I didn’t want to write this post, I really didn’t. I think the situation in Gaza is an appalling human tragedy. One that Israel is largely responsible for. But I think I have to.
Some of the stuff I am going to write will certainly annoy some people so I am going to nail a few things to the mast before I start.
- I think Israel’s current actions are totally disproportionate and shameful
- I think Israel should stop ignoring UN resolutions
- I think Israel should retreat to the 1967 boundaries
- I think Israel should dismantle all its settlements beyond those boundaries
- I think Israel should share the sovereignty of Jerusalem
- I think Israel should lift its blockade (with the exception of weapons)
- I think 90% of the people protesting in support of the Palestinians are good people
OK, now that has been said lets look at some facts.
A couple of months ago Isis invaded Iraq. Since then they have killed thousands of people, mostly Muslims. They have performed public beheadings, crucifictions and stonings. They have told Christians that they must convert, leave, or pay the “I’m not a Muslim Tax”. They have stated openly that they intend to basically take over the world and put an end to “Un-Islamic” practices like equality, human rights, liberalism, and democracy. And kill anyone who gets in their way.
As far as I know there have been two anti-ISIS demonstrations in London with attendances in the low hundreds, I have linked to reports about them below.
The current crisis in Gaza has resulted in approximately 1,500 deaths at the time of writing. Despite several shaky, short lived cease-fires hamas continue to fire rockets into Israel ans Israel continues to bombard Gaza.
The “Pro-Palestine / Anti Israel” demonstration in London apparently put 45,000 people on the streets. As I have said above I think most of these people are genuainely concerned to save lives and believe that basically Israel is in the wrong, but the decent, humanity of those involved is being used and abused by Islamists with a very different agenda.
Israel is increasing being portrayed as “fascists”, “Nazis“, and of course “baby-killers” and the words genocide and holocaust are also being bandied about.
Typical of this is illustrated by a twitter exchange I had with Yvonne Ridley. She had repeatedly called what the Israelis were doing a genocide and said it had to be stopped before it became a holocaust. So I responded, pointing out some statistics.
- Rwanda – 1 million were killed – 70% of the Tutsi population.
- Nazi Germany – 6 million jews were killed – 60% of the European jewish population.
- Gaza – 1,500 killed – 0.08% of the population
Yvonne asked what figure would constitute genocide for me. I said a lot more than 1,500 what figure would she suggest. She the changed tack somewhat and said that what the Israelis were doing was like a “9/11” every day. I pointed out that “9/11” killed 2,600+ in one day and so far Israel had killed less that 2,000 in a month.
If you want you can read the twitter exchange with Yvonne Ridley here.
It’s worth looking at that last point again.
The 9/11 terrorists managed to kill 2,600 people in one day with a couple of civil aircraft. Israel is, as we are constantly told, “a nuclear power with a huge modern army and airforce”. yet in three weeks of almost constant air raids they have killed 1,500 people. But we are expected to believe that this is a deliberate genocide?
The truth is Hamas are an Islamist organisation, in the same vein as ISIS, Boko-Haram, and the Taliban, and they are exploiting, and prolonging the suffering of the palestinians they claim to be protecting. This shouldn’t surprise us, its what Islamists do.
- They exploit democracy in order to destroy it and impose Theocracy
- They exploit liberalism to impose illiberal customs
- They hide behind human rights legislation while trying to destoy human rights
- They exploit common humanity to persue the destruction of Israel and all Jews
Before you go off-on-one read again what I said at the begining. I think Israel is guilty of many things, but not “war-crimes”. They are not Nazis, or “baby killers” and this is not a genocide.
So be careful what you say in your tweet and be careful who you stand with on your demo because, although you want to free Palestine and save children’s lives, behind you, grinning and waving the black flag of ISIS, is a real fascist.
He is preying on your humanity. He wants to suck the life out of life itself. He thinks the holocaust was a good thing. He has sworn to finish the “good” work started by Hitler. And every time another commentator says it’s a genocide, and every time someone calls Israelis Nazis, and every time another Gazan child dies, his plan advances a little further, and his grin gets a little wider.
Second Thoughts for the Day 
A good post pops, I would make a couple of points though.
Firstly when most people refer to gebocide in Gaza they are not referring solely to the recent escalation and really the death toll is not relevant to that argument. The conditions imposed on Gaza by Isreal are by some considered to be genocide under article 2 section c of the genocide convention 1951
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
An Israeli spokesman this week called it self imposed genocide… which is so bizarre I can’t fully comprehend it.
The gebocide argument is also separate to the war crimes argument. I’m by no means an expert and it’s difficult to get verifiable facts, but from the pictures I have seen and the reports that are getting out of Gaza it doesn’t seem to me that the Isralie attacks meet the conditions set out below from the Protection of Civilian Populations Against Bombing From the Air in Case of War, League of Nations, September 30, 1938
1) The intentional bombing of civilian populations is illegal;
2) Objectives aimed at from the air must be legitimate military objectives and must be identifiable;
3) Any attack on legitimate military objectives must be carried out in such a way that civilian populations in the neighbourhood are not bombed through negligence;
And so perhaps there is a stronger case for an investigation into war crimes than you suggest.
Your right about the intentions of Hamas and they should be challenged. But their arguments will be much more easily dismantled in a free and prosperous Palestine. So yes be aware of who your standing next too at a march, but don’t let the fact that disagreeable people agree with you on something waterdown your commitment too it, just be vigilent not to let their views colour your own, and be ready to fight them (figuratively) on the points where you disagree.
Thanks Bob, I though a lot about this one and I still wasn’t sure I was being rational, even as I wrote it.
I think I would probably agree with most of your comment, especially the last paragraph. I would question your use of the words “most people” in paragraph one though. I think “most” people’s reactions are more visceral and less reasoned. And some people care much more about who is doing the killing than they do about those being killed – hence the post.
My problems with Israel are more to do with what they have been doing over the last 47 years than the last month.
Anyway thanks for the comment – Your opinion matters to me.