The anti-Israel hysteria

Pilar Rahola, a Spanish-Catalan columnist in a Barcelona newspaper La Vanguardia writes a brilliant column on anti-Israel hatred around the world which has the same title as this posting. The column was picked up by the ultra-left wing Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz in its online edition. The link can be found here.

A paragraph that jumped at me was the opening paragraph:

I understand that you want to wipe us off the map, just don't expect us to help you attain that goal. The fact that this old sentiment - the gist of a line uttered by a caustic Golda Meir to the Palestinian leadership - is so relevant these days, gives us a sense of the scope of the tragedy the Holy Land has been suffering through for so many decades.

Exactly Ms. Rahola. You captured it so well. While the world left is a willing accomplice in the drive to wipe Israel off the map, it cannot be expected that Israel will go along with them and allow it to happen. To not go after the fundamentalists who desire her destruction is nothing short of surrender to the eventual fate that the radicals and their left-wing pawns desire.

Moving on, she writes:

Those who go into the streets claim to do so in favor of the freedom of Palestine. Well, where have they been all these years, as the fundamentalist phenomena that oppressed the Palestinians were on the rise? Does Hamas have anything to do with freedom, or rather, doesn't it have everything to do with Islamism of a fascist tendency? Is freedom defended by training children to commit suicide attacks and by enslaving women? Is freedom defended by Iran, which supports Hamas financially? Does freedom belong to the terrorists of Hezbollah?

This is exactly it. The uber-left doesn't care about the average Palestinian. It doesn't care about establishing a state called Palestine where Palestinians will be able to build lives and live free of any persecution. They are prepared to see Israel destroyed even at the expense of a radical sharia state rising in its place. A state that will plot along with its radical friends in Iran, Saudi Arabia and al Qaeda about the next place to strike. The next country to turn into an Islamo-fascist entity.

Case in point, where were the demonstrations when Hamas came to power? Where was the expression of disappointment from the uber-left? Hamas is the antithesis of left-wing free-loving values like gay marriage, promiscuity (sp), pro-choice etc etc. If these people care about the Palestinian people and the spread of so-called left-wing social values to these people, they will applaud the destruction of Hamas. They don't. They stand in solidarity with them. Why? Because they care more about Israel's destruction.

The next paragraph hammers the point further:

Those who protest in the streets also say they do so out of solidarity. Well, solidarity with whom? With Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, who has been less critical of the incursion than any European carrying a sign? With the Palestinians who do not agree with having the financial aid sent to their people being used to build armies and prepare bomb attacks? Do they wonder what happens to these funds? Does solidarity with the Palestinians mean defending terrorism and excusing Hamas' aggressions? Is peace defended by boosting Palestinian leaders who do not believe in it?

When was the last time that the uber-left demanded a serious audit of the Palestinians and how they have stiffled the peace process? If anyone remembers, the suicide attacks only escalated after Oslo was signed in 1993, which was intended to do the REVERSE. A true and honest left winger should take grievance with both sides for intellectual honesty. The Palestinians have received billions and when Hamas captured Gaza, they got much of that money. What have they done with that money? Built tunnels and made bombs. How did that contribute to ending violence in the Middle East? How can you honestly defend that uber-lefties?

The line about Mahmoud Abbas is also interesting. He did sound off at the beginning of the conflict but that's because he had to. Since then, not a peep. He would love to get the Hamas albatross off his neck. Thankfully, it appears that those Palestinians in the West Bank are smartening up and not joining those in Gaza in "resistance." They know as Gandhi knew that the path to statehood is paved in peace not violence.

I am a pro-Palestinian in a sense that I want the Palestinians to live side by side with the Israelis in a state that embraces life for its citizens and respects all religions (and atheists) within its borders. I think that will serve its interests best. The uber-left should embrace those values too and question anyone on both sides who will work to impede the progress of such a state coming to fruition. They will find a willing accomplice in me if this is the mission they'll embrace. But if the goal is simply to call for Israel's destruction, they will fall on deaf ears.

It is in their interests of the uber-left to advance this cause because the Hamas they stand in solidarity with will take away their freedoms if they ever had the power. Better to stop it when Hamas won't have that power than when they will because by then, it will be too late.