For the last how long- Palestine has been regarded as the bullied and Israel as the bully. When was the last time anyone felt sorry for Israel?
But now, so many people will, because we’re seeing images of Israeli kids being held in chicken cages, young women just walking on the street being forced into cars and abducted and civilian grandmothers being murdered.
And suddenly, the cruelty and war crimes don’t just go one way- it’s become complex. And it’s not the straight-forward, simple Palestine good - Israel bad argument that many saw it as beforehand.
Just look at what’s happened politically here in New Zealand. Palestine was this close to getting an ambassador to New Zealand, Labour had announced it as election policy about a week ago.
Today, Chris Hipkins put a stop to that. The cause has been set back.
And that’s not even to mention the real life impact this is having right now on Palestinians in the Gaza strip.
Food is cut off, water’s cut off, electricity is cut off, medicine's cut off and the attack is on.
This will surely - at least in the short term - shore up support for Benjamin Netanyahu who is no friend of the Palestinians and their cause, and has only made their lives more difficult.
This makes him more powerful, at least for now.
Hamas has just made life for Palestine so much harder, in reality and in politics.
Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and commentator who hosts Newstalk ZB's Drive show.
3 comments:
This is a conflict that's been going on, in one shape or form, for a couple of thousand years.
Both sides have inflicted pain and suffering on the other, although the Arabs are well ahead in my book.
Despite both groups living together as far back as biblical times, the big problem we have on the Arab side is that the extremists, including Hamas, want to exterminate the Jews, rather than co-exist.
When you're surrounded by people who ascribe to this barbaric principle, made worse by them claiming it is Allah's will, then you have to be pretty brutal yourself to survive.
The Palestinians will now reap the whirlwind of Israeli retribution but the extreme Hamas militia who die as a result will celebrate martyrdom. It's a pity they didn't think to ask all the other poor Palestinian civilians, who will suffer thanks to their extreme religious fanaticism, their opinion first.
@Dee M - well said!
Thank you for the insights ,DeeM, You have shown the impossibility of a solution.Antisemitism has increased this Century all over the world. Iran is applauding the latest attacks and scarily has nuclear capabilities. This has apocalyptic implications.
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