Recently, Sean Penn was on the CNN news magazine program, AC360. Penn was on television to raise awareness for a cholera outbreak that has rapidly been spreading across earthquake-torn Haiti. To date, over 250 Haitians have been killed and 3,100 people have been sickened by the disease.
It is worth noting, that at this time the outbreak is still approximately 60 miles north of the capital of Port-Au-Prince – an extremely densely populated city with very poor water filtration. When cholera shows up there, the numbers of dead will skyrocket. It is also worth noting, that this kind of nightmare happens on a daily basis with little to no reaction from people who refer to themselves as "liberals" or progressives. So this kind of apathy is less than surprising.
But in Haiti we have a developing situation is nothing short of a humanitarian crisis – and it has all the makings of a humanitarian disaster.
Furthermore, as of this month, not even one cent of the United-States-pledged $1.15 billion that was supposed to help rebuild Haitian infrastructure (like water treatment plants that would prevent cholera contamination for example) has been spent.
But you probably didn’t even know this was a problem, did you? Foreign aid news seems to be dominated by speculation on when the next Gaza flotilla is going to try to force an unnecessary provocation with the Israeli Navy. Doubtless you have heard how there is a terrible “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza that needs to be solved with another dramatic confrontation with Israeli naval commandos.
However, if you type in disease outbreak gaza into a google search – the first response* talks about Haiti. Type in died of hunger gaza into a google search and the second response (the first hit is a link to the tragic death of two zebras in a Gaza zoo) is a link to the following quote from June 5, 2010 - less than a week after the initial flotilla incident:
"There is no starvation in Gaza," said Khalil Hamada, a senior official at Hamas's ministry of justice. "No-one has died of hunger."
The esteemed Mr. Hamada’s statements are indeed grounded in fact.
With a population of 1.5 million people, Gaza receives approximately 16,000 tons of food aid per month. This means that if every individual living in territory received an equal share of the food aid allocation, they would receive about 16 pounds of free food every month.
Every single day, dozens of trucks that are full of foreign aid (including aid that is donated by Israelis) stream across the Gaza border crossings with the full assistance of the Israeli military.
This in itself should negate the mythical need for these needlessly provocative flotillas – but let’s take a look if these numbers even make sense.
Gaza is among the top 10 recipients of foreign food aid. Its closest neighbors in food benefits are Zimbabwe (17,000 tons of food), Somalia (19,000) and Afghanistan (19,000). On the surface this would appear to make sense since all of these places have rather serious poverty issues, right? Or worse, Gaza aid is even lagging behind! Hurry up and send another flotilla? Not so fast...
Here are some particularly relevant population statistics on those other countries:
Zimbabwe: 11.4 million people, Somalia: 9.8 million, Afghanistan: 28.4 million.
This means that the average person living in Zimbabwe has access to less than three pounds of food per month, the average Somalian gets less than four pounds and the average Afghani must find some way to get by on a staggering 1.33 pounds of food. PER MONTH. Or to put it another way...
The average Gazan receives over 12,000% more food aid than the average Afghani.
Is this fair? Is this justice? And when you think of the scope of the tragedies that take place in these countries, the injustice of the situation becomes even clearer. Lest you think that these are just arbitrary numbers that have no correlation to the actual reality on the ground, check out the average life expectancy for these countries:
Zimbabwe: 45.8 years, Somalia: 49.6 years, Afghanistan: 44.4 years.
What is Gaza’s life expectancy? 73.4 years. For even more contrast, the life expectancy in Haiti (even prior to the disastrous earthquake) is only 60.8 years.
Want more contrasts? Check out some of the other countries whose life expectancies are WORSE than Gaza's:
Thailand Brazil The Philippines India Russia Fiji The Bahamas
That's right, the life expectancy in the tourist paradise of the Bahamas is 69.9 - a full three and a half years WORSE than in the "besieged" Gaza Strip.
Free the Bahamas! Save Atlantis! Oh wait, it might be a little late for that...
And how about little irony thrown into the mix? The chief antagonist against Israel and organizer of these flotillas has been the NATO-member and recent EU-reject - Turkey. Guess where they rank in the life expectancy game? 71.9 years.
Well, luckily for Turkey they are better off than the hopelessly oppressed people of the Bahamas but still BELOW the elite fatcats of Gaza. Maybe the Turks should put the fire out in their own backyard before looking to start fires elsewhere?
Or at least they could look to help people that are worse off than them, like the Haitians - who as we've already established are about to deal with an imminent health catastrophe.
To make it crystal clear: HAITI is in a state of EMERGENCY - GAZA is NOT.
Furthermore Haiti is not currently governed by Hamas, a group that is an internationally recognized terrorist organization. Nor does the Haitian government make a habit of hijacking foreign aid shipments, selling them on the black market and then using the money to buy weapons that will be fired indiscriminately into civilian population centers, used to infringe on the rights of women and conduct violent purges of political enemies – as Hamas has a proven track record of doing.
So perhaps another flotilla IS in order...
However, the destination should not be Gaza where at best it will only be used for political purposes and at worst will actually be used to further oppress the very people it claims to want to help. Instead, let's send a flotilla to the perpetually tragic population of Haiti (or Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, etc) where the situation is truly dire and the people have been neglected for decades.
To focus our attention on Hamas propaganda at their expense and continue dumping aid to people whose own "leaders" say don't need it, would be an injustice of the highest order. And we will have no one but ourselves to blame for the results.
For information on donating to Haitian relief efforts (and others) click here.
*UPDATE: As of now this blog entry is actually the first response on google.
So by popular demand, I'm going to do a line-by-line break down of the Living on a Thin Line video. If you haven't seen it yet (or would just like to rewatch it), you can check it out right here:
There's a lot packed in here and literally every image is there for a reason, so let's get right into it...
Part I: A brief history lesson
*Opening music* - We open with three images, one is a map of the ancient kingdoms of David and Solomon,
another is a picture of ancient Hebron and then old Jerusalem, with Psalms 137:5
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem - אִם-אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְרוּשָׁלִָם
superimposed on it. The rest of the verse says "let my right hand forget her cunning" - meaning that if as Jews we forget how important Jerusalem (the ancient capital of the Jewish Kingdoms of the 1st and 2nd Temple periods) is, we should lose the usage of our right hands. i.e. We must always remember the significance of Jerusalem to Jewish history and heritage.
The idea behind opening with these images is to establish the HISTORICAL connection between Jews and Israel. Even taking away the religious aspect...the old "God gave us the land" argument...there's no question that Jerusalem and Israel has been a part of Jewish heritage for at least 3,000 years. This counteracts the ridiculous assertions by the Helen Thomas wannabes of the world who claim that Jews are invaders on Palestinian land.
In reality the post-Muhammad Arabs (as well as the Romans who preceded them) were the invaders and the Jews were the indigenous people who were displaced about 2,000 years ago. That it took a long time for many of the original original inhabitants to return does nothing to minimize their ties to the land.
Hebron is included because in addition to being it is believed to be the burial place of all the Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs, it was actually King David's first capital before he moved to Jerusalem. Yet today, it is written off as nothing more than a "settlement" by the vast majority of the planet. Hebron and Jerusalem also happen to be one of the cities in Israel that had a contiguous Jewish presence all through the Diaspora years.
