More Proof, Frankly
December 25th 2006 12:21
The voices against Israel are numerous. The arguments in favor of the Palestinians generally disregard the reality of life in the Middle East. That reality being the ongoing attacks against Israeli civilians require a response. The following article speaks for itself.
The Toronto Sun - Dec. 21, 2006 - Lorrie Goldstein
Let's just say that when Sid Ryan, Haroon Siddiqui and Raja Khouri, former president of the Canadian Arab Federation, all write columns about Israel in the same week, you don't expect them to be of the "Happy Hanukkah" variety. But they outdid themselves in columns that appeared in the Sun, Star and Globe respectively last week, all harshly critical of Israel's policies in the occupied territories, without one reference to the fact those measures are in large part a response to the unrelenting threat of Palestinian terrorism against Israeli civilians. These columns, taken together, set a new standard of unreality when it comes to criticizing Israel compared to the past, when most critics at least felt obligated to mention Palestinian terrorism before rushing right past it to bash the Jewish state. The "new norm" seems to be to ignore Palestinian terrorism entirely while firing away at Israel. Among our three intrepid columnists, Israel could not catch a break even during a week where the two big Mideast stories were (a) the Holocaust denial conference sponsored by Iran's president and (b) Fatah and Hamas gunning each other down in the Palestinian territories in a bid to seize control of a government in which they're theoretically partners. Khouri's Globe column was oddly headlined "Time for Canadian Arabs and Jews to work together" since while paying lip service to that idea, it got in all the usual nasty digs at Israel, including the ugly smear that it is an "apartheid" state. Here's how Khouri races by the inconvenient truth of Palestinian terrorism: "The wounds of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and the oppression of Palestinians continue to fester. Violence goes on unabated, and many people have become radicalized. For their part, Canadian Arabs and Jews have been preoccupied with actions such as the separation wall or the targeting of civilians perpetrated by their Middle Eastern brethren." Right. If you can find a condemnation of Palestinian terrorism in there to go along with the condemnation of Israel, let me know. Moving on to local union leader Sid Ryan's Sun column, "You'll get an earful if you oppose Israel", he's again on to what seems to be his favourite activity these days, launching flame-throwing rants against Israel and its Jewish supporters. Ryan is so busy bashing them he never gets around to Palestinian terrorism, although he does note that "following wars between Israel and its Arab neighbours" Israel ended up with more land than the Palestinians. Gee. I wonder who started those wars, who threatened to drive whom into the sea and which nation was attacked for the first time by its "Arab neighbours" the day after it was created in 1948? Sid? Ryan is also angry about ugly threats he's received from some supporters of Israel. I agree. Such threats are unacceptable and wrong. Perhaps Ryan could impress this upon the many Arabs and Muslims around the world who murder people they disagree with. Finally, we have Star columnist Haroon Siddiqui's Sunday piece about an ex-Israeli solider who heads an organization which argues the occupation is turning Israeli soldiers into brutal thugs. Again, no mention of Palestinian terrorism as having anything to do with the harshness or duration of the occupation. At least Siddiqui illustrated, inadvertently, that Israel's toughest critics are Israelis -- not Canadian columnists and Diaspora Jews like the left's darling, Noam Chomsky, whom Khouri predictably praises. Israelis have a far stronger and more credible record of criticizing their own democratic government than Arabs and Muslims do of criticizing their dictatorial governments in the Mideast, probably because Arabs and Muslims who do that tend to end up imprisoned, tortured or dead. Happy Hanukkah, to three unwise men.
The Toronto Sun - Dec. 21, 2006 - Lorrie Goldstein
Let's just say that when Sid Ryan, Haroon Siddiqui and Raja Khouri, former president of the Canadian Arab Federation, all write columns about Israel in the same week, you don't expect them to be of the "Happy Hanukkah" variety. But they outdid themselves in columns that appeared in the Sun, Star and Globe respectively last week, all harshly critical of Israel's policies in the occupied territories, without one reference to the fact those measures are in large part a response to the unrelenting threat of Palestinian terrorism against Israeli civilians. These columns, taken together, set a new standard of unreality when it comes to criticizing Israel compared to the past, when most critics at least felt obligated to mention Palestinian terrorism before rushing right past it to bash the Jewish state. The "new norm" seems to be to ignore Palestinian terrorism entirely while firing away at Israel. Among our three intrepid columnists, Israel could not catch a break even during a week where the two big Mideast stories were (a) the Holocaust denial conference sponsored by Iran's president and (b) Fatah and Hamas gunning each other down in the Palestinian territories in a bid to seize control of a government in which they're theoretically partners. Khouri's Globe column was oddly headlined "Time for Canadian Arabs and Jews to work together" since while paying lip service to that idea, it got in all the usual nasty digs at Israel, including the ugly smear that it is an "apartheid" state. Here's how Khouri races by the inconvenient truth of Palestinian terrorism: "The wounds of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and the oppression of Palestinians continue to fester. Violence goes on unabated, and many people have become radicalized. For their part, Canadian Arabs and Jews have been preoccupied with actions such as the separation wall or the targeting of civilians perpetrated by their Middle Eastern brethren." Right. If you can find a condemnation of Palestinian terrorism in there to go along with the condemnation of Israel, let me know. Moving on to local union leader Sid Ryan's Sun column, "You'll get an earful if you oppose Israel", he's again on to what seems to be his favourite activity these days, launching flame-throwing rants against Israel and its Jewish supporters. Ryan is so busy bashing them he never gets around to Palestinian terrorism, although he does note that "following wars between Israel and its Arab neighbours" Israel ended up with more land than the Palestinians. Gee. I wonder who started those wars, who threatened to drive whom into the sea and which nation was attacked for the first time by its "Arab neighbours" the day after it was created in 1948? Sid? Ryan is also angry about ugly threats he's received from some supporters of Israel. I agree. Such threats are unacceptable and wrong. Perhaps Ryan could impress this upon the many Arabs and Muslims around the world who murder people they disagree with. Finally, we have Star columnist Haroon Siddiqui's Sunday piece about an ex-Israeli solider who heads an organization which argues the occupation is turning Israeli soldiers into brutal thugs. Again, no mention of Palestinian terrorism as having anything to do with the harshness or duration of the occupation. At least Siddiqui illustrated, inadvertently, that Israel's toughest critics are Israelis -- not Canadian columnists and Diaspora Jews like the left's darling, Noam Chomsky, whom Khouri predictably praises. Israelis have a far stronger and more credible record of criticizing their own democratic government than Arabs and Muslims do of criticizing their dictatorial governments in the Mideast, probably because Arabs and Muslims who do that tend to end up imprisoned, tortured or dead. Happy Hanukkah, to three unwise men.
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