Yet more Zionist anger over the UN’s Gaza report.
The American Jewish Committee writes in the New York Times that the UN is biased against Israel and the Jewish state is the eternal victim.
The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg desperately claims that anti-Semitism is actually the real reason behind criticism of Israel:
A number of loyal Goldblog readers have asked me why I haven’t commented on the U.N. report that found Israel guilty of various war crimes. The reason is simple: The U.N. is hopelessly biased against Israel; the mandate of Goldstone, the chief of the hanging party, was to find Israel guilty (yes, he’s Jewish, but so what? There are all kinds of Jews, including this guy); the report does not differentiate between offensive action and defensive action, and so on. Why this report, from an organization that has Saudi Arabia and Cuba on its Human Rights Council, should be taken seriously is beyond me. I’d much sooner read Human Rights Watch reports on Israel, even the ones written by a Nazi-memorabilia-collecting-fetishist.
Do I have to say that I don’t support everything Israel did in Gaza? Yes, I suppose so. I don’t support everything Israel did in Gaza (starting with pulling out of Gaza, but that’s another story). Shooting isn’t always the smartest response to provocation, and shooting wildly certainly isn’t, as I wrote here. What I object to is scapegoating. It’s been with us for a while as a phenomenon, and we hoped that after the Holocaust, it would subside, but it’s apparently an undying disease.
It’s a pathological delusion to continue claiming Israel is a victim after bombarding innocent people in Gaza.
This is the truth about life in Gaza, backed and supported by the international community:
A chronic shortage of school supplies, and severely overcrowded classrooms are crippling Gaza’s educational system as tens of thousands of children begin a new school year.
Israel’s hermetic sealing of the strip, as part of its blockade against Hamas, has prevented most supplies of paper, textbooks, notebooks, ink cartridges, stationery, school uniforms, school bags, and computers and their spare parts.
“Through our education system the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is spreading the message of universal respect for human rights, peaceful coexistence and tolerance in an atmosphere that since the blockade has become increasingly desperate and radicalised,” says UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness.
“The best way for Israel to prevent us spreading that message to the 200,000 Gazan children at our schools is to block us sending in educational supplies,” Gunness told IPS.
“During the summer camps that we ran in July/August we were able to get all sorts of school supplies in and as a result the camps ran smoothly. But now the Israeli authorities are again limiting the educational goods entering. The psychology of the blockade is confusing. We are talking about educating children.”