The government of Israel has just proven to the world how magnanimous they are to the 1.5 million men, women, and children of the Gaza Strip. Even though so many rockets were launched by the militants, even though the Palestinian militants dream of the day when Israel falls, Israel has found it within its great heart to ease the restrictions of some items that have been prohibited during the three-year blockade of the Gaza Strip. Those items the Palestinians now have access to include:
- Potato chips
- Cookies
- Candy
- Shaving cream
- Spices
- Juice
- Jam
- Soda
According to the Associated Press, "basic foodstuffs such as instant coffee and coriander were barred as luxury items, while more expensive foods such as herbal tea, salmon steaks and low-fat yogurt were permitted."
But at least the children of Palestine can get to taste candy and chocolate for the first time in three years, right? I mean, how very thoughtful of the Israeli government to finally allow such a grand luxury to the children!
Now just to show that Israel is still quite serious about the threat that the Palestinians pose to national security, here is a partial list of what Israel is still prohibiting (minus the items listed above):
- Fresh meat
- Plaster
- Wood for construction
- Cement
- Iron
- Glucose
- Industrial salt
- Plastic/Glass/Metal containers
- Fabric (for clothing)
- Flavor and smell enhancers
- Fishing rods
- buoys
- Nylon nets for greenhouses
- Irrigation pipe systems
- Hatcheries and spare parts for hatcheries
- Spare parts for tractors
- Planters for saplings
- Heaters for chicken farms
- Musical instruments
- Size A4 paper
- Writing implements
- Notebooks
- Newspapers
- Toys
- Sewing machines and spare parts
- Heaters
- Horses
- Donkeys
- Goats
- Cattle
- Chicks
As we can all see by the list of still-prohibited items, Israel is taking no chances whatsoever — because fresh meat can be poisoned and tossed over the wall into Israel proper. Fabric can be woven into leisure suits that might be surreptitiously sold to young Israeli college students. A Palestinian might blow a sour note that might disturb the sleep of someone way over in Tel Aviv. And as for size A4 paper, well, that might be used to start that bane of all civilization, junk mail!
Horrors!
So we can all carry on smartly now knowing that the government of Israel really does try to strike a fine balance between the security of the nation, and the human rights of the 1.5 million Palestinian men, women, and children of the Gaza Strip.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Ruvy
Well, Glenn, I see you are learning the fine art of satire - or trying, anyway. You have a ways to go yet, but you are making progress....
But all in all, your article is just one more piece in the crowd of BS that is constituting a journalistic lynch of this country, one more of a series of articles written by useful idiots who buy the Wahhabi line of destroying Israel, who buy Helen Thomas' line of 'Jews, go home to Germany', who buy the 'Jews back to the gas', and all the other garbage. A comment to this article that talks about this journalistic lynch goes this way.
We are being lynched, the ”progressive” mob is no different than a lynch mob, that’s justice, progressive-style. This has nothing to do with facts, rational analysis, reasoned arguments. If you don’t like the analogy to a lynch mob, then think of it as a pogrom on an international scale. What we are really seeing is the setting of the stage for another genocide.
This woman, born in an Arab country, knows whereof she speaks. I see, Glenn, that you haven't forgotten your southern roots, and you still know how to throw the lynchman's rope over the tree. But it is not the black who is the strange fruit (you've apologized and attempted to expunge that desire from our soul), it is not the individual Jew, it is the entire Jewish nation. Indeed, George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision of "Negative Utopia" is timelier than ever-and its warnings more powerful.
The sources you cite, the AP (which writes articles in a way that inflames anti-Israel opinion), and an anti-Israel blog site, both indict the credibility of your words.
2 - roger nowosielski
Get used to it, Glenn. Once a lyncher, always a lyncher. It's in the blood.
3 - roger nowosielski
Very nice, Ruvy, connecting the person's upbringing and tying it to his mature opinions on unrelated subject: once a racist, always a racist.
Glenn may be misinformed, or a "useful idiot," to use your worn-out expression, but a Jew-hater he is not. And you know it.
And yet, in all your frenzy, you can't really stop yourself, can you? from foaming at the mouth.
