 2007, the Christian population has shrunk to about 1,500, less than half it was a decade ago... the most telling commentary on the fate of Christians is their disappearance from Bethlehem. Since 1995, the city has been under Palestinian civil control, which has altered the demographics by changing boundaries, and its present population includes 20,000 Christians, one third of the population. Two decades ago, Christians accounted for 75 percent of the city's population."
Strangely, the PSC and others never mention this. Mention is never made, either, of the fact that Hamas, like the neo-nazis, deny the Holocaust. This does not reassure Israelis (or me) that Hamas is simply a resistance movement to Zionist aggression. The author of the Hamas Charter has clearly read the anti- Semitic forgery "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion", beloved by Hitler and the Nazis. Article 22 states clearly:
"They (ie, the Jews) stood behind the French and the Communist Revolutions and behind most of the revolutions we hear about here and there. They also used the money to establish clandestine organizations which are spreading around the world, in order to destroy societies and carry out Zionist interests".
Now, of course, this does not mean that Israel should refuse to negotiate with Hamas, and, though I find Hamas to be a detestable organisation, they do have a point in demanding an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Perhaps negotiations and peace will lead to a relaxing of the Hamas stand on Israel - if not their treatment of Christians. Still, you can't have everything.
What I do hope happens is that those of us not directly involved can discuss this issue without undue emotionalism. I often wonder why so many people get worked up into a near-frenzy over several hundred Palestinian deaths, tragic though that is, while 45 000 people are killed every month in internecine warfare in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and no-one says anything (perhaps I should?).
As for Gaza itself, as the great classical conductor, Daniel Barenboim, a man with dual Israeli and Palestinian citizenship has said:
"Both Israelis and Palestinians are losers in this conflict".
Alas, while both sides seek to demonise each other, that seems unlikely to change. As Martin Luther King said:
"Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows".
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“I myself have encountered this on Facebook, and find it an interesting example of how one subject - the recent anti-Semitic attacks in France and Germany - can be perceived as another subject entirely (Gaza) by some concerned individuals.”
ReplyDeleteIt was you, Geoff, who linked the disgraceful anti-Semitic behaviour in France with Gaza in the first sentence of your Facebook post. You wrote: “This [i.e. the anti-Semitic violence in France] is why I have always been cautious about taking a stand either way on the Palestinian issue.” It seems a bit unfair to suggest that those who were disagreeing with you made the link when you put it there from the start.
Whichever side you stand on, or if you stand on neither, you have to accept that there is utter intolerance among certain elements on both sides. My argument was simply that one can be opposed to Israeli aggression in Gaza and be equally opposed to all anti-Semitism. This, to me, is blindingly obvious.
Factual error: the Palestine Solidarity Campaign's core values do not include wanting the abolition of the State of Israel. It “campaigns for peace & justice for Palestinians, in support of international law”; international law, as you know, recognises the existence of the State of Israel. Furthermore, one of its core values includes “opposition to racism, including anti-Jewish prejudice and Islamophobia”.
To be fair to you and Nina, Nev, if there is ambiguity, you were perfectly entitled to say what you both said. To be fair to myself, I can't see why you two thought I was talking about Gaza per se, but that's ok - I shall try to be clearer in future. In the interests of fairness, I have included the Labour Friends of Israel AND the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign in the "Links" section. If I have been unfair to the PSC, I shall offer them the right to reply.
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