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Amid Gaza Conflict, Global Response to Israel Not as Bad as TV and Social Media Portray
(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - British-American television comedian John Oliver delivered a vicious 10-minute attack on Israel on his show on Sunday, arguing that since more Palestinians are dying than Jews, Israel is wrong, immoral and guilty of war crimes. That's the equivalent of saying that because 500,000 German civilians were killed in World War II, as opposed to "only" 67,000 British civilians, the Nazis were right in that war and Britain was wrong. Social media amplifies these voices well beyond what they deserve. It would be a mistake to look at Oliver's rants, or the tweets of radical U.S. congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, as representative of where Israel stands today in the world. When it comes to the reaction of governments to Israel's campaign against Hamas, Israel's situation is better this time than during any of the previous rounds with Hamas in Gaza. President Joe Biden and many other world leaders have given Israel the "critical time we needed" to carry out this operation, said former National Security Council head Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror. Biden gave unstinting support to Israel for its right to defend itself, and blocked three different UN Security Council statements calling for an immediate halt to the fighting without mentioning Hamas or the rockets from Gaza. "The Americans...understand we are talking about a terrorist organization that crossed all redlines, opened fire on Israeli cities." Aviv Shiron, who served as Israel's ambassador to the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland, said that in comparison with the past, "the international pressure this time is less significant and massive....The collateral damage [in Gaza] is less...and as a result, pressure coming from various governments is less....When you fire on Jerusalem, as opposed to Sderot, it is perceived differently in the world."