World Hypocrisy, Again
13 January 2009
Similar to the Second War in Lebanon in 2006 much of the world is at its hypocritical best. Most want Israel to smash the Jihadists and then condemn Israel for following through. North America, Europe, China, India (remember Mumbai?), Arab secular regimes and many other nations want Islamist influence crushed but are critical of the Israeli handling of the conflict in Gaza and are calling for a cease-fire, at least publicly. Privately they want Hamas and any other Islamists routed. True, many have accused Hamas of initiating the conflict through its never ending bombardment of southern Israel but once confronted with painful scenes of suffering by Gaza's civilian population they shy away from holding Hamas responsible for the bloodshed.
The Arab world has a long account with the Moslem Brotherhood. In Egypt they attempted to kill Gamal Abdul Nasser and assassinated Anwar Sadat, in Syria Hafez el-Assad crushed them in Hama in Feb. 1982 when they tried to overthrow his regime, they are still engaged in a civil war in Algeria (170,000 killed since the early 1990s), Tunisia has a dictatorial secular regime where the Brotherhood is outlawed, Sudan is Islamist (300,000 killed in Darfur and over 2.3 million killed in the south as a result of a government war against Christian and non-monotheist tribes) and everyone else is on notice of a possible Islamic uprising. In particular mass demonstrations have broken out in Egypt and Jordan, both of whom have peace treaties with Israel.
As usual Israel is getting smacked around diplomatically, in particular at the UN. The Security Council called for an immediate cease-fire (Res. 1860) but with no stipulations on its implementation. The UN calls for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an immediate cease-fire, the halt of illegal arms shipments, humanitarian assistance and a re-opening of crossing points into Gaza. But as Hamas is not mentioned, one would think Israel moved into Gaza on some ridiculous whim. The resolution has no enforcement apparatus thereby leaving it impossible to implement. The decision is significant as it marks the beginning of UN involvement, signaling to Israel the inevitability of further intensive diplomatic activity to end the operation. More so it appears that Egypt will broker a deal with the UN signing on. Egyptian interests and Middle East stability are the keystones to the diplomatic efforts in the future. As for Israel, Jerusalem's bi-lateral relations with most states world wide are much more favorable than those same nations' behavior when acting collectively at the UN.
Added to the almost universal cynicism and hypocrisy is the news media, in particular television. Unfortunately hundreds of civilians have been killed and thousands wounded. The most popular Arab satellite station Aljazeera along with European CNN are focusing most heavily on this point and either directly or indirectly accusing Israel. True they do interview Israeli spokespeople but either split the TV screen and show scenes of civilian casualties during the interview or present such scenes before and after the interview with vivid commentary from pro-Palestinian reporters and "experts" who never mention Hamas actions in instigating the conflict. Occasionally there is an embarrassing moment such as when English Aljazeera interviewed an expert on international jurisprudence who insisted that Israel was perfectly justified in its offensive and that Hamas was responsible for much of the civilian suffering since they took refuge in heavily populated civilian areas. Or when asking for comments by young men who were said to be civilians, all made it clear their demands for a never ending war against Israel without regard to non-combatant casualties. Best though is their lack of questioning as to why Hamas (and other Palestinian terrorists) almost exclusively target Israeli civilians over the past eight years.
Hamas has few overt allies but receives lip service from Iran, Syria and Hezbollah. Their staunchest allies are the foreign press, in particular CNN, Aljazeera and Al-Arabia. Most foreign media are emphasizing the "humanitarian crisis", downplaying Hamas shelling of Israel and Islamist bravado of battling to the end. Most significantly the media does not even mention the central pillars of the Hamas Covenant which include killing all Jews and world Jihad against Christianity and the Far East. The idea is to hide Hamas and make it look as if Israel is fighting a war against Gaza's civilians.
