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Monday, January 26, 2009

KUDOS, BBC AND SKY! GREATER QUESTIONS LIE WITH MANY BRITISH MP'S AND MANY CHARITABLE GROUPS PARTNERED IN THE APPEAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AID TO GAZA.

In Britain on January 22 the DEC (Disaster Emergency Committee) launched an humanitarian appeal to raise funds to aid the distressed Arabs of Gaza. Although certain of the British media decided to air the appeal film, the BBC and SKY communications did not. The BBC stated that it's reasons for not broadcasting the appeal pertained to avoiding bias in broadcasting and uncertainty as to whether or not the DEC could insure that the funds raised would indeed reach the target purpose of immediate humanitarian aid and not be diverted for other purposes.

Last Week British MP Hilary Benn called for Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor to be expelled, said that Israeli airlines should be banned from British airports, and accused Israel of committing war crimes. One hundred British MP's supported a declaration calling for the BBC and SKY to broadcast the Gaza humanitarian appeal. Thus far the BBC and SKY can be said to have been quite courageous in not doing so.

It is not entirely a glorious thing. There is no doubt that the Arabs of Gaza suffer now terribly as a consequence of Israel's recent incursion into Gaza. From the standpoint of humantitarian need alone, and ignoring the fact that the Arabs of Gaza brought the sky down upon their own heads by their own incessant terrorism of Israel, there is a basis for a call for humanitarian aid for Gaza. But, the Appeal has neither limited itself to an humanitarian appeal for Gaza, has not provided guarantees as to where the funds will actually go, has not sought objectively to include a call for humanitarian aid to Israel, and in fact has an Israel-bashing element to it that puts the Appeal into the category of biased political action.

It is a sad fact of the Arab-Israeli Conflict that the concept of humanitarian aid somehow applies only to the Arabs and not to the Israelis. Around the world, people and media and even governments scream and shout about war crimes that Israel has allegedly committed against Arabs, and in so doing they not only are not fair with respect to their evaluations of Israeli actions undertaken in self-defense, but, they also ignore the real war crimes perpetrated today by the Arabs. Some even go so far as to accuse Israel of committing crimes such as were committed by the Nazis, which accusation they make out of one side of their mouth, while out of the other side of their mouth they deny that the Holocaust ever happened. All the while the real Nazi alliance with the predecessors of such as Hamas and Hezbollah are never a part public discussion, least of all amongst so-called human rights groups such as "Solidarity" (perhaps Rachel Corey of the USA would still be alive today, and not thrown herself in front of an Israeli bulldozer, if she had even a clue as to the true nature of those for whom she threw her life away, may she rest in peace and her family find solace).

For the record, in any normal nation, what happened in Gaza the past few weeks would have happened years ago and with far greater collateral damage, had any other nation had to put up with the terror that Israel put up with. Perhaps this is why the world is so upset with Israel. Only Israel is expected to live up to the standards of Israel, no one else; and even then, Israel is still decried as guilty.

For the record, in the past four years, twelve thousand Qassam rockets have been launched from Gaza into Israel, mostly into the town of Sderot. This -- and the kidnapping and continued captivity of Gilad Shalit -- is how the Arabs have said "thank you" to Israel's "disengagement" from Gaza.

For the record, the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit led to the June 2006 Lebanon War, when Hezbollah picked up on Hamas' kidnapping strategy and did the same thing up in the north of Israel, kidnapping Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev - whose tortured remains were eventually returned to Israel in exchange for live Arab prisoners.

Only a few days ago Muamar Qadafi of Libya suggested that for humanitarian reasons all of Israel should be relocated away from the "sea of Arabs" in which Israel would never be welcome. (What a guy.... Don't you just love him?)

For humanitarian reasons the world ought to reconsider it's deliberate blindness as to the source of suffering of both Arabs and Israelis. Perhaps, if any relocation is called for, it is not Israelis, who ought to be relocated - as the failure of the Gaza "disengagement" clearly shows. Perhaps, if land for peace is called for, it is not Israeli land that should be given for peace - as the gift of Gaza clearly shows. Perhaps, when it comes to humanitarian suffering, the world should show the same compassion for Israeli suffering as for Arab suffering - as the Arab abuse of the gift of Gaza shows.

I call on the DEC to issue an appeal to raise funds on the behalf of Israeli suffering for the past hundred years. The Appeal participants are Action Aid, British Red Cross, Cafod, Care International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Help the Aged, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund, and World Vision. The DEC website is triple-w dot dec dot org dot uk. Send an e-mail to each of these organizations or at least to the DEC and ask, "Why no humanitarian aid for Israel?"