Zing is right. Perhaps you should leave your land of milk and honey and seek solace elsewhere. It's too hot even for the sound in mind. And it's definitely detrimental to your mental health.
Let the mensch slug it out among themselves. You're too fragile for that kind of action.
4 - Ruvy
Glenn,
You didn't think I was going to stop with just one comment, did you? I want you to understand clearly that you are part of something bigger, and greater than yourself. The Hassidic masters say that when a man does something for the sake of something that is greater than himself, he connects with his spiritual self. Whether that connection is good or evil is another question.
In this case, the something greater than yourself is the journalistic lynch of the State of Israel and by extension, the entire Jewish people.
But I don't want you to think that only non-Jews engage in this sport of Jew-hatred. Here, we have the description of Tony Judt, an American Jew indulging in self-hatred - probably because he thinks it will protect him from being killed by Jew-haters in America, of whom Helen Thomas is a super-annuated and retired version.
From the article:
In 2003, Judt wrote that he, personally, was willing to give up his right to return to Israel or rather, that he was willing to turn over his (undesirable) right of Jewish return to the Palestinians whose claim of return was a more righteous one. In 2003, Judt also concluded that “the very idea of a ‘Jewish state’"a state in which Jews and the Jewish religion have exclusive privileges from which non-Jewish citizens are forever excluded"is rooted in another time and place. Israel, in short, is an anachronism.”
So, you see, you are part of something far bigger. You have Jews, Muslims, Christians and "humanitarians" all marching in chorus with you. "Get rid of Israel!" they shout, and you do not realize it, Glenn, but you are shouting right along with them.
This government does the utter minimum to defend us, following all sorts of ridiculous restrictions - that make us a lot more civilized than you are, in the end. You can complain about our blockading a territory that is at war with us. But when you do, you turn yourself into a hypocritical liar. You are attacking a Covenant People and its right to defend its own land against the bloody handed and cowardly murderers who attack it.
If you want to believe the liars at the UN, the Arab League, Hamas, etc., etc., etc., you are entitled to. But in joining in this evil crusade to destroy this nation, you are worse than Hamas or HizbAllah. At least they say straight up "die, Jew!" You pretend to be a friend.
5 - Glenn Contrarian
Ruvy -
So that's your defense? That it's all just a lie? Did you not think the same thought might have occurred to me when I first read the blog site? That's why I needed something with much more credibility to back it up. Thus the article by the Associated Press:
In the first tangible step to temper the uproar caused by last week's raid, Israel only narrowly expanded the list of items that can enter by adding little more than snack foods and spices. It did not permit the most sought after items, such as cement, steel and other materials needed to rebuild the war-devastated territory and it was unlikely to ease international pressure.
Look at the statement of Maxwel Gaylard, the U.N.'s most senior humanitarian official in the Palestinian territories:
"The international community is united in seeking an urgent and fundamental change in Israel's policy of blockading Gaza. A modest expansion of the restrictive list of goods allowed into Gaza falls well short of what is needed. We need a fundamental change and an opening of crossings for commercial goods."
The oh-so-anti-Israel blog site that is my other reference was compiled earlier this year, BEFORE the restrictions were eased...and it lists materials restricted then that the U.N. official stated were now allowed, and lists materials that the U.N. official stated are STILL restricted...
...and it doesn't take much to realize that the dried fruits and spices, potato chips and candy that are NOW allowed into the Gaza strip by Israel were restricted beforehand, perhaps even to the beginning of the blockade.
In other words, Ruvy, the statement of the U.N. official and the AP article BOTH lend significant credence to the blog article.
So the onus is now on YOU, Ruvy, to prove that the blog site is false. Prove that Israel IS allowing musical instruments, writing utensils, notebooks, and fresh meat into the Gaza strip.
And if you can't, then you are in the SAME position as the good citizens of countries whose leaders were taking those countries down the path of crimes against humanity...citizens who never imagined that their OWN country might be committing such heinous crimes against so many people.