The only time this was interrupted was when it was the scene of an Arab pogrom in 1929 and again was the scene of violence during the 1936-1939 Arab Revolt. At this time the remaining Jewish families of Hebron were forcibly removed from territory that had been part of their tradition for literally thousands of years...today their descendants who have returned to Hebron after decades of Jordanian rule are treated as fanatic settlers holding back the country from making more Land for Peace deals.
Which of course brings us to...
*Music picks up* - and we get to Land for Peace in the Middle East...a short montage of Israeli and Arab leaders who have either given or received land as part of the Land for Peace process. They're arranged as follows:
Menachem Begin, Anwar Sadat, Yitzchak Rabin, Yasir Arafat (with special guest appearance by our friend Saddam Hussein) and of course Ariel Sharon. Without exception everyone in these pictures are either dead or brain-dead. Half of them are dead at the hands of their own people.
This montage is followed by the modern city of Tel Aviv as well the Old City of Jerusalem...juxtaposing again, the inseparable religious, cultural and historical ties of the Jews to the land of Israel. After this we see the security barrier in Bethlehem which surrounds the ancient burial place of Rachel, the Jewish matriarch. The barrier (which for the vast majority of the border between Israel-proper and the West Bank is a fence) here is a wall due to the frequent shooting attacks on Jewish civilians going to their holy site that took place when the border was a fence. Again the juxtaposition of past ties to history with (the rather sad) modern reality.
The final image before the lyrics begin is of Masada, the ancient Jewish fortress that was the last bastion of the Jews that fought the Romans 2,000 years ago. For years, Israeli soldiers would be taken here where they would proclaim that "Masada shall never fall again" - symbolizing again the juxtaposition of modern Israeli society and the ancient ties to the land that long precede any Arab invasions. This is something that is often forgotten when accusing Zionists of being "foreign" invaders. Or when people claim that the Bible is irrelevant when discussing the West Bank.
"All the stories have been told" - the Dead Sea Scrolls. Again, archeological proof of the Jews' historic ties to the land. Often critics of Israel paint Zionists as religious fanatics who use the Bible as their deed to the land (the legitimacy of which these critics reject). However, as the Dead Sea scrolls showed us, the Bible (whether a divine "Word of God" or just an historical record of a Jewish society in ancient Israel ) has been around in a form similar to what it is today for at LEAST 2,000 years.
"Of kings and days of Old" - King David and the ancient Jewish Temple of Jerusalem...self explanatory I think.
"But there's no England now" - There's a shot of a group of British soldiers
standing over an illegal Jewish immigration ship full of Jews waiting to disembark onto their ancient homeland. The British prevented Jews from immigrating into Mandate Palestine in an attempt to appease the Arab population after the Arab Revolt of 1939. This was painful, but especially painful during the Holocaust years of WWII when literally millions of Jews could have been saved from the Nazi ovens if not for this policy.
But there's no England now...after the next two images, first of Lord Balfour and second of Jews raising the Israeli flag during the last days of the British Mandate. Never again will a foreign government prevent Jews from returning to their ancient homeland and never again will Jewish refugees have nowhere to go but to their death. Israel guarantees this.
"All the wars that were won - or lost" - Photo of the victorious Israeli soldiers at the Western Wall in 1967 (as well as a reunion of the same three soldiers at the wall decades later)...followed by a photo of three Israeli soldiers returning from the 2006 Lebanon War. This war, while effectively securing quiet for Northern Israel for the past four years was widely perceived as failing to achieve a tangible military objective.
"Somehow don't seem to matter very much anymore" - images of anti-Israel protests, very clearly calling for violence and rejecting Israel as a legitimate state.
"All the lies we were told, all the lies of the people running round" - Images of the 1993 Oslo Accords and the 2000 Camp David Summit. Both times involved lies from Yasir Arafat to two different Israeli prime ministers that he would curb terrorism. Also both images serve as fitting bookends between the beginning and end of Clinton's misguided attempt to force an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
This is followed by an image of current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton embracing Arafat's wife and current President Barack Obama sitting with
Edward Said - a noted pro-Palestinian advocate, rock thrower and proponent of Israel absorbing all Palestinians...effectively destroying Israel as a Jewish state. Both Clinton and Obama promised (lied) to Jews during their campaigns that they would be the best friend Israel ever had. They are turning out to be the most negative Administration in regards to Israel in recent history.
"Their castles have burned" - pretty self-explanatory. As the World Trade Center collapses, the video becomes increasingly grainy and distorted...as time marches on from 9/11/2001 our memory seems to become more grainy and distorted and more and more we forget the significance of the day.
"Now I see change" - images of Independence Day celebrations in Tel Aviv. The ultimate symbol of change in Jewish culture...more than anywhere else, Tel Aviv represents the Zionist initiative to control the destiny of the Jewish people instead of just leaving it up to chance. Unfortunately for the Zionists...
"But inside we're the same as we ever were." - ...with the most publicly well-known Jews like Jon Stewart bashing Israel and Zionists (and therefore the concept of Jewish self-determination) on a regular basis, are we really that different from our shtetl-dwelling (and ultimately Holocaust-bound) ancestors? Ironically, Stewart (and other assimilated, pacifist Jews) has much more in common with his streimel-wearing grandparents than he might be comfortable with.
"Living on a thin line" - Image of how close Sderot, Israel is to the Gaza Strip. Significant because...
"Tell me now" - ...Qassam rockets have been fired into Sderot (and other Israeli population centers) on a daily basis for the past decade. The images of the wreckage should make it clear that these are not the firecrackers the media often makes them out to be.
"What are we supposed to do?" - A religious Jewish soldier prays with an APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) in the background. An interesting juxtaposition of the old Jewish method of dealing with danger (prayer) with the new Jewish method of dealing with danger (self-defense). History has taught us that prayer alone will not save us...the time is rapidly approaching where as a people we will have to choose between taking action and simply hoping for the best. What are we supposed to do indeed?
"Living on a thin line," - In 2005, Israel dismantled its settlements and left the land to the Palestinians as they demanded. The charts show Qassam rocket attacks which spiked tremendously after the disengagement from Gaza. The photos in between the two charts are of the heartbreaking disengagement process...
"Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?" ...which as the second chart and map of rocket impacts in Sderot demonstrate, only served to make life significantly worse for even non-settler Israelis in Sderot, Ashdod, Ashkelon and many other cities all over the Western Negev desert. The fact that we're even in a position where we have to reminisce about the days when the number of daily rocket attacks on schools and houses in quiet suburbs was in the single digits or low 10's speaks to how absurd of a situation we're actually in.
"Living on a thin line," - image of the potential threat to major Israeli population centers from the West Bank if Israel was to surrender the territory in a peace deal. Given the experience in Gaza, what nation/government could be expected to repeat the same behavior and put an additional 50% (if not more) of their population at risk for rocket-fire chaos?
