Yair Lapid did a great job of putting the Israeli Palestinian conflict into its correct proportions, and no less importantly, its correct moral proportions where he writes:
12,000 Palestinians have lost their lives in this conflict. A large proportion of those were terrorists, suicide bombers, terror tunnel diggers from various global jihadist organizations... in 67 years less innocent Palestinians were killed than in one week (!) in Syria. In fact, in that same period around 12 million people were killed in the Arab world. A simple calculation shows that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict caused 0.01% of the numbers killed in conflicts in the Islamic world.He poignantly ends the article with:
Hamas has no intention of creating a Palestinian democracy but a dark theocracy in which homosexuals are hanged from telephone poles, women aren’t allowed to leave their homes and Christians and Jews are murdered for being Christians and Jews. Are those values acceptable to the Reykjavik City Council? If not then that’s strange, because they voted in favor of them.My only small criticism, would be that missing from the article, is a little more info about the violent Jihadist and virulent anti-Semitic indoctrination that Palestinians are subjected to massively and systematically, not just by Hamas, but also by the Palestinian Authority. Their intention, is the liquidation of the Jewish State, and in the case of Hamas, also includes a call to obliterate Israel and murder of all its Jews.
Also worth pointing out, the heinous persecutions, and human rights violations across the rest of the Arab Muslim world. From rampant suicide bombings of civilians, mass rape and enslavement of women in the Islamic State, persecutions of Christians and other minorities, corporal punishment and execution of LGBTs, as well as gender apartheid in Saudi Arabia, and the wide spread practice of FGM in Egypt, is but a partial list of countries with terrible human rights, yet aren't being boycotted by Reykjavik, Iceland or the EU.
One last thought, given this, how can Lapid seriously be against the Likud and Netanyahu on this matter, who are saying very similar things. Moreover, how can he seriously be for the so called two state solution, given the above, and given the Palestinian's relentless hate preaching and delegitimizing of Jews and Israel.
The Hypocrisy of Boycott
By Yair Lapid
Originally appeared in Fréttabladid (Iceland) on September 18, 2015 and as a Post on Yair Lapid's Facebook Page
As you know by now, the Reykjavik City Council decided this week to boycott products from Israel. All products. From all of Israel.
I have a few questions:
Does the boycott include products made by Israel’s Arab minority which is 20% of the population? Does the boycott include the 14 Arab Israeli parliamentarians who sit beside me in Israel’s parliament?
Does the boycott include Israeli factories which employ tens of thousands of Palestinians for whom this is the only opportunity to provide for their children?
Does the boycott include Israeli hospitals at which tens of thousands of Palestinians are treated every year?
Does the boycott include produce made by the 71% of Israeli’s who, according to the latest survey, support a two state solution and the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel?
Wait, don’t go yet, I’ve got a few more:
Among the products being boycotted is Copaxone, for MS sufferers, included?
Does the boycott include “Tulip” wine which is made by people with special needs and those who suffer from autism?
And what about the books of Israeli Nobel Prize Laureate in literature, Shai Agnon?
Does the boycott include Microsoft Office, cellphone cameras, Google – all of which contain elements invented or produced in Israel?
If the answer to all these questions is “yes” then I’ll move aside and wish you all an enjoyable life until the sadly unavoidable heart attack (sorry but pacemakers are also an Israeli invention). The other option is that someone at Reykjavik City Council didn’t think the issue through.
If they had then why stop at Israel? One of the best kept secrets about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that it is one of the smallest conflicts in the Middle East. In fact, there is no correlation between its actual size and the media coverage it receives.
Since the end of Israel’s War of Independence, 67 years ago, around 12,000 Palestinians have lost their lives in this conflict. A large proportion of those were terrorists, suicide bombers, terror tunnel diggers from various global jihadist organizations.
With that we can’t ignore the fact that in those years there were a few thousand innocents who lost their lives. I believe that’s terrible. It keeps me awake at night, like most Israelis. With that the simple fact is – and it’s easy to check – that in 67 years less innocent Palestinians were killed than in one week (!) in Syria. In fact, in that same period around 12 million people were killed in the Arab world. A simple calculation shows that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict caused 0.01% of the numbers killed in conflicts in the Islamic world.
An interesting question then is what is the position of Reykjavik City Council about the Islamic world? Do they boycott it also? All of it?
But of course this isn’t a discussion about statistics, it is about morals. Israel is a vibrant democracy fighting for its existence in tough circumstances. Our major sin, in the eyes of the world and the Reykjavik City Council, is that we are winning that war.
Yes, in this conflict more Palestinians are killed than Israelis. Why? Because we have a better army and we have the Iron Dome system which protects our cities from rockets. If our military lays down its weapons and we disarm Iron Dome, we’d be murdered within 24 hours.
So Israel will continue to defend itself, and will continue doing all it can to avoid civilian casualties.
At the same time, we will continue to search for the path to peace with the Palestinians. Twice, in the year 2000 and in the year 2008, Israel offered them over 90% of the land so they could build a state for themselves. Both times they refused.
The boycott industry is not new. It is a vast industry of media and public relations organized by Islamist groups funded by Qatar and Iran. Their purpose is not the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel but a Palestinian state on the ashes of Israel.
They know that message won’t be acceptable to liberal Europe. So they decided – as has been exposed time and again – to sell the naïve Europeans humanitarian values of freedom and solidarity which they don’t believe for even one second.
Hamas has no intention of creating a Palestinian democracy but a dark theocracy in which homosexuals are hanged from telephone poles, women aren’t allowed to leave their homes and Christians and Jews are murdered for being Christians and Jews. Are those values acceptable to the Reykjavik City Council? If not then that’s strange, because they voted in favor of them.
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