Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

Over the past few weeks, a number of activists from the United States, Canada, Spain, Switzerland, and Ireland announced that they were sending an armada of boats to break the Gaza blockade.

What is especially noticeable about this entourage are three things: (1) there will be a number of Jewish participants, (2) One of the participants will be a Holocaust survivor (3) the former Pulitzer Prize writer, Alice Walker, author of “The Color Purple” will be participating as well.

They come in support of the Palestinian people and liken their mission to the Freedom Riders who rode on buses in the South to challenge the policy of racial segregation that was rampant in the Southern states.

A KAFKAESQUE METAPHOR

The planned armada sounds more like a novelette written by Kafka, “The Metamorphosis.” In this surreal narrative, the protagonist Gregor wakes up to find out he has been transformed into a cockroach!

Well, the idea that Jews would join hands with enemies who look to destroy her, along with a a Holocaust survivor, and Alice Walker—well, that is about as weird as waking up and discovering that you are now a cockroach! Gregor’s backstabbing family also brings an interesting literary parallel to our situation. As is often the case, the worst enemies of the Jewish people have historically been-THE JEWS!

The activists remain steadfast and determined to misrepresent Israel as a country that is preventing the Palestinians from creating a prosperous society. Ask yourself, “Is this assertion really true?” Hardly. Egypt and Israel together are working to keep Gaza intact by providing Gazans with their daily amount of gas, electric, food, and building supplies.

Frankly, I think Israel should send Gaza nothing, and tell them to get their basic staples from their own Arab brethren.

Can you imagine the British sending food supplies to the German people during WWII?

CHOOSING DEATH RATHER THAN LIFE . . .

There is little good to say anything about a society where its warriors routinely hide behind baby carriages and women’s skirts whenever carrying out an attack. Yet, the people of Gaza love Hamas. Alice, people usually get the kind of government they deserve, and not necessarily the government they really need (Oy, that applies to our country as well!). Palestinians in Gaza ought to deserve a better fate, but I suspect life will get worse before it gets better. Sooner or later, they must take responsibility for creating and engineering their own collective misery.

Unlike the West Bank, which thanks to Israel is beginning to show signs of economic relief and prosperity, the entire infra-structure of Gaza supports a network of war and terror–that is their national industry.

A point of interest: Singapore has the same population density and landmass as the people of Gaza. Yet, look what Singapore has accomplished! Now contrast that with the kind of society Gazans have created. Despite owning the very best real estate in the Middle East, Hamas and the Palestinian people choose scarcity instead of abundance and economic prosperity. Shouldn’t the people of Gaza be held responsible for this mess they have created?

Amazingly, Gaza always has enough money to purchase the newest and most improved weapons money can buy with the help of the Iranians, who would gladly sacrifice Palestinians to destroy Israel. As an American, I am outraged our government and President have not put economic conditions on the Palestinian government to abandon terror as a pre-condition to receiving any kind of foreign aid. Every dollar spent is creating more weaponry, as the people continue to live in squalor.

The real tragedy is that Gazans would rather explode bombs in Israel than build a healthy economy for their citizens.

LET’S ASK A REAL OBVIOUS QUESTION . . .

With all the changes taking place in the Middle East, one wonders why these flotillas are not traveling to places like Syria, where Assad has killed over 1600 protestors; these brave people are truly fighting for freedom but are being murdered by their own government. I wish President Obama would demand that Assad step down; a man who butcher’s his people is not a peace partner for anybody. A true leader would use the presidential bully pulpit much more effectively. However, I really think President Obama imagines that both Iran and Syria can be persuaded to see the light of reason. So far, this approach has not worked, nor has it yielded any positive fruit.

Still and all, I strongly urge the President to speak out against Assad’s tyranny, as he did with Mubarak of Egypt. Even as we speak, entire towns near the Turkish border are fleeing to Turkey because they are afraid for their lives.

Just a historical note worth remembering: When Gaza shot 7,000 missiles to Israeli population centers, where were these protestors? Why didn’t they send flotillas to confront the Hamas thugocracy and say, “We demand you stop shooting missiles at the Israelis.” Did the world protest? I am reminded of the old story about a teenager who murdered his parents and at the trial, went up to the judge and said, “Have mercy on me Your Honor, I am an orphan!” The judge would say, “If you do the crime, you must do the time.” In other words, no nation can attack a neighboring country and not expect the besieged country to take steps in defending itself.

MY ADVICE TO THE FLOTILLA GANG

If these would-be blockade busters really want to make a statement, why not go to where the action really is—and face the real dangers that free people are willing to confront? One would think they would have considered traveling to North Korea, Darfur, Egypt or Tunisia—and especially Iran, where women and minorities live in fear—not to mention the rest of the oppressed and enslaved population.

One doesn’t have to be a genius to see why this is not the case.

Alice Walker and her band of fawning devotees really know the awful truth—and so do we: They don’t want to be killed nor have their private parts mutilated like that poor boy in Syria. Readers might be surprised to know that only in Gaza, do the citizens go for a leisurely tour to the local museums that celebrate suicide bombers with grizzly artistic depictions of human body parts of slain Israelis who traveled to work in their Egged buses. Summer camps teach children the joys of becoming a suicide bomber with chants–Allah Akbar!

Alice Walker and her friends know that Israelis soldiers will be annoyed, but they will be safe from harm’s way. On the other hand, challenging religious fascists is not a popular pastime for activists—it is much too dangerous. Continue Reading