"Living this way, each day" - Despite the media portrayal of the conflict as a battle between a Palestinian David and and an Israeli Goliath...this ridiculousness fails to address the fact that in addition to the poor, rock-throwing (but now Surface=to-Surface-Missile-firing) Palestinians, there are almost 60 countries behind them that not only refuse to help them...but actually incite and supply them with weapons that actually worsen their misery. These 60 countries have exponentially more resources and land than Israel does as the "DAVID VS GOLIATH" image points out. This is followed by Palestinians camped along the border with Israel to again illustrate just how precarious of a position Israel is actually in.
"is a dream" - Peace in the Middle East...still nothing more than a dream.
"What am I, what are we" - What are we...who are we if we allow these indiscriminate rockets to continue to fall on innocent civilians everday?
"supposed to do?" - Pray for the peace of Jerusalem...it's easy to get frustrated, throw up our hands and just hope and pray for help from above. But even religious people will tell you that God only helps those that help themselves.
"Living on a thin line," - More images of the precarious situation Israel is in...first barbed wire in Hebron, then a settler family sits amongst the wreckage of their home after being evicted by the IDF. Again, Jews evicting other Jews in the name of peace and satisfying the demands of the other side. This is followed by images of Palestinian riots from the 1st and 2nd intifada...riots which the Palestinian government did nothing to prevent and in fact even encouraged.
There's a thin line between doing the "right thing" and outright insanity. On the one hand you have a government (Israel) that polices its own people, dismantles what the other side claims are "illegal settlements" and is governed by the rule of law, no matter how painful it may be...whereas on the other hand (Palestinian Authority, Hamas/Fatah) you have a government that not only doesn't police its own people, actually INCITES them to riot, encourages them to commit acts of violence and rules BY law as a dictatorship in democracy's clothing. A stark contrast indeed.
"Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?" - FIGHT TERROR: SUPPORT ISRAEL. Self-explanatory.
Part II: Where we are today
"Now another century's nearly gone" - Images showing some of the dour statements about the "Decade from Hell" - the 2000's. The first decade of the 21st century was undoubtedly one of struggle, turmoil and overall malaise as 9/11 was followed by what seemed like a perpetually up-and-down economy...finally ending in the spectacular housing and financial meltdown in the United States. By the time Major Nidal Malik al Hasan turned his gun on his fellow American soldiers in November of 2009, it seemed like every naive belief about the future that we had in our Clintonian, post-Cold-War euphoria of the 1990's had been shattered by a nightmarish chain of events that just never seemed to end.
"What are we going to leave for the young" - If we do not stand up to the Iranian nuclear program now, how on Earth will we deal with them when they actually have a nuclear weapon? Or will we just do what we usually do, that is leave our problems to the next generation to solve?
"What we couldn't do, what we wouldn't do," - While the War on Terrorism was initially fought with wide, bi-partisan, popular support...setbacks in Iraq slowly turned the American public against the idea of preemptive strikes. This change in public sentiment was characterized by comedians (again like Jon Stewart - although by no means was he the only one) questioning the wisdom of the Bush Administration's handling of "The War Against Terror" (how can we wage a war against a tactic/idea like "terror", for starters) as well as the rather disgraceful practice of many Democrats appearing to relish setbacks (or worse, pretending there was no need for a war at all as depicted in the hear/see/speak no evil cartoon) as opportunities to bash the Administration and mobilize their supporters to eventually retake Congress.
To be sure, Republicans have politicized these wars as well but since they were the party in power for years the nature of their politics was to point to successes as compared to many Democrats' practice of pointing to failures. There has also been a disturbing trend in recent years of a dramatic reduction in rank-and-file Democrats' support for Israel. No offense to the true believers, but that's just the nature of the (political) beast.
In any case...as we stand today midway through 2010...even mentioning the dated phrase "War on Terrorism" will get you strange looks as if you're still stuck in some bygone, nostalgic, pre-Obama, silly Bush-era, ultra-patriotism that doesn't really exist anymore. Syria, Iran and several other states still publicly support terrorist factions with very little tangible recourse from the rest of the world.
"It's a crime," - One manifestation of our society's lack of resolve in prosecuting the war against Islamic fundamentalism is the treatment of terrorists as criminals instead of enemy combatants. Closing Guantanamo Bay? Civilian trials on American soil for captured terrorists with full Constitutional rights? Mirandizing enemies that were caught on the field of battle? How irresponsible. We might as well just bury our heads in the sand and hope for the best.
"But does it matter?" - And now to top it off, in an attempt to appease the Islamic world, the Obama Administration has stopped referring to a "War on Terror" (or more accurately, War on Islamic Fundamentalism) at all. So just like that, it's over. Unfortunately someone forgot to tell that to the guys that are still trying to kill all of us. Is it really that much of a big deal though? It's just semantics isn't it?
"Does it matter much to you?" - An iconic photo of Obama shoving his finger into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's chest (and Netanyahu's pained expression) has thus far encapsulated the difference in how this Administration has handled the war and its support for allies in the war like Israel. You can be sure this change in behavior is more than just semantics to leaders like Netanyahu who represent populations that suffer every day at the hands of terrorists.
"Does it ever really matter?" - Hamas "diplomats" leaning back in their chairs, brandishing their AK-47's while Israelis worry about protecting their babies from the rockets that these "diplomats" fire at them everyday. How the War on Islamic Fundamentalism is fought is exceptionally important to both sides of the conflict. "We have no spare children" is a common phrase used in Israel, often as a demand that the government not take unnecessary risks with Israeli soldiers who are drafted and still viewed as children by their parents (who they often still live with). This is why it is so exceptionally painful for the entire nation every time a soldier is wounded, captured or killed.
It's also a phrase used as a demand that the government protect Israeli citizens from people like the aforementioned Hamas diplomats...who the rest of the world believes they should be trusting/rewarding by giving them more territory. Finally this Israeli slogan is in stark contrast to the oft-repeated claim from Palestinian mothers of terrorists that they are proud of their "martyr" children and have 10 more children that they would love to donate to the cause of destroying Israel.
"Yes it really really matters" - Collage of pictures of destruction and heartbreak due to "Hamas diplomacy" (read: ROCKET ATTACKS) in Sderot, Israel. It really really REALLY matters to these people too. Cartoon depicting the absurdity of world condemnation of Israeli response to these attacks thrown in for good measure.
"Living on a thin line," - Gilad Shalit is still alive and in captivity! Another year comes, another year goes and still the longest running active kidnapping (where the perpetrators are publicly known) continues. He can never EVER be forgotten. If you'd like more information Shalit you should click here or here to read my previous thoughts on this subject. In any case, Gilad is most definitely living on a thin line.
This is followed by President Obama's head superimposed on the body of Neville Chamberlain at the infamous Munich Pact signing. In the lead-up to World War II, rather than confronting Adolf Hitler's aggression in Czechoslovakia, Austria and against his own Jewish citizens, Britain and the rest of the world's democracies pursued a policy of appeasement. This gave Hitler the the courage to pursue his brazen plans with impunity, plunging almost the entire world into war and killing 10's of millions of people.
