The war is over. Kind of… not really…
Ben Franklin said that there are two certain things in life; death and taxes. That was said, of course, long before Hamas came into being, because as we enter the 12th or 13th (who remembers anymore) ceasefire of the conflict with Hamas, we can be sure it will be violated. With Hamas, it is never a case of if, but only of when. Each conflict is similar in nature: they fire missiles, Israel retaliates, the UN get excited, a ceasefire is forced on Israel, peace reigns throughout the land…for about ten minutes, and then the whole thing starts again. What has been different about this particular conflict, is that it has truly removed that duplicity of much of world opinion, which stated that they have nothing against the Jews, just the State of Israel.
That’s why that in this particular conflict in Gaza, the true faces of Israel’s opponents have once again revealed themselves, motivated not by a sense of so called ‘justice’, but instead motivated by the age old hatred of anti-Semitism. In protests across the world against Israel’s action, it does not take long to discover among the placards, calls for ‘killing the Jews’ and ‘Mohammed’s army is returning.’ In Paris, a synagogue was attacked by a mob of these protestors desperately trying to break down its walls to get inside and commit another pogrom.
Yet, where are the protestations as the number of people killed in Syria tops 170000 and climbing? Where are the signs of outrage and demands for justice as the Islamic army of ISIS marches through Iraq massacring thousands?
The truth is that, despite false campaigns by BDS and other left-wing movements to portray their protests against Israel as not being anti-Semitic in nature, but instead anti-Israel, that false veneer is easily peeled away to reveal the true face of their racism and hatred.
Israel’s actions are totally justified, as would any country’s be when attacked by thousands of missiles in an unprovoked way, yet, as always, Israel is somehow treated differently. No one complained about a proportional response when tens of thousands of people were bombed in Dresden. There were no outcries when NATO launched a bombing campaign in the Balkans war, even as thousands of innocent people were killed by Allied forces.
At the time, Jamie Shea, a NATO spokesmen said the following:
“There is always a cost to defeat an evil,” he said. “It never comes free, unfortunately. But the cost of failure to defeat a great evil is far higher.” He insisted NATO planes had bombed only “legitimate designated military targets” and if more civilians had died it was because NATO had been forced into military action.
How is it that that is acceptable when said by NATO, but is somehow unacceptable when said by Israel?
The truth is that the world’s approach to Israel is hypocritical at best. The standards they apply to themselves, they do not apply to Israel. If London or Washington or Paris came under attack by a terrorist entity firing missiles indiscriminately at them, there would be no talk of proportion as they hit back.
The standards applied to Israel are completely at odds to any other country in the world. How many innocents have died in American drone attacks in Iraq or Afghanistan, but I certainly don’t see any mass condemnation of it? To quote John Kerry’s sarcastic remark about Israel’s attacks, “It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation. It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation.” Does that quote apply to his own country as well?
Israel today faces a brutal and savage enemy that dreams of marching through the streets of Israel and massacring its citizens – and would do so without any hesitation, if it had the power. They happily use their own people as human shields knowing that their deaths are a victory for them. This is something the world does not understand, as they try to apply their ‘Western value’ template on an organisation such as Hamas. It is a credit to Israel’s moral nature that they do everything in their power to limit the killings of innocent civilians by warning them multiple times in advance, even at risk to their own citizens, a concept completely foreign to the many countries cautioning Israel right now. And don’t forget that the number of dead in Gaza that is widely quoted in the world media, is supplied by the Gaza Health Ministry – controlled by Hamas. So you’ll forgive me, if I don’t take them at their word. Khaled Meshal’s interview the other day proved as much.
Israel stands at the precipice between civilisation which they represent and ultimate savagery represented by their enemies. If Israel had to fall to its enemies, there would be no talk about proportion as that darkness smothers our world.