There are further sins of omission and emphasis. Screaming about the border crossings is a common occurrence but explanations why the borders were closed leave much to be desired. Attacks on the crossings by Hamas/Islamic Jihad and the murders of Israeli personnel helping to facilitate the movement of goods and fuel into Gaza are not mentioned. Sometimes a passing notice of illegal weapons coming through the Rafiah tunnels is voiced but it is almost peripheral to the main story of the "humanitarian crisis". On Saturday Israel once again initiated a three hour humanitarian cease-fire which CNN reported Israel violated. What they "forgot" to explain was the Israeli air strike was in response to a rocket attack during the lull.
The media continues to emphasize anti-Israel demonstrations world wide and speaks of hundreds of thousands marching to "free Gaza". The demonstrations are either in Moslem countries or have almost entirely Moslem participants as pointed out by CNN. There are certain extreme leftist groups in Europe and especially Britain who have joined the anti-Israel chorus and some protests have turned violent. So far it appears that the street in the non-Moslem world is not responding as much as Hamas would like. Maybe Moslem Brotherhood objectives are finally becoming known to the world at large.
On another note the foreign press is furious that their reporters are not being embedded with Israeli forces entering the Strip. At the outset this appeared justified and the journalists took the army to court. The Supreme Court ruled that the IDF must let reporters in. So far a few Israeli journalists have entered Gaza for a limited amount of time but no foreigners. Many in Israel appreciate the news blackout allowing the army to get on with battling terrorism out of the spotlights, something very different than what happened in 2006. However, increasingly the most ardent supporters of the operation believe representatives of the foreign press should be allowed access. It should be pointed out that many are at least attempting to be evenhanded. Overall the policy is too stringent and has begun working against Israel's vital interests which are to show booby trapped Gaza and how Hamas uses the civilian population as a human shield. There are also reports of humanitarian aid being hijacked by Hamas and not reaching civilians. The foreign press must be exposed to such events which can only be done by allowing access (it does not look feasible to have them escorted by Hamas terrorists to tell this story).
Most importantly – freedom of the press exists in Israel as evidenced by the journalistic criticism emanating from reporters working here. No one should try that in Gaza unless they never intend to file another story.
Yisrael Ne'eman
Similar to the Second War in Lebanon in 2006 much of the world is at its hypocritical best. Most want Israel to smash the Jihadists and then condemn Israel for following through. North America, Europe, China, India (remember Mumbai?), Arab secular regimes and many other nations want Islamist influence crushed but are critical of the Israeli handling of the conflict in Gaza and are calling for a cease-fire, at least publicly. Privately they want Hamas and any other Islamists routed. True, many have accused Hamas of initiating the conflict through its never ending bombardment of southern Israel but once confronted with painful scenes of suffering by Gaza's civilian population they shy away from holding Hamas responsible for the bloodshed.
The Arab world has a long account with the Moslem Brotherhood. In Egypt they attempted to kill Gamal Abdul Nasser and assassinated Anwar Sadat, in Syria Hafez el-Assad crushed them in Hama in Feb. 1982 when they tried to overthrow his regime, they are still engaged in a civil war in Algeria (170,000 killed since the early 1990s), Tunisia has a dictatorial secular regime where the Brotherhood is outlawed, Sudan is Islamist (300,000 killed in Darfur and over 2.3 million killed in the south as a result of a government war against Christian and non-monotheist tribes) and everyone else is on notice of a possible Islamic uprising. In particular mass demonstrations have broken out in Egypt and Jordan, both of whom have peace treaties with Israel.
As usual Israel is getting smacked around diplomatically, in particular at the UN. The Security Council called for an immediate cease-fire (Res. 1860) but with no stipulations on its implementation. The UN calls for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an immediate cease-fire, the halt of illegal arms shipments, humanitarian assistance and a re-opening of crossing points into Gaza. But as Hamas is not mentioned, one would think Israel moved into Gaza on some ridiculous whim. The resolution has no enforcement apparatus thereby leaving it impossible to implement. The decision is significant as it marks the beginning of UN involvement, signaling to Israel the inevitability of further intensive diplomatic activity to end the operation. More so it appears that Egypt will broker a deal with the UN signing on. Egyptian interests and Middle East stability are the keystones to the diplomatic efforts in the future. As for Israel, Jerusalem's bi-lateral relations with most states world wide are much more favorable than those same nations' behavior when acting collectively at the UN.