If Obama, Europe and even Jewish traitors like J Street likewise move to sacrifice Israel to the Arabs, Iran and their growing sphere of influence, the result (with today's nuclear weapons) will be even greater fireballs than those that rocked the world in the 1940's. The irony of a Black president ordering Jews out of the West Bank - essentially calling for segregation - as part of this policy of appeasement is brilliantly captured by the Dry Bones cartoon that follows the nuclear fireball:
"Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?" - Which Middle East nation protects LBGT (Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender) communities? Which Middle East nation guarantees freedom of religion (or non-religion) for ALL of its citizens? Where in the Middle East can gays serve in the military? The answer to all of the above of course, is only in Israel. The idea that self-proclaimed liberals regularly rail against the only country to do these things in the name of "social justice" is ponderous to say the least.
That there are so many LBGT JEWS (like the one pictured in the image that immediately follows those posters) that protest in favor of Hamas - an organization that would stone them to death so fast they wouldn't even know what hit them - is the peak of lunacy. Bonus points to anyone if you can tell me if this person is a man or woman because I honestly have no idea.
"Living on a thin line," - Being gay in Iran sucks. Yes. Yes it does. The people pictured by the way are gay teenagers being hanged in Iran. Keep supporting their right to nuclear weapons LBGT people, really...this can't possibly end badly for you.
More pictures of Iran's nuclear weapons and missile program follow. There are two cartoons - one of Obama reminding a disinterested Prime Minister Netanyahu to stick to his "road map to peace" as an Iranian ICBM heads straight for their heads. This is followed by another cartoon that re-states my previous point about the danger of Obama following in Chamberlain's footsteps by pursuing an appeasement strategy with Iran.
"Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?" - Stand up for Israel, STOP IRAN. Self-explanatory.
The final graphic in this series is an image of Neda Agha-Soltan...a woman that was killed in last year's Iran election riots. Her death, which was captured on video became a major rallying point for the "Free Iran" movement (who if you click on the previous link had questionable motives themselves). Her image was used in many posters like this one that rallied supporters to stand up to the Ahmedinejad regime. This is the only image in the entire video that fades out...just as the "Free Iran" movement - that so many people thought had so much potential - has faded away into irrelevancy. In fact, the anniversary of the riots just passed without a single major incident. Thanks for the memories.
Part III: Tell me now, what are we supposed to do...about the future?
"Now another leader says" - Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey. Turkey, which was formerly Israel's strongest (and many would argue ONLY) Muslim ally has changed their tone since Islamist movements were given more of a voice in the government after decades of forced-secular rule. Turkey, despite having a high percentage of its population identifying strongly with their religion has forced - sometimes even through military coups - a secular system on itself, with an even stricter separation of mosque and state than even exists in the United States.
Not only was Islam separated from government affairs since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, but Turkish citizens were even forbidden to dress in clothes that were identified with Islam where they entered the public sphere. It was only natural then that the only two secular democracies in the Middle East would be drawn to each other and the relations between Turkey and Israel (going so far as training soldiers together during joint-military exercises) were often pointed to as an example of what could be possible for the rest of the Islamic countries with the right engagement program. However, since the ascent of Erdogan and the Islamist parties, decades of friendship and cooperation have been steadily replaced by...
"Break their hearts and break some heads." - Images from the recent "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" where Israeli commandos boarded a Turkish passenger liner that had been converted into a cargo transport for the Palestinians of Gaza. Unfortunately for everyone (including the Palestinians) the "aid" portion of this ship (as well as 5 others that made up the "flotilla") was really just a cover for 50 or so Islamic militants, Hamas supporters and even some al Qaeda members to make an attempt at running the Israeli blockade of Gaza. This blockade has been effect since the Hamas movement (I've written about them numerous times in the past) seized control of Gaza in a bloody coup and has been using it as a staging ground to fire rockets into Israeli cities like you saw earlier in the video.
After numerous calls for the ships to turn around and even unload their cargo (which for some reason also included bulletproof vests and night-vision goggles along with many goods that weren't even in shortage in Gaza) at Ashdod, Israel - where they would then be loaded up into trucks and transported to Gaza using an already established and functioning system designed to bring humanitarian aid to civilians - the militants on-board told the Israeli military to go [expletive deleted] itself and the Jews in general to go back to Auschwitz.
At this point the Israeli naval commandos boarded the ships armed only with paintball guns and their sidearms and were immediately surrounded by the lynch mob which you see in the video.
"Is there nothing we can say" - The Israelis, after being stabbed, beaten with poles, thrown overboard and apparently shot when the "peace activists" stole a few of their sidearms from them, eventually returned fire and killed several of them. This action has prompted world-wide outrage and demands that Israel end the blockade and that world leaders talk to Hamas, a known terrorist organization that has killed more Palestinians than Israelis in the past 3 years.
What kind of government that is responsible for citizens currently living in a "humanitarian crisis" REFUSES food and medicine?! Are these REALLY the people we're supposed to work with? Is there nothing we can say or do to show the rest of the world how terrible these people really are? And WHY is it that the entire world seems to be so obsessed with Israel's behavior when there are literally thousands of people being killed, raped, beaten, tortured and abused EVERY DAY all over the world? Is an Israeli apartment building REALLY that much more of a pressing matter than this never-ending chaos? Unfortunately these questions are answered with the bumper sticker at the end of this segment: "Peace in the Middle East, just kidding". Everyone talks about peace but no one can really be serious about it when one of the sides is represented by these kinds of insane ideologues.
"Blame the future on the past," - Three images, all have to do with "Right of Return" for Palestinians. A young girl holding a key, an older man holding a key and finally a map of Israel painted in Palestinian colors with the words "We Shall Return" and key prominently displayed on it. The girl is the future, the man is the past and the map is the end result.
Palestinians often justify terrorism by pointing to the fact that they haven't forgotten their homes in British Mandate and Ottoman Palestine that they lost in their "Nakba" (Arabic for Catastrophe)- the 1948 Israeli war of independence. The way they remember these homes is to keep the keys to them and so the key has become the symbol for what they claim is their right to return to those homes. Israelis refuse to bring these people (and their descendants) into Israel proper because due to demographics it would destroy Israel as a Jewish-majority state (which as you can see by the "We Shall Return" image of the map of Israel...
...drenched in Palestinian colors is exactly what they intend to do). This is a fundamental difference between Israelis and Palestinians, a zero-sum objective that will never be accepted by Israel and is a major reason why negotiations have broken down between the sides over the years.
By teaching these irreconcilable demands to their children, Palestinians parents are only serving to ensure that there can never be a final agreement between both sides and that future Palestinian terrorists only need to look to the past for their justification.
"Always lost in blood and guts." - The carnage from the Sbarro pizza restaurant bombing as well as two separate bus bombings. This (along with literally thousands of other suicide bombings, shootings, rocket attacks and other acts of terrorism) is the result of parents brainwashing their children into making unreasonable demands for Israeli national suicide that simply cannot be met.
