By Hindy Nosek- Abelson
Let me state that I have always been a liberal Jew. As a mother and grandmother, I cry for every child who has become an unwitting, innocent victim of war. The Palestinian mothers and fathers whose children died in Gaza deserved the exact same hopes and privileges for their children’s future that we in the west enjoy. The children left orphaned deserved the loving parents and grandparents they were cruelly robbed off. I mourn with the parents and siblings of every young Israeli soldier who died defending their country against missiles and terror tunnels. I mourn because they will never see their child married, have children or achieve their full potential. It’s all equally painful to me and most humane beings, be they in Israel or elsewhere.
Let me also clarify that I have never believed that Israel is beyond criticism. I also never cared for Netanyahu or his policies. However, it has become crystal clear to me that there is a world of difference between criticism and demonization; between moral clarity and moral turpitude and between consistency and hypocrisy.
Unfortunately, much of the blame for the destruction being visited upon civilians belongs not just to Israel, but also to Hamas as well as to a western press and a “New” left who – by their support, actually enable Hamas’ glorification of death and gives fuel to their fanatic jihadist mission and tactics.
The whole philosophy of this new radical left, currently hurling hateful epithets at Israel, is patently absurd. It’s not as if, by supporting Hamas they are defending Palestinian rights to freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of election, freedom of the press; women’s rights, gay rights or any privilege we take for granted in America, Canada and Western Europe.
Are they even aware that most of the Christian community in Gaza have fled – out of fear of Hamas? Gaza Christians were and are being driven away by intimidation, death threats, forced conversions and scrutiny by Hamas “Torquemadas” who check to make sure these new converts are attending Mosque on a regular basis. Have they seen the videos recently smuggled out showing Hamas henchmen beating up Palestinian men, women and children trying to evacuate their homes, (as the IDF asked them to do), and being driven back inside so their deaths can become fodder for naïve, unquestioning western eyes? For many Palestinians Hamas rule in Gaza has become akin to the inquisition. Has it ever occurred to these new far left wingers that their unquestioning support of Gaza is actually enabling Hamas and other similar tyrants to continue doing what they do best – namely rule through intimidation and terror?
Have they even noticed that this conflict is not just between Israel and Gaza, but is similar to the bloody warfare that the whole Muslim world is currently embroiled in between jihadists (like Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaida and ISIS) and more moderate pro-democracy movements?
Hundreds of thousands of people are currently dying in wars that make this one look benevolent. Yet this new left and their ilk have absolutely no qualms about demonizing Israel – a multi-ethnic, democratic (albeit it imperfect) country, with freedom of religion, freedom of speech, gender equity, nude beaches and gay day parades. For some incomprehensible reason they have no qualms labelling Israel as the big bad wolf of the Middle East; calling them racist and equating them with Nazis – of all things! If it weren’t so grotesque, it would be laughable.
Do they even care about the thousands of Iraqi Christians currently being banished and massacred in the most barbaric manner? Are they holding Isis up as freedom fighters too? Do they suppose that the fate of Israeli Jews, Arab citizens (aka collaborators in Hamas lingo) and Christians would be any different if Hamas were to fulfill its primitive vile racist charter? Why is it that topsy-turvy “idealists” who rail against Israel, don’t lift a finger against even more egregious slaughters and human rights abuses now flaring up throughout the Middle East? Do Americans who have built a wall to protect themselves from Mexicans and Central American children, have the right to slander Israel of Apartheid for building one to protect themselves from incursions in the territories? I’m not defending it. I’m simply posing the question.
I also want to examine the moral turpitude of people, movements, organizations and countries currently hollering about the “disproportionate use of force” by Israel. And I’m curious to see if they can point to a recent conflict in which allied civilians and soldiers actually died in equal numbers to the other side.
1940 -45: In the British response to Nazi bombardment and rockets in the Blitz: German civilian deaths far outnumbered British civilian casualties. Did that make the Brits wrong and the Nazis right? Of course not!
What about those wars in which no Western country was directly threatened the way Britain was and Israel is? Yet the West fought anyways.
• 1950 – 1953 Korean war: Over a period of three years American troups killed between 20 to 30% of the North Korean population of approximately of 8 – 9 million. Result North Korean causualties – 2 to 3 million. Americans 36,000 (a ratio of 6,944 to 1)
• 1991 – First Gulf war: Estimates of Iraqi casualties – 30,000 to 150,000. Coalition deaths: 182 (ratio between 165 to 1 and 824 to 1)
• 2003 to 2013 – Second Gulf War: The MONTHLY average of civilians killed in the Iraq War – 4,600. The monthly average of troops killed: Americans – 31; Brits – 8. (ratio 117 -1)
By comparison deaths in a MONTH of fighting in the current Gaza-Israel: Palestinians – 1,417; Israeli’s 63 (ratio of 21 – 1).
