So Here’s What I Think…

Friday night the PSC and other assorted anti-Israel groups claimed 10,000 people joined their “Stop Israel” demonstration outside the Israel Embassy  http://richardmillett.wordpress.com/2014/07/12/protesters-compare-palestine-to-auschwitz-and-dachau-outside-israeli-embassy/

We know that the UK’s great unwashed aren’t the brightest. It seems that counting is a bit of a problem for them; the Met Police put the number at 3,000.

So let’s just say a few thousand protested outside the Embassy last night.

Obviously they wheeled out the self-hating, racist group, the Nuturei Karta, as they do at every possible opportunity in the hope that the general public won’t think they are antisemites (more on that later.)  They “hijacked” a couple of buses and hung their malicious lies from them.  They caused a great deal of damage and inconvenience and, as usual, upset just about every right-minded, sensible, normal person trying to get home from work. You, the tax payer spent a great deal of money paying for London’s policing costs before the protesters scurried back under their rocks, patting themselves on the back for a job well done.

And yet: I don’t have a problem with any of the above.

We live in a democracy that holds freedom of speech above all. As a committed Zionist I am able to take to the streets and express my support for Israel. No one should be able to stop me. The same goes for those who oppose Israel – despite the lies and the hateful, evil nature of their demonstration.

Make no mistake. They are wrong. They will not win. And they will continue to make us all incandescent with rage. But there must never be a question as to whether they should be allowed to protest. The fact that they can protest represents everything that’s good with this country.

So here’s my problem.

Where were all these people ‘of conscience’ when 150,000 people died in Syria? Why haven’t there been any recent reports of mass protests outside the Russian Embassy after the Russians invaded Ukraine and ‘annexed’ Crimea? How come I haven’t heard of a ’10,000’-strong mob outside the Sudanese Embassy after a pregnant woman was given a death sentence for converting to Christianity?

You say that the Middle East is more important to you than other regions of the world. So how come you felt no need to protest that democratic rights have been summarily trampled on in Egypt?  What about the routine executions of countless people in Iran – simply for being gay? What about the Middle East’s abysmal record regarding woman’s rights, the persecution and murder of Christians, terrorist outrages in Iraq – or the barbarism of ISIS?

Not important enough for you?  Obviously not. It’s not even on your radar.

I can tell you where these “human rights activists” were while all of these outrages were being committed. They were home – waiting for an opportunity to demonize and vilify Israel.

Any death is wrong and should be condemned at any opportunity. But what makes 100+ Palestinian deaths more terrible than 25,000+ kids being slaughtered by Bashar al-Assad and his army?  Are the murders of four Israel teenagers more dreadful than the murder of one Palestinian? Of course not.

The reality is that we’ve witnessed the senseless and pointless murder of five kids.  More than 100 Palestinians have died in the recent troubles. But perhaps it would make you feel better if a few more Israelis were to die just to even the score.  Should Israel just turn off Iron Dome so that Hamas can have a better chance of killing additional Israelis? Perhaps Israel should just surrender, as per your request. I’m sure that will work out well for 6,000,000 Israelis.

More than 100 deaths – some of them children – is a calamity. It most certainly should be marked. But if Hamas (and Fatah) had the slightest shred of decency, compassion or cared in the slightest about ‘their’ people there would be none.

Take the rockets away from the civilian population – where Hamas instructs them to go – and Israel would not need to fire on them.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/alanjohnson/100279637/gaza-the-ethical-dilemmas-of-fighting-terrorism/

In fact I’ve got a better idea. If Hamas and Fatah stopped attacking Israel I can promise you that no further civilians would die.

However, none of this is of any interest to the 3,000 who gathered outside the Israeli Embassy Friday night calling for the destruction of the only democracy in the Middle East. You know why? Because whenever I have used the word ‘Israel’ here, replace it with ‘Jews’.

To me, in the eyes of my community and for many right-minded, intelligent people all of you are antisemites.  I can hear the your mass indignation now. But before you scream, “How dare you?  I have friends who are Jews!” – ask yourselves a question: How does it look to us?

Only Israel, always Israel, nothing but Israel?  

Do you seriously wonder why we think you are antisemites? You continue to deny the Jews a homeland. You continue to spread malicious and unwarranted lies about Israel at every opportunity. You continue to call for the destruction of the ‘Zionist entity’ – which to us is the same thing as calling for the genocide of the Jewish people.

We call for two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace. Yet that’s unacceptable to you.  You demand we respect the rights of others. Yet you ignore our most basic right: the right of self-determination.  You hold us to a higher moral standard than any other country in the world yet condemn us if we fail to meet your arbitrary ‘standards’.

Israel is the only real democracy in the Middle East. It is pluralistic. It upholds women’s rights, gay rights and human rights. It values the lives of its citizens above everything else. And it is a shining economic and humanitarian beacon in the troubled Middle East and across the globe.

But none of this holds a shred of interest to you. That is why, in our eyes, you are liars, hypocrites, racists, bigots and unequivocal antisemites. As the man said: “If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck and looks like a duck, chances are it’s a duck”. Until you provide me with a genuine and valid reason why you are not ducks, I shall, at every opportunity, loudly, passionately and without fear, continue to refer to you as the mallards you are.

Most importantly, I will always support and defend Israel from you.

For us in the Diaspora, Israel is not simply waging a war against Hamas and its rockets. It is ensuring that we, Jews, will always have somewhere to go to if (G-d forbid) the ducks ever win.

With all of this in mind, the need for all of us to come together not as Jew or non-Jew, black or white, young or old but simply as ‘Friends of Israel’ is not just needed at the moment but it is absolutely vital.  Please make that effort, show that you care and join us on Sunday at the Israeli Embassy at 2pm and together, united in solidarity, we can be absolutely certain that the ducks will never win

Am Yisrael Chai

Simon