"And when they're gone," - But then, why not just give them what they want? Why not just get rid of Israel as the next two images suggest and finally "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" ? This slogan, which is used by New Jersey Solidarity and the International Solidarity Movement (two groups amongst that call themselves "peace activists") by the way, refers to the Jordan river and as you can see from the image...actually refers to destroying all of Israel in its entirety...not just the settlements that they claim are all that they oppose. This slogan, coincidentally was used in 2001 by Faisal Husseini (nephew of father of Palestinian nationalism...and Nazi SS trainer Hajj Amin al Husseini) to describe the Palestinian ideology behind the Oslo "Peace Process". According to him Oslo was:
a Trojan Horse . . . just a temporary procedure . . . just a step towards something bigger." Husseini said that something bigger is "Palestine from the river to the sea," i.e., from the Jordan to the Mediterranean, eradicating Israel. Oslo? Just a way of "ambushing the Israelis and cheating them.
The phrase has also been used by Hamas leaders, Fatah leaders, Palestinian sympathizers as well as "peace activists" at rallies that call for the destruction of Israel.
You want to support them? You think Israel is the source of all your problems? If "they" (Israel) were gone, things would be better for everyone? Well...
"it's me and you." - Tell that to the Times Square bomber. Tell that to Nidal Malik al Hasan. Tell that to the people who blew up the trains in Madrid, the buses and subways in London, the hotels in Indonesia, the Muslims in Paris who rioted over the Danish Muhammad cartoons, who burn American flags and other American symbols (like Ronald McDonald), not to mention the Mumbai terrorists, the terrorists who massacred the children in Beslan (both not pictured here due to time constraints) as well as the sheikhs on Palestinian television and the Muslims at rallies held everyday all over the world threatening the West with Islamic domination, forced-sharia and calling on Allah to destroy democracy...
What do any of these places have to do with the West Bank, Gaza, Freedom Flotillas or ANY OF THE NONSENSE buzz words they try to brainwash you with on a daily basis? None of these countries support Israeli settlements, none of them support the Israeli blockade and some (Russia and Indonesia especially come to mind here) have been OPENLY SUPPORTIVE of Palestinians as well as OPENLY HOSTILE towards Israel! And yet despite their de facto tolerance for these radicals, Russia, Indonesia and the supposedly more "balanced" European nations are STILL targeted along with Israel and America! You think it's bad now with Israel, just wait until they've eradicated the "invaders" from their backyards and can start REALLY focusing on restoring their caliphate to what they believe it should be. Appeasement didn't save Europe before WWII and it will NOT save you now.
"Living on a thin line," - Headline from the Daily Mirror in the aftermath of the London bombings...is this how we must now live? In fear of terrorism, everywhere? After 9/11, 3/11, the Bali Blast, the London bombings...we, as well as Israel are now ALL living on a thin line. The trouble is that we were ALWAYS on a thin line...we just didn't realize it until it was too late.
More photos follow of Islamic radicals demonstrating all over Europe, warning you all about a "real" Holocaust coming. With Iranian nuclear weapons coming closer to reality as well as their demonstrated ability to reach European cities with their missiles - this may not be as far-fetched as you want it to be. Most ironic in these images is the sign that says "Liberalism go to hell".
Of course who are the biggest supporters of dialogue with these radicals? I don't think I even need to give the absurd answer that question at this point. National suicide is national suicide no matter what kinds of fluffy slogans you surround it with.
"Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?" - Freedom is in peril, defend it with all your might. What did you do today, for freedom? Two slogans, one a contemporary British slogan and one an American WWII slogan. Do not think that the threat to our freedom (no matter where we live) today is any less severe today than it was in the 1930's.
"Living on a thin line," - More "peace activists" calling for the destruction of Israel. Of the thin line that separates us from the radical fundamentalists.
This is followed (finally and for the first and only time in the video) by a pro-Israel demonstrator holding up a sign that says "Free Palestine is code for kill the Jews". Two other important slogans are here as well, one is "Am Yisrael Chai" (in Hebrew) which simply means the "Nation of Israel lives" - positivity in an overwhelmingly negative time. The other is: "Zionism is the answer" - you'll notice if you stop the video that this graffiti,
found in the perpetual flashpoint city of Hebron, originally said something else, most likely "Zionism is Racism" (a reference to the 1975 UN resolution that stated the same thing - it was revoked finally in 1991).
Someone, a Zionist presumably, painted over the "racism" part and replaced it with these words instead. This perfectly encapsulates how we all need to do our part to change the negative connotation of Zionism and bring it back to the positivity that it actually represents. Zionism is nothing more than Jewish self-determination. To say you are against Zionism is to say you believe that Jews must rely on other nations for protection. Which as we've seen over 2,000 years of Jewish history amounts to nothing but destruction. If you are against Zionism, you are FOR the subjugation of the Jewish people. Anyone who says differently is lying or misinformed.
"Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?" - Despite outcries from hypocritical world leaders about "disproportionate force" we must still stand up to terrorism, confront it and fight it at all costs. There is still time, brother.
"Living on a thin line." - Trying to destroy the Jews hasn't worked out well for the various nations that have tried it. Some of them succeed for a time...and all have succeeded in killing 10's of millions of us throughout history - which when extrapolated to how many descendants of theirs would be living today climbs into hundreds of millions of Jews that should be alive today. The only reason the numbers are so skewed towards Muslims, Christians and other religions (all in the billions) is because Jews (only about 14 million strong) have been regularly purged throughout history by various nations and religions and therefore have never been able to expand the way other ethnicities have through natural birthrates.
The amount of violence committed against Jews over the centuries is really staggering when you think just how many Jews would be alive today if just the Holocaust hadn't happened. Six million dead (the majority of which had massive 5-10 person families) in 1945...over two generations could easily turn into 20+ million alive - more than DOUBLING today's demographics. Now think about the fact that 1,100 Jews were killed in just one of hundreds of blood libel attacks during the Crusades 1,000 years ago...extrapolate that over 50 generations and you start to get a sense of just how damaging the 2,000-year persecution of the Jews was before Zionism gave us a Jewish country and military to defend ourselves with.
Think about that the next time sometime tells you that they're "anti-Zionist" not "anti-Jewish".
And this is where the photographs end. The rest of the video is all text based.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed watching the video and reading the explanation. Maybe you learned something new, maybe your opinion changed a little bit, maybe you'll be more open to taking some action and actively supporting our friends in Israel.
Or maybe you think this is all propaganda and nonsense and will just ignore it and move on. If you think this way, I encourage you to voice your criticisms here and am willing to debate you on anything I have brought up here that you think is incorrect. If you have to stones to actually stand up for what you believe in, that is.
If, on the other hand you liked what you saw here and are interested in using this video in any educational capacity, I may work on a Powerpoint presentation of the images (along with the explanation) that I can include with a copy of the video and send to you for usage in a classroom or wherever else you want to use it. Let me know.
Thanks again for watching the video as well as reading the explanation. Long live the thin line that is the state of Israel and may REAL peace someday actually come to the Middle East.
Islamic terrorism at levels never seen before, "peace activists" armed with clubs and daggers, the resolve of the West to survive almost non-existent.
We are truly living on a thin line...
I would encourage you to watch it in full-screen mode. I would also encourage you to click on the "Like" button (it's right above the comments section on the video's youtube page). The more people "Like" the video, the higher its rankings will be on youtube.
