So here's another New Years resolution...I will boycott all Israeli goods until the Israeli Government apologises for its actions against the Palestinian people and I call on all those who believe that all peoples, not just Israelis, are entitled to peace, tranquility and freedom, to do the same.Hamas have done some utterly unacceptable things and they continue to be their own worst enemy, but the actions of the invading Israelite forces, bringing mayhem and death to the Palestinians of Gaza, are so disproportionate as to be almost at the level of ethnic cleansing.
I know that my calling for a boycott of Israeli goods will not exactly have the Israelis quaking in their boots as they trample over the human rights of the Palestinians in Gaza, but given the immorality of the Israeli actions we all have a moral duty to do what we can, no matter how apparently insignificant, to stand up and say no, this is wrong and we will not support it or anything else associated with a state prepared to inflict such untold death and devastation on others, no matter the alleged provocation.
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Such protests are totally disproportionate. Hamas is out for the complete destruction of Israel - it is explicit in their charter (http://tinyurl.com/d5j4u). It goes with the whole "jews are apes and pigs" antisemitism that they are taught in their version of Islam.
There was no occupation in Gaza since Israel left the Gaza strip in 2005. Then Hamas in 2006 took control through a violent coup killing lots of Palestinians in the process.
Hamas has been sending rockets into Israel for years - poorly targeted and aimed at civilians - but somehow we expect Israel to just put up with it. Where are the protests against that? How would you recommend that Israel react? What would be a "moral" response according to your definitions? Even the Palestinian President has said that Hamas were getting what they deserved.
If Israel wanted to be vicious they would just do some indiscriminate bombing, but they have now sent in troops to target the rocket launching and not the civilians. They are sacrificing the lives of their own sons to avoid massive casualties among Palestinian non-combatants.
How about boycotting Saudi oil in protest against the human rights abuses in that country? (Saudi Arabia funds mosques in this country but will not let a single church be built there) Where are the protests against the continuing slaughter (jihad) in Darfur? The protests about the execution of homosexuals in Iran? Where was the protest against Russian action in Grozny? The protests against the imprisonment of the two Scottish Missionaries in the Gambia on trumped up charges?
The left should be standing for freedom and liberty which should be a stand against the extreme fundamentalism and terrorism of Hamas.
Unfortunately for some reason everyone hates the Jews and their state - the only democracy and the only place with freedom of speech and freedom of religion in the Middle East.
It is Israelis actions that are disproportionate. Hamas cannot have what they want in their charter but their bombings, unacceptable as it is, is still a pin pin prick compared to the ethnic cleansing that is now once again occuring in Israel/Palestine.
I have living in Israel/Palestine. I have seen the road blocks, the barcode based passes that rule the lives of the Palestinians, the raw sewage in Gaza that doubles as a playground for children and the illegal Israeli settlements which mock the UN and teh right of the Palestinians.
No, Hamas should not send rockets into Israel. nor should they demand the end of the Israeli state, but these are the desperate acts of desperate people, not condoned but understood.
And yes, I do protest also about what's happening in other places. read in this blog about what is happening in Nicaragua and about the Popes comments on climate change and homosexuality as just two examples. I make careful choices about what I buy and where it comes from and I join campaigns about justice and injustice across the world, but each of us can only do so much. The "if you con't protest about everything you can't protest about anything" argument is both shallow and usually a desperate diversion of folk struggling t find an argument. What is happening in the place where my faith community was born is what is uppermost in my mind just now and so I speak out now about what I feel and what I will do. And I do so publicly without hiding my name as you choose to do.
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