Press Demonizes Israel
Here is the correct way to understand the recent conflict between Israeli soldiers and the Turkish flotilla ship:
posted by G.Rap | 11:56 AM
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7 Comments:
Everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that BOTH Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade and have a right (perhaps even a duty) to search any ships to validate that they are indeed carrying humanitarian aid only. Typical despicable media coverage slanted to make Israel look like the bad guy.
I have no problem with Israel, nor do I wish that the press "demonize" it. However, I do see a major with the word "correct". It is my personal belief that one should be able to make their own decisions rather than having -- what you call "the correct way to understand the recent conflict" -- shoved down their throat. I realize that your immediate response to this comment might be "if you don't like it, don't pay attention", however, I was wondering if you leave any room for interpretation or if this is the only way you see fit to understand this controversial tragedy? In other words, is there another (correct) way that a Pakistani in Gaza might interpret this, or is Israel completely blameless?
-A reader and supporter of Israel
First, it would be very useful not to use phrases like “shove down your throat” about a site which you are free to visit or not, with which you are free to disagree, and to which you are free to submit a comment as you have. I am not forcing anyone to believe anything. I am stating my opinion.
Second, the real question is not whether there are viewpoints different from mine. Of course there are. The real question is whether there are any standards of truth in news reporting that portrays Israel as deserving the hatred and vilification heaped upon it in recent years. And the answer to that question is NO.
Anyone who cares about facts, truth, reason, honesty, justice, equality, democracy, liberty, and loving one’s neighbor as oneself, must in all honesty recognize that Israel is and has been one of the most exemplary nations in the world since its inception, and particularly so considering the irrational, hate-filled violence that has been consistently directed at it from people and nations to whom Israel wants only to be a peaceful and helpful neighbor.
I do not say Israel is perfect. No nation is, as no human being is. But I do say that there is a double standard in world opinion on the subject, and that there is not another nation in the world that has behaved with more justice, more international generosity per capita, and more self-restraint and patience in the face of injustice directed at it than Israel. To vilify Israel for imaginary crimes while ignoring the factual hate, threats, abuse (of their own people as well as of their imaginary enemies), wholesale violence against civilians (including women and children), and genocide in the self-proclaimed and falsely self-righteous enemies of Israel, is to abandon the values of reason, justice, and truth that my blog exists to encourage in my readers.
To object to my word “correct” in this case is to object to very idea that there is such a thing as truth. I’m glad you support Israel, but you need to be more clear about the vast moral gap between Israel (with all its flaws) and its enemies (with their far, far worse flaws).
You would not object to the word “correct” about the opinion that the abolishment of slavery in America was a good thing, even if there were some slaves who were villains. You would not object to the word “correct” about the opinion that the English were right to resist Hitler in the face of his unrelenting bombardment of London even if some Englishmen engaged in behavior you would not approve of. There is equally little reason to object to the use of the word “correct” about the opinion that Israel is by far the more injured party in the conflicts of the Middle East, including the recent flotilla episode, and in the reporting of the mainstream media.
To object to my use of the word “correct” given the two versions of the flotilla story that were out in the media is to substitute an irrational faith in “multiple points of view” for simple loyalty to the values we share (or ought to share) with Israel, namely truth, reason, justice, democracy, equality, and liberty. Not to see Israel as a bastion of those values in the face of the fanaticism, hatred, oppression, and bestial violence of its enemies is to be morally blind.
P.S. I do not think you would find too many Pakistanis in Gaza. Most of the Arab world has thought of and treated the Palestinians as beneath contempt, except for their usefulness as a political football in whose name non-Palestinian tyrants (like Yassir Arafat and Ahmadinejad of Iran) distract their people and the world from their own depravities.
I am glad that you responded to my comment so quickly. I must sound like an uneducated idiot, but I did mean to type Palestinian, not Pakistani. Anyway, of course I would not object if someone was to tell me the abolition of slavery was right, but this is a story to which there are two distinct sides. You also failed to mention that it was an aid ship and not one trying to harm Israel. I understand that the people aboard the flotilla were crossing a physical boundary, but I am still not convinced that Israel did not cross a boundary of its own. I do enjoy reading your blog, and by using the phrase "shove down your throat" I am not speaking for those who dislike reading your blog, I am speaking for those of us who like your blog, but would prefer for you to write something to the effect of "the way I see it" or "perhaps a different perspective from that of the media's would be...."
-A reader
Apparently you cannot be convinced by facts. Did you actually watch the video? The "aid" ship was a pretext; the "humanitarian workers" were armed and murderous, and did their best to kill when the Israeli soldier who boarded the ship with only a paintball gun in hand; those who organized the flotilla have ties to terrorism.
You might also note my next posting, which illustrates why such "humanitarian aid" is nonsense in the context of what is really going on in Gaza, which is that it is doing just fine for food and clothing despite being held hostage to a violent and tyrannical terrorist organization called Hamas.
Instead of complaining about my diction, you should do a little reasearch on websites like Memri and Honest Reporting. You will find that when Israel pulled completely out of Gaza, leaving it entirely in Palestinian hands, Hamas took over and immediately began mounting a terrorist campaign against Israel, using civilian Palestinians as cover when the Israelis, as is their right by international law, were forced to retaliate to stop the attacks.
Your invitation to me to wash my words in "perhaps" and "the way I see it" for politeness' sake is maddening in the face of the lie that justice lies somewhere between these two opponents, of whom one wants only to live in peace and the other wants only the total destruction of Israel and the Jews. There is no moral equivalence here. None.
OK. I understand your point and obviously you are not going to cave. The thing is, that now you are being somewhat abrasive in saying that I cannot be convinced by the facts. That is nonsense. The first thing I said to you was that I agree with you. This has much less to do with the facts than it does with the way in which you present them. You have your methods and I have mine, but please, don't disregard mine or call them "maddening". I am not being irrational here. There is enough room for many a method in this world, you don't always have to fight so hard against the people who disagree with yours.
Well, I'm glad you can be convinced by facts, and that you agree with me on the issue. I am sorry if you think my tone abrasive, but your own comments seem to call for a balanced approach that to me sounds like making a moral equivalence between Israel and terrorist thugs. On the falsity of that position (which I'm pleased to read you don't hold), you're quite right--I'm not going to cave.
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