Can you defend Israel's restrictions of such basic materials to 1.5M men, women, and children for three years and counting? CAN YOU? Or perhaps you should realize that patriotism to the nation of Israel does NOT mean the same thing as supporting and defending the actions of the Israeli government...particularly when the actions of your government is giving your enemies LEGITIMATE CAUSE to hate your nation and your people.
Sometimes, Ruvy, standing up against your own government is the patriotic thing to do...and the righteous thing to do before God.
6 - Ruvy
And no, Glenn, I will not put this stick down. The real issue is that Turkey, Persia, Syria/Lebanon have gathered together in an alliance to go to war and destroy this nation. All the rest is irrelevant. This came from a group on Facebook that supports Israel:
Subject: Thankyou for your support for Israel!
Shalom everyone!
I really do not think it will go badly for Israel but for those who rise up against God and wants to destroy Israel. Ahmadinejad made a statement like this, "Israel's attack on the Gaza convoy was a major step towards Israel's destruction". He said that on Monday this week before a crowd in Istanbul. These are serious statements he pinches himself out. What surprises is that the world does not take him and what he says seriously. Otherwise they had done something long ago. It is not Israel that is a threat to the world but those who want to destroy Israel (democracy) and the West. I am grateful that there are so many groups on Facebook that supports Israel. And continues to do so.
Now, Glenn, you can sit in Seattle and pooh-pooh all this. I can't. The planes fly overhead every day. We are already in a covert war with the Turks, who wanted a hot war, and were threatened out of starting on on 31 May by Obama. The blockade is merely an attempt to stop destruction of Tel Aviv by Hamas. But the sword of destruction already hangs over her from the north, from HizbAllah.
That is why I am so disgusted by this cavalcade of lies, deception and false accusations coming from decent and intelligent people who should know better.
7 - Ruvy
And now, Glenn, try the truth, for a change!
8 - Glenn Contrarian
Ruvy -
I remember when we were shown that America had invaded Iraq on false pretenses, and how America had tortured prisoners...and continues to imprison 'terrorists' even with no evidence against them. The Republicans first claimed all these were lies, and even now try to justify or conveniently forget these crimes against humanity.
You are doing precisely what the American Republicans did...and are still doing. In your eyes, Israel can do no wrong...even when it's outlawing sending CANDY to tens of thousands of innocent children.
Even North Korea - though they are the worst regime in the world - doesn't go that far, Ruvy.
"it's all just lies!". We've all heard that one before, Ruvy - but this time it applies to you.
9 - zingzing
"In your eyes, Israel can do no wrong...even when it's outlawing sending CANDY to tens of thousands of innocent children."
well, you know... with, supposedly, 40% of gaza lacking running water, how the hell are those candy-munching kids going to brush their teeth? this might actually be a small blessing.
10 - zingzing
oh, shit... 40% was 2 years ago... now 90% of gazan tap water is undrinkable.
11 - Glenn Contrarian
Ruvy -
So I watched your youtube link...and you know what? I see absolutely NOTHING there to bolster your case.
Why?
1) The crates of veggies - they weren't on the 'prohibited' list, as were candy, many spices, dried fruits, and the rest of the stuff that I listed. I saw absolutely NOTHING in the video that's on the prohibited list that isn't at least 3 years old.
2) The nice houses, the polo fields, the nice cars - I wish you'd come the the Philippines sometime and see just how much the places and the streetlife the video showed had in common with the really nice areas of the Philippines (but the PI has nicer places than that). What you do NOT see in the video are the not-so-nice places, just as in the Philippines.
Perhaps a better comparison is Cuba - it's been under an American embargo for over half a century. They've gotten by - and there's some really nice places in Cuba, too. But again, you don't see the not-so-nice places.
Ruvy, even North Korea has nice places. Maybe Somalia doesn't. But NONE of these excuse Israel's actions.
The damning fact, though, is the EMBARGO, Ruvy. Those 'ten tons of food aid from Israel' mean NOTHING to a people - and to those spectators who see the plight of those people - when they are denied access to goods that the rest of the world takes for granted!
Can you not understand this? Is your hate for the Palestinians so great that you would condone whatever your government does to them?