The Kinks Living On A Thin Line Written by: Dave Davies Published by: Dabe Music, 1984
All the stories have been told Of kings and days of old, But there's no England now. All the wars that were won and lost Somehow don't seem to matter very much anymore. All the lies we were told, All the lies of the people running round, Their castles have burned. Now I see change, But inside we're the same as we ever were.
Living on a thin line, Tell me now, what are we supposed to do? Living on a thin line, Tell me now, what are we supposed to do? Living on a thin line, Living this way, each day is a dream. What am I, what are we supposed to do? Living on a thin line, Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
Now another century nearly gone, What are we gonna leave for the young? What we couldn't do, what we wouldn't do, It's a crime, but does it matter? Does it matter much, does it matter much to you? Does it ever really matter? Yes, it really, really matters.
Living on a thin line, Tell me now, what are we supposed to do? Living on a thin line, Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
Now another leader says Break their hearts and break some heads. Is there nothing we can say or do? Blame the future on the past, Always lost in blood and guts. And when they're gone, it's me and you.
Living on a thin line, Tell me now, what are we supposed to do? Living on a thin line, Tell me now, what are we supposed to do? Living on a thin line.
Here's a great idea, why doesn't Turkey send a bunch of angry, Israel-hating "peace-activists" - armed with knives, axes and cudgels - to force a confrontation with the Israeli Coast Guard in what they bill as a "humanitarian mission" to break the "seige" of Gaza.
(CNN) -- International condemnation poured in Monday after Israeli soldiers stormed a flotilla of ships carrying aid intended for Palestinians in Gaza, leaving at least 10 people dead in the resulting violence.
Israel claimed it was defending itself, with the Israel Defense Forces saying the soldiers' lives were in danger after they were attacked with "severe physical violence, including live fire, weapons, knives and clubs."
Demands from Hamas terrorists that the world rally to support their extremist dictatorship that steals from its own population and conducts attacks where it deliberately murders Israeli and Palestinian civilians? THAT'S a big check!
European rush to support these terrorists and prove yet again they learned nothing in the 40's by blaming the Jews as usual? Chickity check check check!
Angry protests from clueless college students? Oh wait, nevermind it's Memorial Day - they're all at the beach or still drunk from the night before!
You'll notice by the way that the CNN article I quoted didn't mention anything about the Israeli soldier being stabbed repeatedly by one of these idiots, only this "Israeli military version" (Translation: PROPAGANDA) that included one quote and 2 out of 7 paragraphs talked about the dead activists and THEIR side of the account. Apparently CNN doesn't have anyone that watches the news in Israel because the stabbing was all over the place this morning over there.
The video, short as it may be actually tells us a lot about the incident. Aside from the fact that this guy stabs the soldier what seems like 100 times you'll notice that there was no gun being fired and the stabber had enough freedom of movement to get behind the soldier in order to stab him. This suggests one of two things:
1. This happened AFTER the initial raid/attack by the Israeli military during which, after opening fire on the ship, they inexplicably did not restrain and subdue the crew and passengers nor did they apparently search them for massive daggers before turning their backs to them. For this scenario to be accurate, the stabber would have witnessed at least some of his friends being shot and still decided to forfeit his life by attempting to single-handedly defeat a heavily-armed commando unit with nothing more than a knife of his own.
OR
2. The stabbing occurred BEFORE the Israelis opened fire, which is what prompted the soldiers - who no doubt had been taunted and threatened endlessly by the "peace activists" before boarding - to open fire in self defense.
Flotilla "Peace Activist" (photo from jpost.com)
My guess is that it's option 2.
Oh what's that you say, you're still unconvinced? Just WAIT - there's more!
Here IS ACTUAL VIDEO from the time the FIRST SOLDIER was lowered onto the ship:
You can see VERY CLEARLY that as SOON as the commando rappels down from the helicopter he is IMMEDIATELY surrounded and attacked in what several of the Israelis who were part of the operation referred to as a "lynching" - going so far as to compare it to the Ramallah lynching of two Israelis in 2000.
Furthermore, the Israeli Navy warned the flotilla to turn around - going to far as to offer an escort to the Israeli port city of Ashdod where they would be allowed to offload their materials and deliver them to Gaza by land as literally hundreds of thousands of tons of aid have been delivered in the past three years. In fact, after the commando operation - that's EXACTLY what happened. Oh and I should also add that along with Israelis injured in the attack, their enemies who attacked them were ALSO airlifted to Israeli hospitals and treated by the same doctors who treated the soldiers. And the IDF is barbaric?! Unbelievable!
This whole mess could have been avoided if the goal of this "peace" mission was to actually deliver goods to starving Palestinian children and the organizers had followed established protocol that is there to ensure that weapons are not delivered to people who try to kill Jewish civilians every day.
But you see, this was no "peace" mission. It was a trap for the Israelis.
More coming in now from eyewitness accounts embedded with the Israeli commando unit - definitely mirrors what we saw in the second video.
From the YNet:
Navy commandoes slid down to the vessel one by one, yet then the unexpected occurred: The passengers that awaited them on the deck pulled out bats, clubs, and slingshots with glass marbles, assaulting each soldier as he disembarked. The fighters were nabbed one by one and were beaten up badly, yet they attempted to fight back.
However, to their misfortune, they were only equipped with paintball rifles used to disperse minor protests, such as the ones held in Bilin. The paintballs obviously made no impression on the activists, who kept on beating the troops up and even attempted to wrest away their weapons.
One soldier who came to the aid of a comrade was captured by the rioters and sustained severe blows. The commandoes were equipped with handguns but were told they should only use them in the face of life-threatening situations. When they came down from the chopper, they kept on shouting to each other “don’t shoot, don’t shoot,” even though they sustained numerous blows.
Paintball rifles!! You have to read the rest of that article, it's shocking.
UPDATE 2:
More footage now of "peace activists" beating the Israelis as they are first rappelling down to the ship.
Again, please note that this is PRIOR to any shots being fired.
UPDATE 3:
More video of the "peace activists" emerging from even before any encounter with the Israeli Navy shows what is basically a Hamas terrorist rally happening right on the boats.
Martyrdom, the "army of Muhammad" - wow these guys are just the pinnacle of peaceful coexistence.
How are we letting the media spin this the way they are?!
UPDATE 4:
One of the assertions all over the media is that because this raid occurred in international waters it somehow illegitimate or worse an act of "piracy." As if. Unfortunately for the Gaza Flotilla supporters, the ACTUAL laws of international waterways do not support this AT ALL. Also unfortunate for them is that Yaakov over at newsvine.com has entirely dispelled this myth that Israel had no right to do what it did based on the location of the boats. From the article:
I direct your attention to the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea. Specifically, paragraph 67-68:
67. Merchant vessels flying the flag of neutral States may not be attacked unless they:
(a) are believed on reasonable grounds to be carrying contraband or breaching a blockade, and after prior warning they intentionally and clearly refuse to stop, or intentionally and clearly resist visit, search or capture; (b) engage in belligerent acts on behalf of the enemy; (c) act as auxiliaries to the enemy s armed forces; (d) are incorporated into or assist the enemy s intelligence system; (e) sail under convoy of enemy warships or military aircraft; or (f) otherwise make an effective contribution to the enemy s military action, e.g., by carrying military materials, and it is not feasible for the attacking forces to first place passengers and crew in a place of safety. Unless circumstances do not permit, they are to be given a warning, so that they can re-route, off-load, or take other precautions.
