The ISM have long tried to represent themselves as supporters of “non-violent”means of resistance only, and as opposing terrorism. For instance, they state on their FAQ page:
Attacks on innocent civilians, be they Israeli or Palestinian, are forbidden under international law. The ISM seeks nothing more for Israelis and Palestinians than implementing international law, and we oppose any action of any kind against civilians, including suicide bombings.
Well, it looks like ISMer “Nick” didn’t get the memo.
Why don’t the residents of Sderot ask this question to their government?
Can you please stop the collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza?
BBC news reported the resignation today of the Mayor of Sderot, Eli Moyal. Eli Moyal is fed up with the situation and says the Israeli government is not doing enough to stop the missiles coming from Gaza nor is it re-enforcing houses in Sderot to protect local residents from rocket attacks on their homes.
The Israeli government controls all aspects of life in the Gaza strip. Israel has recently reduced electricity and fuel supplies to Gaza and threatens to reduce them further. Food and basic supplies are monitored and prevented from entering and people in need of treatment are prevented from getting to hospital. The people of Gaza live in a large prison.
When Israel does send its army into the Gaza strip to search for Hama’s militants it often results in civilian deaths. Israel collectively punishes the citizens of Gaza for the rocket attacks on towns such as Sderot, but also kills innocent men, women and children, who already live in a prison, in search of those responsible for firing the rockets.
The rocket attacks are a response to Israel’s brutal treatment of Gaza residents. If the citizens of Israel were to be treated as the Palestinians are currently being treated in Gaza they would also be fighting back as best they could.
However, the general public in Israel seem happy to allow the collective punishment of Gaza, unwilling to challenge the right-wing members of their government who care not for how many Palestinians die as long as they can get their Jewish state.
Local residents in Sderot are not happy. Unlike their fellow Israeli’s living in Tel Aviv they must endure the results of Israel’s constant oppression of the Palestinian’s.
And rightly the Ex-Mayor of Sderot blames the Israeli government. Eli Moyal has every right to be upset that rockets are falling down on his township. But what Eli Moyal has requested, that the government make an incursion to get those who shoot the rockets and to re-enforce houses to make them more resistant to rocket attacks, is not going to stop the rockets being fired upon Sderot.
The collective punishment of Gaza will stop the rockets falling on Sderot.
The killing of innocent civilians will stop the rockets. Talking to Hama’s, who represent over half of the Palestinian people, will stop the rockets. And no, requesting Gaza militants to stop firing the rockets before allowing Gazan residents to live like human beings will not work because Hama’s know that if they stop first, Israel will just keep destroying the lives of 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza less any consequences. Israel’s treatment of Gaza is wrong, many members of the international community who don’t have vested interests in the suffering of the Palestinians have said it is wrong. It must stop.
Eli Moyal should be asking the Israeli government, pleading in fact, to stop the collective punishment of Gaza. Why do the residents of Sderot not see the root of the problem and accept that the government they voted in collectively punishes 1.5 million people and that this may have consequences, which are in the form of home made rockets.
The next Mayor of Sderot can do something for his township and the people of Gaza. He can ask the Israeli government to stop practicing numerous human rights abuses in the Gaza strip. He can ask the Israeli government to allow Gazans to live as human beings free of fear, which is created by military incursions, threats to cut electricity, limited staple goods, not knowing when food is next available, army incursions and rockets from fighter planes, just as rocket attacks on Sderot bring fear to its local residents.
The next Mayor of Sderot needs to ask Israel to respect the rights of 1.5 million people in Gaza so 22,000 residents in Sderot can be free of rocket attacks, which mind you, is something the people of Gaza also put up, along with so much else.
Nick doesn’t sound to me like someone who opposes the terrorist attacks on Sderot at all; in fact, it is clear that he supports them as the legitimate actions of an oppressed people.
Of course, in order to hold such a morally repugnant position, an ISMer like Nick has to lie. Here are some examples, along with my responses.
The Israeli government controls all aspects of life in the Gaza strip.
Hamas controls most of the aspects of life in the Gaza strip. If Israel controlled all aspects of life in the Gaza strip, palestinians certainly would not be afforded the opportunity to fire rockets into Israel.
The rocket attacks are a response to Israel’s brutal treatment of Gaza residents.
If the rocket attacks were a response to “Israel’s brutal treatment of Gaza residents”, why did they increase after Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, leaving the palestinians more in control of their own destiny? The fact is that the cause of the rocket attacks was the withdrawal itself, with the palestinians, emboldened by what they perceived as an Israeli surrender, launching rockets from the very areas Israel abandoned (as Hizbullah did after Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000).
If the citizens of Israel were to be treated as the Palestinians are currently being treated in Gaza they would also be fighting back as best they could.
Here, Nick suggests that Israeli citizens would fight back like the palestinians do if they were treated as badly. A number of points:
1. The treatment of Israeli citizens at the hands of the palestinians is worse than the treatment of palestinian civilians at the hands of Israel. For a start, palestinians deliberately target Israeli civilians, while the IDF does not target palestinian civilians. And when was the last time you heard of a palestinian wandering in Jerusalem being lynched by a mob of Jews?
2. Despite this treatment, the Israeli public has never endorsed the use of a terrorism as a means to counter our treatment at the hands of the palestinians. The rare instances of terrorist activities have been condemned, with the perpetrators brought to justice. Yet the palestinians encourage terrorism, and those who perpetrate terrorist attacks are lauded as martyrs, even by the so-called “moderate” PA leadership.
And no, requesting Gaza militants to stop firing the rockets before allowing Gazan residents to live like human beings will not work because Hama’s know that if they stop first, Israel will just keep destroying the lives of 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza less any consequences.
If the terrorists stopped firing rockets on Israel, Israel would certainly ease restrictions on Gaza, as evidenced by our unilateral withdrawal from the area. The reason requesting a cessation of rocket attacks will not work is because the terrorists’ end game is the destruction of Israel.
(Nick also seems to ignore the fact that it is not only Hamas firing on Israel).
One can envisage someone like Nick – who clearly lies to further his agenda of supporting palestinian terrorism- going one step further and actively assisting terrorists with their “just cause.”
Update: Someone like Rachel Corrie, for example.
Corrie’s supporters claim she acted as a human shield to prevent a bulldozer from demolishing a house in Rafah. And while the IDF denied they were going to demolish the house in question, the fact remains that the IDF has demolished houses to prevent the smuggling of weapons into the Gaza Strip. And while we have photographic proof of these tunnels, we now also have an admission from a palestinian smuggler that Rafah houses made for great smuggling tunnels.
“The houses in Rafah were right along the border, before the Israelis bulldozed them all, and you could dig for 50 metres and be on the other side. Because the tunnels were so short and because the borders were more open then, it was easy to get cheap wood so you could have props to hold up the whole length of the tunnel. Now we’re having to do without wooden props and dig tunnels that can be 1500 metres long.”
Given what we know of the ISM and people like Nick, there’s no doubt in my mind that Rachel Corrie was trying to prevent the IDF from finding these arms smuggling tunnels.
