The world has long categorized Israeli responses to terror as “excessive and disproportionate”. But how about this for an “excessive and disproportionate” response:
Vandals smashed historic headstones and cut a swastika into a lawn at a Jewish cemetery overnight, authorities said Friday. The attack came just hours after two Israeli men were imprisoned for passport fraud and named as spies by the New Zealand government.
Wellington Botanic Gardens manager David Sole said the Jewish section of Bolton St. cemetery near the center of the New Zealand capital was a sea of broken marble and overturned tombstones when he visited Friday morning.
Of course, there will be those who argue that this attack was not motivated by anti-Semitism, but rather “anti-Zionism.” These people are in denial, as is New Zealand’s Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Helen Clark condemned the desecration, but said any link to the passport affair was “not an open and shut” matter.
And still on the topic of the passport affair and Prime Ministers, Australian Prime Minister John Howard is working to help Israel and New Zealand repair their relationship.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister John Howard said today he would consider acting as a mediator to patch up relations between the two countries.
“I don’t want to look as though I’m interfering in other people’s affairs,” Mr Howard said on Melbourne radio 3AW.
“(But) I do have good relations with the leaders of both countries, obviously we’re very close to the New Zealanders, but I (also) have a very close association with Israel.”