Hmmmm. Breaching a blockade? Refusing to stop after being warned prior? Resisting visit, search or capture? I'm not international law expert, but would you say that based on what we saw in the videos above that the actions of the people on the boat would constitute "clearly resisting" a search??
Based on the law, Israel would have not only been justified in boarding the ship which was CLEARLY suspected on reasonable grounds of carrying contraband (being that they refused inspection by the nation that still maintains responsibility for the territory they sought to enter), they would have actually been justified in attacking the ships and sinking them entirely. It is only because they showed immense restraint that no other country ever would that this did not happen. And yet, we are allowing ourselves to be painted as aggressors, as oppressors and as persecutors when it is we who are actually being persecuted.
The fact that I have to contend with JEWS who parrot these ridiculous assertions just shows you how deeply ingrained our need to self-deprecate in order to please our not-so-gracious host countries really is. Disgraceful to say the least.
Thanks also to ronmossad.com regular, The All Real Numbers Symbol for coming through with another great link.
For those of you unaware of who Gilad Shalit is, he is an Israeli soldier who was kidnapped from Israeli soil by Hamas terrorists FOUR years ago. To this day he is still in captivity where he has been subjected to starvation, torture and God knows what else. Hamas refuses to let him go home unless Israel releases approximately 1,000 of their terrorists, many with innocent blood on their hands and who have vowed to kill again, in exchange for him. Hamas will not let the Red Cross examine him and generally refuses to give any information on him to his parents Noam and Aviva Shalit.
The capture of Gilad is hailed as a tremendous victory in Gaza, where murals depict him in jail as if kidnapping a human being were something to be proud of.
The following video was released by Hamas about 6 months ago to prove that he was still alive at the time. In order for the video to be released Israel was forced to hand over 20 of its prisoners. FOR A VIDEO.
Not much to editorialize there...the man's pained voice and face speaks for itself. Note the difference between the picture of Gilad before his abduction to the man in the video.
The Gilad Shalit saga has been a very painful one for Israel and Israelis. His parents have become semi-celebrities after all their appearances on Israeli television begging for the government to do something to get their son released. Demonstrations calling for his release happen often. This past Passover in Israel and around the world, Jews left an empty chair at their holiday feasts as a quiet reminder that Gilad had yet another Passover in hell.
And still the time goes by...and still Gilad Shalit waits. And waits. And suffers. And waits.
Hamas, not content with simply shooting rockets into Israel, starving and killing their own people and sitting on this prisoner for FOUR YEARS recently put out this video, essentially mocking the captive's father by throwing it in his face that he'll most likely never see his son alive again.
The video is clearly designed to get an emotional reaction out of him and other Israelis in order to get them to pressure the government into caving into appeasing Hamas. Ironically in the video, even though Noam is still wandering the streets of Israel for 30, 40 years or so waiting for his son, the signs and advertisments are still in Hebrew, the newspapers are the same as today, the prime ministers are still Israelis - the country is clearly still ruled by Jews! Even the Erez crossing into Gaza is still intact and maintained by Israeli soldiers.
I think that it's EXTREMELY telling that even in this Hamas fantasy they're STILL not ruling over Israel (which is their stated purpose for existing). It really speaks to the fact that deep down they know they're never actually going to win, nor do they particularly want to...but I digress...
Noam Shalit, in response to this video has this to say:
Hamas leaders would do better if instead of producing films and performances, they would worry about the real interests of the Palestinian prisoners and the ordinary citizens of Gaza who have been held hostage by their leaders for a long time.
Right on Noam.
So wherever you are tomorrow, I urge you all to wear white in solidarity with Gilad and his family - and if anyone asks you why you're dressed in white make sure you tell them...
This post is the second part of a multi-part series on the stubborn habit of Jews to perpetuate situations where they are the victims of their own actions. If you haven't read the introduction yet, I encourage you to check out Part I before continuing. If you're pressed for time, while highly recommended, it isn't required to go back in order to understand what we're talking about in this post.
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They are willing to bear nothing. You are willing to bear anything. They keep evading responsibility. You keep assuming it. --Francisco D'Anconia
If it is now believed that my fellow men may sacrifice me in any manner they please for the sake of whatever they deem to be their own good, if they believe that they may seize my property simply because they need it—well, so does any burglar. There is only this difference: the burglar does not ask me to sanction his act. --Hank Rearden
We will return to Jaffa, to Acre, to Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem, to Ramle. We'll play soccer, Saraa. I'll be happy when we go back there. --Hamas puppet "Nassour" to young girl host of children’s program
Until victory, always. --Ernesto 'Che' Guevara
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PART TWO: SANCTION
Picking up where we left off last time with that ridiculous picture that encompasses much of what is wrong with the state of the American Jewish community...for a long time I thought that simple ignorance of reality was what drove these people to embrace the paradox of their own demise, but it goes much deeper than that.
Because you see, the Jewish lesbian who supports Hamas (who if they had their way would execute her, which eliminates her support for them - hence the paradox) in all her absurd irony, answers the immortal question posed by Francisco D'Anconia to Hank Rearden about midway through Ayn Rand's epic, Atlas Shrugged:
If the things I said are true, who is the guiltiest man in this room tonight?
While it is hard to boil down a 1,000+ page book into a single sentence - for the purpose of this post - the Francisco/Hank exchanges say it all. If you haven't read the book yet, go now and read it. I'll wait right here, patiently until you return.
While Atlas Shrugged is host to many themes, messages and subplots, the storyline that I always most identified with was that of Henry "Hank" Rearden. Rearden, a self-made, multi-multi-millionaire is a ruthlessly confident businessman and consummate professional with only one major weakness...he (like the entirety of the American society presented in the book) has been taught his entire life that it is his responsibility to support everyone who does not support themselves. His wife, family and the general public deride him as a greedy, selfish bully whose only concern is the bottom line - all the while living off the fruits of his labor even as they abuse him at every opportunity. Rearden's personal life is a truly miserable one as he is bound by a morality whereby he feels that by suffering at the hands of his tormentors and appeasing them, he is somehow a more virtuous person.
Even as society and the economy is decaying around him as the "looters" and "moochers" seize more and more of his wealth, property and freedom, Rearden continues to suffer and work harder because he loves his work and is driven by a desire to produce and progress - even though by the end he is producing almost exclusively for the thieves and murderers that make up the government in the book. The irony of course is that the people condemning him as being greedy and selfish NEED him to continue to produce because THEY themselves are incapable of it and without him they would be lost. Since everyone around Hank lives off of his production, if he refuses to produce, refuses to be "greedy" and behaves in the way his enemies pretend to want him to behave, they would ALL starve to death.
His willing subscription to their morality, his tolerance of their evil, his continuing to play their game with their rules is the only way they can destroy him. His enemies cannot succeed without the sanction of their victim. And it is thus the same with our enemies.
Since the first halutzim (pioneers) began working the fields and improving living conditions in what would become the modern state of Israel, Arabs against the Jewish state have demanded they vacate the land and "return" it to them.