Perception, Ruvy, is EVERYTHING...and the rest of the world is beginning to see a part of Israel's actions that are putting you in a very bad light. You yourself have seen my opinion of Israel change here on BC. Do you really think I'm an isolated case? Do you really, in this age of the Internet and the 24-hour news cycle?
Israel had better learn that there is a place for diplomacy. Look at Egypt - once they attacked Israel, and Israel nearly drove tanks into Cairo in return...yet now, even though they may not exactly be your friends, they are certainly among the least hateful of your enemies. Despite all the scorn you almost certainly have for the occasion, you can thank the Camp David Accords for a relatively peaceful border on that front, at least!
There is a place for diplomacy, and for the control of perception, and for holding one's country to a higher standard. Israel had better learn these, and quickly.
12 - Ruvy
Sometimes, Ruvy, standing up against your own government is the patriotic thing to do...and the righteous thing to do before God.
You do not even know the meaning of that statement, Glenn. I've been standing up against my government for nearly all the time I've lived here, and standing up against its treason against the Jewish people here.
And this is not a democracy. I'm just not a big enough threat for them to want to kill me - yet
13 - Jordan Richardson
I'm just not a big enough threat for them to want to kill me - yet.
You're about as harmless as a one-legged puppy, Ruvy. Yappy thing, but other than that you're just a fluffy diversion from what's really going on in the world.
14 - Zedd
I'd be interested to find out what everyone thought of Helen Thomas' comments.
15 - Ruvy
Gosh, Zedd. Ruvy on the spot, always willing to be of assistance, dear.
Let's have a look at how anti-Semitism didn't retire when Helen Thomas did. First, Helen Thomas Forced Out For Ruining Journalists’ Respectable “Anti-Israel” Facade. She Shouldn’t Have Been. And second, Helen Thomas, an unsung heroine of the Zionist cause. From the second article:
Veteran reporter Helen Thomas uttered only a few words. She said that Jews should "“get the hell out of Palestine” and go home to “Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else.”
It is an elegant, truthful, concise and accurate summary of the ideology and goals of the "humanitarians" who support the cause of the Hamas. It cut through the reams of self-righteous and evasive obfuscation about the real goals of the anti-Israel and anti-Zionist campaign. This is what it is really all about. Boycotts, blockades, apartheid slogans, negotiations, complaints based on bogus international "legitimacy" are all a smokescreen to cover up that simple goal.
Thomas's utterance was only a part of the truth perhaps, because the whole truth is too unpalatable for decent people to swallow. The unknown voice on the Turkish "freedom flotilla" who told the Israel Navy, "Shut up! Go back to Auschwitz!" was probably closer to the actual spirit of these "humanitarians." The idea is about the same though.
Thomas illustrated, as no Jewish spokesperson could have done, the only really important issue in the anti-Israel campaign in general, and the campaign for Hamas specifically. Who and what is being supported in the name of peace and humanitarianism? The Hamas are as truthful as Helen Thomas. They write in their charter that their goal is the physical annihilation of the Jewish people, to fulfill the "words of the prophet." A flotilla of fanatics screaming "Khaibar Khaibar 0 Jews! The army of Muhammad is approaching" came to aid the Hamas. Demonstrators for the wonderful cause carry signs that say "I hate Juice" and scream "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas." All this is somehow prettified and swept under the rug, to spin the cause of Hamas into a humanitarian crusade.
Thomas said what all these progressive "peace" supporters are thinking. That was a big mistake, though it is to be noted that a lot of people actually think she should not have resigned.
Let's summarize that long read in a simple series of sentences for you, Zedd. I wouldn't want you to work too hard....
Helen Thomas cut through all the bullshit.
"Jews - get the hell out of Palestine! Go back to Germany, Poland, America, wherever..."
That guy on Mavi Marmara - "Shut up! Go back to Auschwitz!"
Let's shorten that to what it really says.
DIE, YOU DAMNED JEW! DIE!
16 - Zedd
Ruvy,
Wouldn't you love it if she actually said that or even meant that.
By the way, where are most Jews in Israel from?