Did the protestors and media who now accuse Israel of disproportionate force also clamour for more allied soldiers to die in order to justify the 18,000 to 20,000 Afghani deaths or did the “collateral damage” incurred feel somewhat justified as a response to 911?
Were they as upset when NATO forces used a disproportionate amount of air power against Libya in order to oust Khaddafi? Or were they relieved that all the troops returned safely? Do they know how many innocent Libyans died as a result of our Western intervention to free them of Khaddafi? Do they even give a damn?
Where were their Swastika emblazoned placards against Russia when 160,000 Chechen Muslims were slaughtered? While there were protests against Bush’s unjustified war, I don’t recall any placards brandishing swastikas or hysterical calls for death to Americans, Brits or other citizens of the coalition, like they do now against Israel and Jews. Why not?
Is the western press and far left as upset at French forces who recently slipped into Africa, to kill Muslim extremists – with what is also likely disproportionate force? Have they noticed? Could they care less?
What about Syria with its barbarous slaughter and gassing of more than 170,000 men women and children? Did they wave the same hateful placards against Syria that they now brandish against Israel?
Could someone explain to me why civilian deaths caused by Western forces are labelled by that most sterile of all euphemisms “collateral damage” while civilian deaths caused by the Israeli army are called “innocent victims”?
Why was it acceptable for Western nations and others to conduct disproportionately waged wars in response to situations that didn’t threaten their own security, yet they demand that Israel refrain from responding to rockets and tunnels whose aim it is to kill Israelis? How dare the citizens of countries who stood by while their own countries used “disproportionate force” to ensure their victory against Hitler, North Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and others, condemn Israel for doing the same against Hamas? Why is it appropriate for the West to see it as their mission to free nations thousands of miles from their borders from tyrannical regimes, while denying Israel the right to defend itself from tyrants next door who vow to destroy it?
The only disproportionality I can see right now is a disproportionate blame leveled at Israel. Perhaps it just upsets some people that, after centuries of turning the other cheek to a steady stream of persecution, culminating the death of 6,000,000, Jews finally learned to defend themselves. Has it never occurred to any of their detractors that perhaps, those pesky “Zionists” (aka Jews) learned everything about “disproportionate force” from centuries of living amongst nations who are the most adept at practicing it?
What kind of obscene lack of moral clarity allows “liberals” to stick a label of apartheid, racism and Nazism to a secular democratic nation like Israel, while they ignore the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, equal rights, for women, gays, minorities and highly functioning judicial system that are enshrined in Israel’s constitution and enjoyed by all of its citizens? (within the pre-67 borders)
And what type of hallucinatory drug can produce the current state of delusion, denial and psychosis that allows these same liberals to whitewash Hamas’ jailing of single mothers along with their illegitimate children; their persecution of gays; their killing of political opponents; their use of children as slave labour to construct tunnels into Israel (in which 160 died); using adults and children as human shields and more?
How is it possible that, despite Hamas’ sociopathic, racist policies towards anyone whose opinions and beliefs differ from their own nihilistic creed, many Western democracies, liberal media and left wing organizations refer to them as “freedom fighters”? This despite the fact that Israel fully withdrew from Gaza and only placed an embargo on them to stop their constant unprovoked attacks.
I’ve never been one to see an anti-Semite hiding behind every bush or statement of criticism. However, I don’t know what else to call the demonization, moral turpitude and hypocrisy raising its ugly head in the world today. Unlike the blatant anti-Semitism of the 30’s, this modern version is couched in politically correct terms such as “Anti-Zionist”. Back then Hitler made it crystal clear that he despised Jews. Today’s left camouflages their prejudices by directing their rants against “Zionists” who, in their twisted minds, have absolutely no right behaving like everyone else. The fact that virtually all Zionists happen to be Jews doesn’t seem to register with these new champions of amoral, naïve, short sighted moral equivalency. The fact that their stereotyping, scapegoating and double standards have the exact same effect of fomenting hate, totally escapes their deluded minds.
As a liberal Jew, I can no longer bring myself to crawl into bed with a new left that attributes every nefarious principle I have ever opposed to “Israel and Zionists” – while they, bizarrely take on the cause of an organization like Hamas who denies every principle the left and west have ever stood for.
Since most Jews don’t belong on the right either, many of us now find ourselves without an ideological home for our ideals. That leaves me and others frightened – for ourselves, for our children, for Israel and – mainly for the world.
Here’s a test, before you head out to your next anti-Israel demonstration. Ask yourself one simple question. If you had no place else to go, would you choose to live under Hamas rule in Gaza or in Israel? Sleep on it!