Really? Where were these claims when Israel was a barren, backwater desert administered by the Ottomans for half a millennium? All of the sudden the Jews bring irrigation, highways and Tel Aviv to Israel and Arab residents who for 1500 years of foreign Muslim domination never even knew how to spell "nationalism" become the world's greatest political refugee problem. You don't think the Jewish presence in Ottoman and British Palestine significantly improved conditions for the native Arab population? How else would you explain 64,790 Arab immigrants to areas that became part of 1948 Israel? From that link:
The Arab Palestinian populations within those sub-districts that eventually became Israel increased from 321,866 in 1922 to 463,288 in 1931 or by 141,422. Applying the 2.5 per annum natural rate of population growth to the 1922 Arab Palestinian population generates an expected population size for 1931 of 398,498 or 64,790 less than the actual population recorded in the British census. By imputation, this unaccounted population increase must have been either illegal immigration not accounted for in the British census...
That means that 14% of the ENTIRE ARAB POPULATION of British Mandate Palestine was made up of IMMIGRANTS from just the nine years between 1922-1931! If the Zionists were so bad for the natives, why move to be CLOSER to them? End the occupation? And do what? Turn the entirety of the West Bank into Gaza City? Or into the pre-Israel swamp and desert that the Gallilee and Negev were, respectively?
And lest you think that these migration patterns ceased in the 20's and 30's...every single day anywhere between 68,000 to 115,000 Palestinians cross either legally or illegally into Israel for work or work for the very West Bank settlers who they claim to seek to displace. Apparently Zionist occupiers and Jewish settlers pay much better than Arab "freedom fighters". Just to put this into perspective, that works out to approximately 10% to 20% of the ENTIRE West Bank labor force is employed by Jews or Israelis.
What happens when Palestinians work in Israel or for Israelis/Jews? They pay taxes on that income to the Israeli government...which then hands the money right back to the Palestinian government. When the 2nd Intifada broke out and when Hamas came to power Israel caused an international uproar by withholding the estimated $50-$60 million a month that they transfer to Fatah and Hamas. For those mathematicians not named Hugo Chavez, that works out to between $600 and $720 million per year.
If you clicked the link that had to do with the Palestinian labor force, you would have read on the CIA Factbook that the ENTIRE PALESTINIAN REVENUE COLLECTION for 2006 was $1.63 billion. That means that nearly HALF of the TOTAL Palestinian intake (which is then used to purchase guns, print schoolbooks that talk about eliminating Israel and fund TV programs that brainwash children into thinking that they should throw rocks at Israeli tanks) is funded by the VERY PEOPLE they seek to destroy. And oh, by the way, in 2009 an additional $900 million was pledged to them by the US and A State Department.
How about the case of route 443, a road that links central Israel to Jerusalem? Or any of the "Jewish-only" roads that I'm sure you've heard the people crying crocodile tears about for that matter. Since the 2nd Intifada, several roads through the West Bank have been closed to Palestinian traffic due to DAILY shooting attacks on Israeli civilian vehicles left many innocent civilians dead or injured. My own cousin's car was firebombed while he was driving home from Jerusalem with his wife and baby girl.
Since the closure, this has for the most part ceased to be an issue. Now the Palestinians are demanding that this road be open to their traffic and in fact, the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled in their favor. In a few months, the new rule will go into effect and many Israelis will be avoiding this road out of fear that their families will be targets again. The road (like the rest of the infrastructure in Israel) by the way, was built by Israelis.
Want more? Because we have it. Along with the "end the occupation!" refrain which we seem to have had since time immemorial, the newer, hipper catchphrase of the late 00's was the "end the seige!" mantra - referring of course to Israel's closure of Gaza in response to daily rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. From the Sderot Media Center:
Most English dictionaries define siege as an “act or process of surrounding and attacking a fortified place in such a way as to isolate it from help and supplies...”
Indeed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website has reported that in the year 2009 alone, Israel allowed for 703, 224 tons of humanitarian aid and 105,600,128 liters of fuel to be delivered into the Gaza Strip following Operation Cast Lead.
“The IDF invested major resources to enable the flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip” stated Col. Moshe Levi, the head of the IDF’s Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration, in November 2009. According to Levi, humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip increased by 900 percent compared to the previous year. Over 22, 893 humanitarian aid trucks entered into Gaza throughout 2009.
Aid trucks ready to enter the Gaza Strip in the background. (Photo: Jacob Shrybman/Sderot Media Center)
Let's for now grant that "humanitarian aid" is just that (ignoring the propensity of Hamas to seize medical supplies in order to sell them and use the money for guns and rockets that kill civilians) and just think about those 100+ million liters of fuel.
What basic thing do all militaries need in order to succeed? The ability to move. What enables a military unit to move quickly, set up a rocket and then flee the scene before the return fire lays waste to it? An automotive of some kind, be it a car, truck, van, motorcycle, rocket sled whatever. What do all of these things need to operate? FUEL. Who gets first dibs on all the fuel that comes into Gaza (as well as everything else)? HAMAS. What does Hamas do with their fuel? KILL ISRAELIS. Who provides Hamas with fuel? ISRAELIS. Who provides the vast majority of electricity and water for the population that put Hamas into power? ISRAELIS. What do 68% of Palestinians think is a legitimate way to defend Islam? SUICIDE BOMBINGS AGAINST CIVILIANS. What people do 77% of Palestinians have an unfavorable rating of? AMERICANS. Who are the loudest supporters of Palestinians? AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS.
Who suffers for all of this? Israelis. Americans. Jews. Who allows it to happen? Israelis. Americans. Jews. Who, often FUNDS and ENCOURAGES their own suffering? Israelis. Americans. Jews.
Sanction of the victim.
Is it starting to click yet? In the end, it's not about Palestinian radicalism, Palestinian corruption, or ineffective Palestinian "leadership". The guiltiest man in the room isn't Hasan Nasrallah, Ismail Haniyeh, Mahmoud Abbas or even Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.
It's you. It's me. Like Hank Rearden WE are the ones that perpetuate this situation. WE are the ones that allow it to happen. And it is our fault because we should KNOW BETTER. And it isn't even that Barack Obama or Hilary Clinton's or Ehud Olmert's misguided policies allow the other side to succeed. Who put these in power? WE DID.
And by we I mean Jews who overwhelmingly swept Obama into power by giving him 77% of their vote and continue to defend their decision STILL TODAY, even as Iran continues to move towards nuclear weaponization and Israel's future hangs in the balance. This isn't to say of course that everyone who voted for Obama doesn't like Israel, but it's hard to claim you are a pro-Israel activist if you don't do the most basic thing you can do in a democracy if you care about something.
That is to VOTE for the people who will support it as opposed to people who will throw it under a bus.
This should be so obvious to us and yet still we pretend that it somehow makes us more virtuous to work (or at least vote) against our own best interests even as our actions directly or indirectly aid our would-be murderers.
This HAS to change. The clock is ticking.
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In the next installment: PERPETUATION, we will explore the roots of this desire to suffer and learn why this phenomenon is found in both the left and right wings of the international Jewish community.
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