Whose Fault Is It, Anyway?

OK - that never happened. But what would the word reaction to that be? I believe it would react with unprecedented outrage and fury. Justifiably so. How dare a country send  180 rockets into a city indiscriminately - endangering the lives and property of civilians that only want to live in peace and get on with their lives?  That they have grievances with their neighbors, whether legitimate or not, it does not justify the carnage that might be caused by sending a barrage of rockets into a civilian population.

Well the fact is that the reverse just happened. Over 180 rockets were fired into Israeli towns populated by innocent Jews that want nothing more than a to live in peace. 

Those rocket attacks were preceded by Palestinians in Gaza sending kites carrying gasoline filled balloons set afire for purposes into Israel. 

Which was itself preceded by Hamas operatives in Gaza trying to breach Israel’s border with them for purposes of terrorizing Israels. 

Which was preceded by Hamas terrorists from Gaza sneaking into Israel via underground terror tunnels built explicitly for terrorist purposes.

Very few if any criticism was offered about those things. The world practically ignored them. But when Israel finally retaliated, the world noticed. Yesterday the PBS News Hour had a segment  on this situation. While pretending to be impartial, their bias was clear. Israelis citizens were shown to be basically annoyed at fleeing from those rockets - into their hardened bunkers that protected them with their children somewhat traumatized by it.

But when it focused on Gaza, the carnage was clear. Gaza had no bunkers.  A single building Israel targeted that housed some Hamas terrorist leaders was destroying by a precision bomb. There were inevitably some injuries and perhaps even deaths. Which is almost impossible to avoid in densely populated Gaza. Israel’s only mission there was to protect its citizens from further rocket attacks.  They had no desire to hurt anyone.

But the message of that PBS report was clear. Israel’s response in Gaza looked far worse than the rocket attacks in Israel. The take away? Big, bad, occupying Israel used American fighter planes to commit a far greater atrocity upon the the poor Palestinians in Gaza. Who resort to crude means in their justifiable fight with Israel.

And that is why there are so many people on the Left (which includes much of the media) that sympathize more with the Palestinian in Gaza than they do with Israelis.  They blame Israel’s blockade of food, medicine, hospital supplies  and building materials causing Palestinians in Gaza to be in dire straits. That Israel only did that to prevent deadly weapons used to terrorize Israelis from being smuggled into Gaza - hidden among those necessities - is ignored. Even though they know that is the reason. 

The media instead portray Gaza as just reacting to an unjust boycott with the only means they have at their disposal: Rockets they somehow manged to have smuggled in from Gaza despite Israel’s best efforts to prevent that. They want the world to see how they live thereby generating sympathy for their plight which they blame on Israel. 

The media portrays it that way and the much of the world buys it and nods its collective head in compassion and agreement. Hard to argue with what you see. Which is a prosperous and strong Israel unjustly occupying a suffering people and keeping them down. And worse - killing some of them them in unjust military actions in Gaza.

That is precisely what Palestinian want the world to conclude. And much of it does. 

But that is the exact opposite of the truth. I have said it before and I will say it again. The fault lies with Palestinians leaders who have no interest whatsoever in making peace with Israel. They have no interest in building their economy and building their nation up. Not until they can re-occupy Palestine freeing it of Jewish domination. When they say ‘occupied Palestine’ they don’t mean the West bank. They mean all of Israel. Including Tel Aviv. If you listen carefully enough they speak of ‘the West Bank’ they speak about ‘Palestine’.

While many Palestinians would be happy to just live in peace and get on with their lives, their leadership - both secular and religious - will not rest until they get all of Palestine back. They firmly believe that Palestine belongs to them. That Jews have no legitimate claim to it. Ancient claims are meaningless - even if they are to be believed. Jews there now are illegitimate colonizers and occupiers having expelled indigenous Arabs (now called Palestinians) from the homes.

Even the idea that Israel was a refuge for Holocaust survivors is meaningless to them. They either deny the Holocaust or say it wasn’t their fault. Why should they pay the price?

This attitude is passed on generationally. Most Palestinians - even those that would like to make peace with Israel probably believe that narrative. They are just willing to settle realizing that continued conflict with Israel will only make things worse for them. They are realists. But the uncompromising idealists run the show.

Which is the real reason Gaza attacks Israel. That so many of them live in squalor is a tactic they use to their advantage – to point out how much Israel has made them suffer by boycotting vital supplies. That Egypt does the same is NEVER mentioned. It is only Israel that is to blame.  

Israel is the one that wants peace more than anything. Despite what Palestinians believe, the Jewish people has a ‘slight’ claim to that land too. A claim that is based on both history and the bible. A claim that Holocaust refugees had no where else to  go after people in home countries had occupied their homes when they were rounded up and taken to ghettos, concentrations camps and ultimately mass murdered in death camps. Survivors were less than welcomed back into their former countries.

Perhaps more importantly Israel would have loved to see Gaza prosper. They would have loved to see Gaza as a model for a future Palestinian state. When Israel left Gaza, successful agricultural enterprises were left behind for Palestinians to take advantage of. 

Instead Gaza Palestinians promptly demolished them. And immediately started attacking Israel. Can anyone imagine what things would be like for Palestinians now if they had asked Israel for help in building up their infrastructure and economy and started living more prosperous lives? 

I am 100% certain Israel would have accepted that challenge in a heartbeat. That could have eventually lead to a Palestinian state on the West Bank.  

Israel has no quarrel with Muslims or Palestinians per se. Israel’s only concern is for the safety of their own citizens. And for building up their own country. And ultimately to make peace with all of her neighbors. 

It is not Israel that attacks Gaza. It is Gaza that attacks Israel for only one real purpose – to rid Israel of the Jews and turn it into Palestine – an Islamic country.  Their underdog status is how they get away with their claims that it is all about Jewish occupation of poor defenseless Arabs. And with no other recourse except to use whatever crude means they have to fight their occupiers. Israel’s defenses against it are seen as aggression!

And much of the world agrees. Thankfully the majority of people in the most powerful nation in the world does not buy that narrative. At least those that know the facts.  Unfortunately the Left either doesn’t know or doesn’t care since for them – all they see is a rich and powerful country killing innocent civilians of a poor country. One that is unable to prosper because of an oppressive Israeli occupier.

It is one thing when people ignorant of these details react to news reports like the one on PBS. But PBS should know better. They are not that ignorant. They surely know the truth. And yet they present the Palestinian narrative as the more just one. 

I guess PBS and most other mainstream media outlets are victims of the same mentality. One that sees only the moment and has sympathy for the people suffering the most. How they can ignore the facts is inexplicable to me. Knowing what is behind all of this should make all the difference in the world. Why doesn’t it?