Added to the almost universal cynicism and hypocrisy is the news media, in particular television. Unfortunately hundreds of civilians have been killed and thousands wounded. The most popular Arab satellite station Aljazeera along with European CNN are focusing most heavily on this point and either directly or indirectly accusing Israel. True they do interview Israeli spokespeople but either split the TV screen and show scenes of civilian casualties during the interview or present such scenes before and after the interview with vivid commentary from pro-Palestinian reporters and "experts" who never mention Hamas actions in instigating the conflict. Occasionally there is an embarrassing moment such as when English Aljazeera interviewed an expert on international jurisprudence who insisted that Israel was perfectly justified in its offensive and that Hamas was responsible for much of the civilian suffering since they took refuge in heavily populated civilian areas. Or when asking for comments by young men who were said to be civilians, all made it clear their demands for a never ending war against Israel without regard to non-combatant casualties. Best though is their lack of questioning as to why Hamas (and other Palestinian terrorists) almost exclusively target Israeli civilians over the past eight years.
Hamas has few overt allies but receives lip service from Iran, Syria and Hezbollah. Their staunchest allies are the foreign press, in particular CNN, Aljazeera and Al-Arabia. Most foreign media are emphasizing the "humanitarian crisis", downplaying Hamas shelling of Israel and Islamist bravado of battling to the end. Most significantly the media does not even mention the central pillars of the Hamas Covenant which include killing all Jews and world Jihad against Christianity and the Far East. The idea is to hide Hamas and make it look as if Israel is fighting a war against Gaza's civilians.
There are further sins of omission and emphasis. Screaming about the border crossings is a common occurrence but explanations why the borders were closed leave much to be desired. Attacks on the crossings by Hamas/Islamic Jihad and the murders of Israeli personnel helping to facilitate the movement of goods and fuel into Gaza are not mentioned. Sometimes a passing notice of illegal weapons coming through the Rafiah tunnels is voiced but it is almost peripheral to the main story of the "humanitarian crisis". On Saturday Israel once again initiated a three hour humanitarian cease-fire which CNN reported Israel violated. What they "forgot" to explain was the Israeli air strike was in response to a rocket attack during the lull.
The media continues to emphasize anti-Israel demonstrations world wide and speaks of hundreds of thousands marching to "free Gaza". The demonstrations are either in Moslem countries or have almost entirely Moslem participants as pointed out by CNN. There are certain extreme leftist groups in Europe and especially Britain who have joined the anti-Israel chorus and some protests have turned violent. So far it appears that the street in the non-Moslem world is not responding as much as Hamas would like. Maybe Moslem Brotherhood objectives are finally becoming known to the world at large.
On another note the foreign press is furious that their reporters are not being embedded with Israeli forces entering the Strip. At the outset this appeared justified and the journalists took the army to court. The Supreme Court ruled that the IDF must let reporters in. So far a few Israeli journalists have entered Gaza for a limited amount of time but no foreigners. Many in Israel appreciate the news blackout allowing the army to get on with battling terrorism out of the spotlights, something very different than what happened in 2006. However, increasingly the most ardent supporters of the operation believe representatives of the foreign press should be allowed access. It should be pointed out that many are at least attempting to be evenhanded. Overall the policy is too stringent and has begun working against Israel's vital interests which are to show booby trapped Gaza and how Hamas uses the civilian population as a human shield. There are also reports of humanitarian aid being hijacked by Hamas and not reaching civilians. The foreign press must be exposed to such events which can only be done by allowing access (it does not look feasible to have them escorted by Hamas terrorists to tell this story).
Most importantly – freedom of the press exists in Israel as evidenced by the journalistic criticism emanating from reporters working here. No one should try that in Gaza unless they never intend to file another story.