I READ AN ARTICLE in one of the several Israel-focused epapers I get almost daily that college campuses are a rough place if you are pro-Israel.
Israel bashing is the raison d'etre du jour (and with that I have exhausted my French vocabulary) for the Liberal Left (is that redundant?).
As an American-Israeli I have no problem with criticizing either the U.S. or Israel; I view neither through rose-colored glasses.
But I lived there (in Israel) and I know how things are . . . and to some extent I know why the things are as they are.
WHICH, I SUSPECT, IS MORE THAN THE ISRAEL BASHER CAN CLAIM.
I was thinking that if I got into a debate with an Israel basher here (or a U.S. basher anywhere outside the 50 states) I would immediately ask several questions.
Question 1: Have you ever lived in the country? Have you even been to the country for more than a couple of weeks?
I know people expect to see all of Israel (or America) on a two-week guided tour, and it's true you might see the landscape as it whizzes past a bus or train window, but you are not really getting to know the country.
The country is not just the landscape, it is the people. In Israel and in the U.S., there are people of all points of view; there are racists of all colors, religious beliefs and heritages. (If you have never seen a black racist, let me introduce you to Malcolm X.) Fortunately, both here and there, racists are only a small, albeit vocal and visible, minority.
Question 2: Since I'm pretty sure the Israel bashers never have been to Israel - even to visit the place - and if they haven't been to Israel, it's pretty certain they likewise never have been to either Gaza or the PA areas (since most access to these areas are via Israel), how do they know Israel (or America) is such a terrible, racist place?
Did they read these untruths in a book? Did they learn these things from an academic? Maybe they read or heard about the murderous Israelis (that label includes not just Jews, but Christians, Muslims, and a few Oriental religions as well) in the media - print, paper, and "social."
The people who believe the Israel bashers' stories should ask their sources Question 1. They also should, especially with the media, make an effort to determine how many times their source has been caught in a lie about life in Israel, the PA areas, and Gaza. BBC has been caught. AFP has been caught. Reuters has been caught. CNN has been caught. Pictures do lie - I'm thinking in particular of the photo of the "dead" child in Gaza, allegedly shot by Israeli soldiers as he provided a shield for this father. Turns out the photo was posed.
There is no denying civilians were killed or injured during Israel's counter-attacks in Gaza. Likewise there is no denying that Hamas fired its weapons into Israeli civilian centers from the safety of mosques, hospitals, and UN buildings.
There is no denying that Israel is blockading Gaza in an effort to prevent war materials from being brought in. (Food, fuel are allowed in Zand Gaza farm products are allowed into Israel and the PA areas.)
Quick question to ask yourself. If Israel prevents goods from entering Gaza, why can't Hamas import materials from Egypt? Egyptians - who are Muslims - cannot be called "anti-Muslim racists," can they?
TRUE STORY I was visiting kin near Haifa a couple of years ago. At the time, one of our "neighbors" was sending missiles into the highly populated area. I sat on the relative's balcony and watched them fall on the area. (Fortunately, the attackers' aim had not improved since I watched katushas fall into a wadi near Zefat (Safed) where I lived at the time.)
Knowing that there really was nothing we, as civilians, could do to thwart the incoming missiles, we decided to picnic on a local beach.
Keep in mind that missiles still are coming our way.
As we enjoyed our picnic I notices an obviously Muslim family - mother in burka, adult son(in-law) and his wife, along with the couple's children, stroll amongst the Jews. No one attacked them. No one cursed them. No one treated them as Fifth Columnists in their midst. In fact, no one even paid any more attention to the family than they did any other people strolling on the sand.
I won't write that a Jew would be putting his life in jeopardy if he wore a kippa on a Lebanonese beach or even an Egyptian of Jordanian beach - and Israel is at peace with Egypt and Jordan; it might be a shaky peace, but it IS a peace - but I'll be the first to tell you that I will not volunteer for the kippa test..
Question 3: Why are third and fourth generation "Palestinians" still in UN funded camps. They left what became Israel in 1947 and '48, either because they were afraid of the Jewish army or because they believed their brothers' instructions to "get out of the way of the glorious Arab armies that will drive the Jews into the sea."
Yes, there were atrocities committed by Jews and by Muslims in '48 and in every war since.
DBS: If you want your organization to severe all ties with Israel, fine. But be prepared to severe ALL ties with Israel.
That means to forego both medicines and medical advances from Israel. (By the way, you should know that the PA's president sends his mother to Tel Aviv for medical treatment and that PA area doctors are trained at Hadassah and other Israeli hospitals, and that Muslim patients - adults and children - from the PA areas, including Gaza, are treated in Israeli hospitals with the same level of care - and caring - as are Israeli (Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and "other") patients.
That means to turn in your dumb and smart cell phones.
It's OK to bash Israel for many things, and it's true that while some Israeli Muslims rise to the top in their fields - and are members of Knesset of non-Muslim-specific parties and commanders of military units, probably the majority of Muslims in Israel, like the majority of all Israelis - especially newcomers - have less than glorious jobs with bright futures.
ON THE OTHER HAND, drive from Tel Aviv to Afula via Hadera and you will see Israeli Arab villages on both sides of the road; villages with homes most Israeli Jews would envy. Granted, these are Israeli citizens (most of whom would refuse, if surveys are to be believed, to resettle in the PA area).
Israel is not perfect. Neither is the U.S. But if you are going to bash anyone, make certain you have real, not fabricated, information.
And don't forget the old saw about living in a glass house.
