(Independent-Ireland) Carol Hunt - We in the West hold Israel to a higher standard than we do her neighbors. Israel should know better, we say. Does this mean we hold her Arab neighbors to a lesser standard? Is this not basic racism? But Israel is the Goliath to Palestine's David, we insist. And in a narrow sense this is true. Yet in the broader sense Israel is a tiny Jewish, yet secular, democracy in a sea of warmongering, and increasingly dangerously anti-Semitic (and Christian) enemies. Israel is not the arrogant monolith we believe it to be, though it must try to give that impression in order to survive. Last week, our new foreign minister Charlie Flanagan was roundly excoriated for abstaining from a UN resolution to solely investigate Israel's military actions. Flanagan said: "We had problems with the text, we wanted it to include all violent acts on all sides, including Hamas and other militant groups in the region." And yet the consensus from the chattering classes in Ireland was that Israel, and only Israel, be investigated. What is the difference between our outrage at the children killed in Gaza and those being killed in Syria? It would be seem to be the people killing them. And if we insist that our disproportionate reaction to those killed by Israel is not anti-Semitic, then what is it?
2014-07-30 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive