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Shirah Cashriel

Kicking the Girl

The current situation is incredibly complicated and nuanced. There are many security and humanitarian concerns to deal with. There are centuries of history, deep-rooted emotions and connections to land. There have been many simplifications of the situation, the main one being that Israel is a modern country with a big strong army and Gaza is a poor country, with a mere militia. Especially now, with Iron Dome intercepting these rockets they are actually really no big deal.

I’d like to address that simplification by using this video clip to draw an analogy.

A screenshot from the video (Friends, from YouTube).
A screenshot from the video (Friends, from YouTube).

If it’s unclear, Joey is Israel, his height challenged friend is Hamas. The rest of the cast is The World.

No one believes Joey that these little punches cause some sort of damage. Until, that is, Rachel gets a taste of it for herself, kicks the woman in the shin after minimal provocation, and realizes that maybe they should have listened to Joey.

Like in the above situation, the real world claims that the Hamas rockets are a mere nuisance, like fireworks when they are unexpected. Israel should just “suck it up and be a man”.  But as soon as a rocket landed in the general near vicinity of the airport, all international flights to and from Israel were suspended.

Unlike Rachel, the world was too cowardly to kick Hamas in the shin, choosing instead to wait it out from their safe havens abroad, while continuing to make fun of Israel for complaining about being “hit by a girl”. Though in this case, making fun of Israel manifests itself in a renewal of a continuing violent global pogrom.

I guess that’s the same thing.

About the Author
Former IDF Soldier