Dual Protests at the US Embassy in Vancouver + notes about peace

After the protest, I ended up talking with some of the “Viva Intifada” crowd. One of them, a Lebanese-born Canadian, explained his take on current events in Gaza. Suffice to say, we didn’t agree, but it did highlight the reality that in the peaceful dominion of Canada, we have an easier time talking over the issues.

This really gets to the heart of the problem: for a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Israelis need a partner who can negotiate a peace agreement in good faith. For now, that’s not Hamas.

Jonathon Narvey has contributed a photo to this story.

Great coverage.

I happened upon this blog and was troubled by the comments of Kris Krugg, Sean Orr and Moonwolf, who are obviously anti-Israel/pro-Palestinian. That per se is not the problem.

Their comments completely disregard actual history and facts in favor of giving credence to the pro-Palestinian propagandists’ dishonest revisionist histories, invented facts and litany of accusations blaming Israel for everything.

Now that troubles me. I take exception to the following statements:

Kris Krugg:: "It makes me sad that in 2008 there is a such an immovable mountain of a conflict whose central tenants seem to be based on racism and religious intolerance. On both sides. All sides." Sean Orr:: Israel is racist, imperialistic, and in opposition to world law; Moonwolf’s comment: "in 60 years Israel, which has all the power and control has made no real effort to negotiate a peace, ." not once

Of course the situation is most saddening as Kris notes, but the fact is that the racism, religious intolerance and hatred that he and Sean Orr speak of, comes only from the Palestinians.

State sponsored and directed Jew hatred is rampant throughout the Middle East. That includes Gaza and the West Bank where both Hamas and Fatah incite violence against Jews daily through political statements in Arabic, state controlled media and the educational system and by religious leaders.

It is the same Jew hatred that is being disseminated and incited in the name of Islam by fundamentalist Muslims, Islamists, Islamofacists and Jihadists around the world, but that is because the Palestinians are very much a part of that Islamist movement. There are plenty of web sites that set out the great many Koranic passages that demonize Jews and Christians in that order and which call for their deaths and subjugation.

That Islamist movement is marked by a racist, intolerant, imperialistic and hate filled Islamic creed which as a supremacist creed, calls on the faithful to make Jihad or holy war against non-Muslims, to kill them and to convert or subjugate the survivors to live as dhimmis.

This Islamist creed also holds that land once held by Islam, must be returned to Islam. This is one of the stated principles in Hamas’ founding charter as it relates to Israel, which like the Palestinian Authority/Fatah founding Charters all call for the destruction of Israel, the legitimizing of all means to achieve that objective and for all of Israel to be taken for the Arabs/Palestinians.

As to the precipitating cause of Israel’s incursion into Gaza, it was the fact that Hamas had an agreed truce with Israel for about the last year. In spite of that Hamas continued to launch rockets daily against Sederot and Ashkelon. Israel showed amazing restraint as Hamas targeted not the Israeli military, but Israeli civilians. That is a war crime and crime against humanity.

In December, 2008 Hamas called off the truce, refused to renew it and launched thousands of rockets against Sderot, Ashkolon and other populated Israel centres. Israel has retaliated and rightly so.

Hamas by the way used the truce to re-arm with more munitions and rockets and stored same in residential areas, in hospitals, universities and mosques. They have also deliberately launched their rocket attacks from those populated areas in order to use the Palestinians as human shields and then use the deaths of non-combatants for propaganda purposes to blame Israel.

The loss of non-combatant Palestinians is regrettable, but Hamas is solely to blame for that. According to international law and the Geneva Convention, what Hamas has done in targeting Israeli civilian centres and using Palestinians as human shields are war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Palestinian leadership and the mindset of the majority of Palestinians must be put into the broader context of the war between fundamentalist Islam and the West, which is a war few Westerners want to admit to.

Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East is just one front in this Islamofacist war against the West. Recall that Palestinians were dancing for joy in their streets on 9/11. It is not just Jew hatred that is burned into their psyches, it is hatred for the West and for America in particular which is for them the most significant symbol of the West.

As for efforts to find peace, contrary to what Moonwolf says, it has only been Israel that has made real and serious efforts to reach peace with the genocidal Arabs who started and lost genocidal wars against Israel and with the genocidal Jew hating Palestinian leadership which came into being in the 1960's.

History records that interim agreements have been reached between Israel and the Palestinians where Israel gave tangible concessions to the Palestinians including land in return for Palestinian promises. The Palestinians have been batting 1000 as every promise they ever gave in return for an Israeli concession turned out to be empty, a lie or broken.

I find it galling that so many Westerners who should know better, even if their sympathies are with the Palestinians, can swallow hook, line and sinker the Palestinian propagadists revisionist histories, invented facts and their blaming Israel for everything while refusing to accept any responsibility for their own plight.

Understanding each other’s point of view can only come through serious and meaningful dialogue based on real history, facts and circumstances.

I have referenced some of those facts for you.  I am confident that if you would bother to check out what I am saying, you will find I have stated things fairly and accurately. 

I would like to protest Israel's bombing of Gaza's innocent civilian population, but I'm in no way interested supporting a pro-Palestinian / pro Hamas agenda.  I am sick of arguments that are based on all objections to Israeli government violence are anti Jewish. I am Jewish, and I deplore the current actions of Israel.

And, Dear "unvarnished truth", how can you say that the innocents being murdered and terrorized in Gaza are responsible for "their own plight". You might as well blame the Rwandan genocide victims of being culpable for their own murders because they are African.