It’s very easy to follow emotions and disregard historic facts. In Dave Cursons’ letter “Talk focuses on Mideast,” the writer failed to mention that in August 2005 all Israeli settlements were removed from the Gaza strip, which is now Judenfrei. Not only does Israel allow daily supplies to Gaza, including fuel and diesel to operate its power plant, electricity and other goods that would not be used for weapons building, but in September 2011, a UN investigative committee concluded that the naval blockade was legal and must be judged separately from the restrictions on goods reaching Gaza via the land crossings. Mr. Cursons conveniently fails to mention that the Hamas Charter calls for Muslims to fight Jews and kill them (ie. via rockets launched on Israel’s civilian population), so they may eventually create an Islamic state in place of Israel.
Mentioning in the same line the ‘dreadful massacre and mayhem in Nazi-occupied Europe and today in Gaza’, is to compare Israel to the Nazis, who systematically sent six million Jews to the gas chambers. It is also interesting that neither Mr. Cursons nor the ‘Freedom Sailors’ are at all preoccupied with the events in Syria where two years of fighting has resulted in 70,000 deaths of Muslims by Muslims, and one million dispersed people who now live in refugee camps throughout the Middle East.
The world dislikes the fact that for the first time in 3,000 years, the Jewish nation has a place to call home and its future is not at the mercy of other nations, and for that they are considered to be ‘oppressors.’ During the centuries when the Jews were oppressed, they became the scapegoat of humanity, and especially of the Christian world, as ‘Christ-killers.’ In the 14th century, the bubonic plague — known as the Black Death — hit Europe. Although they didn’t know what caused the disease, the Europeans had no trouble figuring it out — it had to be the Jews. And if you must give examples of the oppressed becoming the oppressors, why not include the Christians, who in the beginning faced lions in the Roman arena, and later would burn Jews alive throughout Europe.
Modern-day anti-semitism is well hidden behind criticism of the state of Israel.
Benjamin Manea
Penticton