Another video to add to the confusion about what is actually going on in Israel/Palestine:
I have to agree, however, that comparing Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto is an example of extreme historical distortion that I can only describe as sick and irresponsible. Though feel free to contradict me (just use reasonable arguments!).
2 comments:
Nice blog.
I tried to watch this vid but it was removed :(
I do understand your confusion. War is always confusing.
I'm Israeli and I think about this a lot.
It seems like the world sees Israel as the bad guys because we aren't as bad off. So, the side with fewer casualties must be the side in the wrong? Do we somehow owe it to them not to fight back until they develop good enough technology to really wipe out Tel Aviv or something? To keep the fight fair?
I am baffled by how now, by withdrawing and closing borders, we are "jailing" them. What other country is expected to keep an open border with a state that is attacking them and openly stating that it wants to destroy them? Now it's jail?!
It's always something...
First, it's "we don't want a two state solution, we want a war. oops we lost, ok lets do two states then."
Then it's "you need to pull out of our territories". Ok.
Then it's "ok great but you need to let us into yours." All demands made while constantly terrorizing us.
one really sad thing for me was Israel pulling out of Gaza unilaterally and Gaza responding by electing a party whose platform is destruction of the state of Israel. That was a sad day for me. I didn't understand, how can this be the response to us withdrawing? I still don't understand. It makes me feel so hopeless. I was so happy when we pulled out, it was hard but I thought okay finally, surely THIS will bring peace.
But no.
It's terrible that the people of Gaza suffer as they do. But why is their anger solely directed at Israel and never at their leaders who insist on continuing with war, who withdraw from negotiation when we get close to an agreement... Or at the other arab countries who attacked Israel and then didn't take care of all the palestinians who became refugees as a result of that war.
Israel does things wrong too. But in Israel, we all discuss it, we all try to stop it and make things better. Palestinian writes seem to ignore any wrongdoing on their side, and i don't get that.
The current leaders of Gaza openly embrace the idea of just killing all of us. Can you imagine anyone like that coming to power in Israel? If Israel were trying to destroy Gaza, they'd all be dead now. But why would we try to do that? They are people just like us. How could we do such a thing, or preach such a thing?
Hi Michal,
thank you very much for your sensitive comments. There's nothing much I can add but to say I agree wholeheartedly. Israel itself is not always innocent, but it has mechanisms in place to critic its faults and, like America with its history of slavory, these mechanisms function to slowely bring about a more just society. There isn't a single example of that in any of Israel's Arab neighbours (as far as I can see). And there is no difference in substance between Hamas and Hitler (again, as far as I can see). Support for the Palestinians is of course necessary, but I often get the feeling that their advocates are less interested in international human rights than in personal ideological agendas - whether of the liberal sort or the Islamic sort. Nuance and sensitivity is rarely to be found.
I was fairly critical of Israeli actions in the Gaza war, though I did try and see both sides. I posted a fair bit on this, summarized here.
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