17 - Ruvy
Actually, Zedd, that is what she meant. But, being a polite woman of good breeding and manners, she would never actually say that. In speaking to the young Jews who accompanied the rabbi who interviewed her, she was being polite - and diplomatic, but as truthful as good breeding and manners would allow.
But to answer you, the ethnic background of most Jews here are countries like Morocco, Kurdistan, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Tangiers, Syria, Yemen, and they are known as s'faradim or mizraHim. The smaller amount of Jews here have backgrounds from Poland, Germany and Russia and are known as ashkenazim. The vast majority of American, French, Dutch, Belgian, English, Australian and South American Jews can be divided into one of the two categories above and are split with a majority in favor of ashkenazim.
But whatever their ethnic background, most Israeli Jews were born in Israel.
18 - Ruvy
Pity the poor starving Gazans! It looks almost like a concentration camp, said Rep. Ron Paul (R. Texas)....
19 - Jordan Richardson
I suppose, if the pictures of people enjoying the beach and a lovely bit of produce are to be indicators of the high standards of life, that we all ought to just move to Gaza to enjoy the sun and surf and wonderful conditions there. Amazing, really.
20 - Mark
...slightly less grotesque than the propaganda showing 'the good life' in Polish ghettos.
21 - Jordan Richardson
Indeed, which is made all the more horrendous when we consider the source(s) of such shit.
22 - Zedd
Okay then she should have said "they need to go back to Morocco, Kurdistan, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Tangiers, Syria, Yemen, and they are known as s'faradim or mizraHim. The smaller amount of Jews from , Germany and Russia known as ashkenazim. The vast majority, to America, Frence, The Netherlands, GB, Australia and South Americal.
Would that help?
23 - Mark
One has to admire the simple elegance of Mr Kossover's 'final solution' -- exterminate everybody.
24 - Ruvy
Would that help?
Well, not exactly. You see, in the end, all of us originate in Israel - and the DNA tells the story, and it doesn't lie. So we are not the Boers who walked in and tried to enslave the Zulus and steal their lands. This is OUR ancestral land, and the key question with the Arabs here is, are they squatters, immigrants from Iraq, Syria, or Egypt - or are they originally Jews - forced to convert to Islam by various Khalifs?
If they are the former, that is immigrants from Iraq, Syria, etc., then the generous and humane thing to do would be to give them the opportunity to live here in peace, and if they don't want to, to buy them out - WE own this land from time immemorial not they - we are the "Zulus" here, and they are the "Boers". The less humane thing is to just drive them out. I prefer to do the generous thing and offer to live in peace with them - IN ISRAEL.
If they are Jews (or Samaritans) who were forced to convert, we have an entirely different issue and require an entirely different approach. We are both "Zulus" and the land belongs to ALL of us. That approach has been developed and will be highlighted in a future article.
Either way:
1. The terrorist leaders and murderers and their supporters, need to be killed, and terrorists in jail now who have killed need to be executed, so Arabs understand that being in an Israeli jail is guarantee of neither life nor honor.
2. The 'Palestine Authority' needs to be dissolved permanently, and its hate organs need to be ended.
25 - zingzing
ruvy: "Actually, Zedd, that is what she meant."
and if you believe that, then you are an idiot. but you don't believe that. let's look at what you had to say:
"Let's shorten that to what it really says. DIE, YOU DAMNED JEW! DIE!"
let's see what it really says:
I THINK YOU ARE ALL FOOLS! HAHAHAHA! I'LL JUST SAY ANYTHING LOUD ENOUGH AND YOU'LL BELIEVE I ACTUALLY BELIEVE IT! I CAN'T REALLY BE THIS IDIOTIC! IT'S JUST NOT POSSIBLE! FOR A MAN WHO CAN STRING AN ENTIRE SENTENCE TOGETHER AND YET HAVE NONE OF THE MENTAL CAPABILITIES NECESSARY TO DRAW CORRECT CONCLUSIONS! AND FROM ALL PICTORIAL EVIDENCE, I DO HAVE A MOUTH, BUT I CONSTANTLY SPEAK OUT OF MY ASS. THANK YOU. GOOD DAY.