The world loves to read about a Jew bashing Israel. Al Jazeera routinely uses Jewish writers for that purpose. They're not that hard to find, the far left and Jews go together, like pastrami and rye bread. Recently, The Morning Call dug up a good one for their Another View Column. A former Marine, whose mother's relatives died in the Holocaust, was joining a new flotilla to Gaza. Although the writer, Ken Meyers, draped himself in a partial Jewish heritage and military service, he left out a few details about himself. He parted with the Marines in opposition to United States military policies. He believes any attack against Iran should be an impeachable offense. Meyer's editorial is full of adverbs of distortion. The Israeli blockage of Gaza is not illegal. Nor is Gaza a killing field or Ghetto. Everyday, hundreds of truckloads of food enter Gaza from Israel. Many of the thousands of missiles fired at Israel by Hamas came aboard ships to Gaza. That is the purpose of the blockade, and numerous weapons have been seized from boarded ships. In Meyer's portrayal, Israel attacked the previous flotilla and killed nine peace activists. According to international law, Israel legally boarded a ship, and nine provocateurs were killed by Israeli soldiers defending themselves.Mr. Meyers is welcome to try and break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza. However, he should remember, unlike himself, Israeli Marines support their government, and will do what is necessary to defend their fellow citizens.
UPDATE:Meanwhile in Haiti and Sudan for example, the people are desperate for need and for such "Humanitarian Flotillas" that never seem to come. Where are these so-called "Humanitarians" when people actually need them?
photo of Gaza City
Many Gazans worked in the Israeli service industry when the border was open, but part of Israel's 2005 disengagement stipulated that Gazans will no longer be able to work in Israel and few Gazans are presently allowed to enter Israel. Gaza has serious deficiencies in housing, educational facilities, health facilities, infrastructure, and an inadequate sewage system, all of which have contributed to serious hygiene and public health problems.
ReplyDeleteAccording to a recent report by OXFAM, unemployment in Gaza is close to 40% and is set to rise to 50%. The private sector which generates 53% of all jobs in Gaza has been devastated, businesses have been bankrupted and 75,000 out of 110,000 workers are now without a jobs. In 2008, 95% of Gaza's industrial operations were suspended due to lack of access inputs for production and the inability to export what is produced. In June 2005, there were 3,900 factories in Gaza employing 35,000 people, but by December 2007, there were just 195 remaining, employing only 1,700 people. The construction industry was paralyzed with tens of thousands of laborers out of work. The agriculture sector has also been damaged severely and nearly 40,000 workers who depend on cash crops now have no income.[100]
Gaza's economic conditions have been stagnant in the long-term and most development indicators are in decline. Food prices have risen during the blockade, with wheat flour going up 34%, rice up 21%, and baby powder up 30%. The number of Gazans who live in absolute poverty has increased sharply, with 80% relying on humanitarian aid in 2008 compared to 63% in 2006. In 2007, households spent an average of 62% of their total income on food, compared to 37% in 2004. In less than a decade, the number of families depending on UNRWA food aid has increased tenfold.
gary, during May of 2011, 4.942 truckloads of food and supplies entered Gaza from israel. If the population of Gaza didn't elect and support Hamas, which calls for the destruction of Israel, undoubtedly their standard of living would be higher. sorry, Israel will not commit suicide.
ReplyDeleteTo expect poorly educated folks, living in poverty to act like their affluent and educated brothers in Israel is not realistic. The reason people use terror as a weapon is that they have so few options against a more powerful opponent. July 4 was yesterday. Do you forget the actions taken by the colonialists against the powerful British army?
ReplyDeletegary, your comment is absurd. tell it to the parents of the israeli boy severely injured by a heat seeking missile fired at his school bus. btw, there were plenty of sweets to hand out in gaza as they celebrated that attack. the update added to my post links to some facts about the real standard of living in gaza, not the anti-israel propaganda you google up. we have a controlled border with mexico, but you want israel to provide jobs to those ranting for it's destruction? anyway, thanks for your input, but put your further comments on an anti-israel site, there's plenty of them.
ReplyDeleteGary -
ReplyDeleteIf your second comment is intended to draw a comparison to the Revolutionary War in this country, I think you're way off base.
Did Gaza decare its independence from Israel and is it at war with Israel? If so, why should they (or anyone else) expect ANYTHING from Israel?
Given the facts that MM states about the violence coming to Israel FROM Gaza, I think Israel has shown remarkable restraint.
Would the US response be as restrained if a similar situation existed here? I don't think so.
My significant other reminded me that one should never discuss Israeli politics with Jews. I shall stick to class warfare in the US.
ReplyDeleteIsrael is completely surrounded by hostile Muslim countries that want to kill every Jew they get a hold of. Many of these Muslim countries are oil rich and because of that, there is no excuse for them to be living in the 12 century and being poorly educated with inadequate housing. Their radical Islam religion is a big part of the problem, not Israel! All the statistics about how bad off the Gazans and Palestinians are means nothing when Muslims do nothing to help themselves and blame Israel for all their problems. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteStealth.
Again, off topic but sometimes a little education must be forwarded to some on this sight. Just a note about most Muslim countries and some of their people:
ReplyDeleteI have personally worked with Pakistani's, Iranian's, Afghans, Indians, Japanese and SK. Some of these people were the smartest I have ever worked with. Most had doctorates (physics, math, electrical and aerospace engineering) and were a pleasure to work with. I learned much from them and about their societies. Iran has 3 groups that make up their society. The royalty class, the educated class and the working class. Royalty generally lived high up in the hills in their palaces, the educated class lived comfortably in lower areas and the lowest class lived down in the bottoms. The educated were pro American. The same can be said of Pakistan back in the 80's. One in particular, was a physicist that was one of the scientists that worked with the US on the U2 spy plane that flew out of the Khyber pass into Soviet airspace. He moved back to Pakistan to teach in one of their universities. Many of the well educated came here and worked in high tech industry as I did. They did not want to work for the benefit of terrorism that they saw on the increase in their own countries.
So don't think that these countries are all backwards and are third world countries. They are backwards because of their radical Islam leaders that frown on America and our support for Israel. Israel is also very high tech and I have worked with them also. They have a big part in designing their own weapons systems to fit their needs for desert warfare. They are very particular when it comes to excellence in R and D and fabrication. Their lives depend on it.
The bottom line is that radical Islam is destroying the Muslim countries and threatening the very existence of Israel and threatens the US also. The Democrats from Carter to Obama have not made things any better for Israel but instead, have encouraged the radicals to grow in numbers and to hate Christians and Jews more than ever. The MSM and the left in our educational institutions have went out of their way to put Obama in office to counter the pro Israel people (neo-cons) that have been influential in forming Mideast policy under the Republican party.
Voting in the US isn't only about taxes and entitlements, budgets and deficits, it is about what will happen when Iran decides to use nuclear force against Israel and the US. If that happens, everything changes. We are spoiled rotten! It's time we put down our i-pods and turn off reality tv and educate ourselves about what we will need to survive that which is coming our way! Obama is taking us in the wrong direction in so many ways. He must go in 2012!
Stealth.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/world/middleeast/10mideast.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha26
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