The massive amount of recycling included the way Hamas succeeded in turning supposedly humanitarian funding from Qatar and others into deadly military aid. It also managed to turn local products into deadly weapons. Next time someone asks why Israel is preventing the entry of certain metals and pipes into the Gaza Strip, remind them that the reason is that Israelis don’t want them to be “returned to sender” in a lethal form.
Similarly, it became apparent – again – that the tons of cement that has been provided to Gaza has not been used to build it up but to try to bring Israel down. The terror tunnel infrastructure was so widespread that it earned the nickname “The Metro.” Hamas terrorists operated from the shelter of these tunnels – a sinister underground movement if ever there was one – while effectively using their own civilians as human shields above ground. That, too, was a repeat performance. It proved such a successful tactic in previous rounds of fighting that it turned into a Hamas strategy. This way, Israel was damned if it accidentally hit Palestinian civilians, and doomed if it didn’t try to stop the rockets raining down indiscriminately on Israeli homes, schools and hospitals.
Thirteen people were killed in Israel in rocket and mortar attacks emanating from the Gaza Strip and one Jewish man died after being attacked by an Arab mob in Lod. Indeed, the violent uprising by Israeli Arabs led some to wonder if this wasn’t how it must have felt in 1929 when Arab neighbors turned on the Jews living among them in places like Hebron, carrying out a massacre, before the birth of the state let alone the excuse of the “Occupation.” Because of the timing, over Shavuot, it reminded me of the Farhud, the pogrom carried out in Iraq 80 years ago, in which 180 Jews were brutally murdered.
It will take a long time to rebuild the trust that was lost in the combination of rockets and riots this month. Once you have heard the siren warning of incoming missiles, the sound never quite leaves you. By its very nature it primes you to take cover in the nearest available safe space – a shelter, a protective reinforced room, a stairwell or lying on the ground outside with your hands placed to protect your head.
“Shelties,” a uniquely Israeli genre of safe-room selfies, reappeared and there was a return of siren humor. “Never underestimate Hamas intelligence, they managed to find a parking place in Tel Aviv,” went one veteran quip. Not all the self-deprecating jokes were recycled from previous wars, however. The fact that Israel is exiting from the coronavirus pandemic ahead of the rest of the world led to some new material: A popular meme showed Israelis in a shelter checking everyone was vaccinated; school students shared memes of a timetable marked: “Zoom, zoom; boom, boom; zoom zoom.”
Professional satirists also had a field day. Sadly, some of the best did so at Israel’s expense. The excruciatingly one-sided, 10-minute rant against Israel by John Oliver, for example, was the perfect example of the dangers of relying on entertainers to provide you with the real news. The only consolation in Oliver’s diatribe – invoking Hitler comparisons, the lack of symmetry and the ever-popular apartheid canard – was the brilliant comeback by Israeli satirist Lior Schleien. Schleien, who is the partner of Labor leader Merav Michaeli and usually makes his living bashing the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in particular, had a few choice words for Oliver. Delivered in English with a cute Israeli accent, Schleien couldn’t resist punching back at Oliver’s punchlines. “Yes, that’s the point... Israelis don’t die enough – but we keep trying!” quipped Schleien. “How many Israeli casualties will satisfy you?”
The celebrities who trot out trite statements about a conflict they know nothing about from a very safe distance are part of the problem. It’s a fashion. A state of mind when it comes to the Jewish state. In the call for symmetrical warfare, all balance is lost. What is a proportionate response? Hamas (an Iranian-backed branch of the Muslim Brotherhood) is recognized as a terrorist organization even by some of the Arab world. It fired more than 3,500 rockets on Israel, every one a war crime. Should we stop running for shelter when rockets fall to please the Progressives’ sense of fairness? Leave a child or two outside to fend for themselves? Abandon the elderly, pushing their walkers as fast as their adrenaline levels allow them?
Perhaps we should deliberately skip using the Iron Dome anti-missile system now and again? After all, there have been calls to halt the supply of its life-saving interceptors. Jewish lives apparently don’t matter as much as others, even black Jewish lives, like that of Avera Mengistu, a mentally-ill Ethiopian-born Israeli who has been held captive by Hamas for more than six years.
Another repeat performance has been the resurgence of anti-Jewish hatred. Blame Israel, blame all Jews for a war that started when Hamas launched rockets on the Israeli capital. Jews around the world are reporting antisemitic acts ranging from verbal bullying to physical attacks.
When pro-Palestinian supporters travel in a convoy from the British Midlands to Jewish and even non-Jewish neighborhoods in London and the South they are making a statement. And it’s not a subtle one. The slogans shouted through amplifiers included: “F*** the Jews, rape their daughters!” Somehow British-born John Oliver didn’t think that was worth mentioning in his skit. Maybe even Oliver realizes that that is not funny. No wonder Jews in free, democratic countries are thinking twice before wearing anything that identifies them by their religion. Just imagine the justifiable uproar were Muslim women to become too afraid to wear a hijab on the streets of London.
The mass rallies by pro-Palestinian supporters featured slogans like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” That translates as “the land will be Judenrein, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean.” Israel should cease to exist. It’s written in the Hamas charter and it’s written in its DNA.
As in previous conflicts, my social media feed and email inbox became a mini battlefield, with some messages of support and some messages that I can’t repeat in a family paper.
An Irish preacher writing from London informed me he’d be at the London rally carrying a banner saying: “Hamas are mighty fighters for the Palestinian cause. They are showing great courage against the might of the Israeli army.” We obviously have different definitions of courage, war crimes and the use of human shields to hide behind.
“Jesus will finally solve the Palestinian problem when he returns to Jerusalem,” the preacher informed me. If he thinks that Hamas, which has declared a jihad for Jerusalem, wants to see Christians pray on Temple Mount any more than it wants to see Jews there, the joke’s on him. Or all of us. Look at the hatred and violence hiding behind keffiyeh masks in rallies around the globe and recognize that what Israel is up against now is a threat to the whole world.
Fortunately, some Jews and supporters of Israel have been willing to stand up to the bullying. The sight of young people wrapped in Israeli flags holding placards with slogans like “Free Gaza from Hamas” and “Yes to humus, no to Hamas” was encouraging. Jewish pride and Jewish humor are among our secret weapons. They’re better than anything that comes out of John Oliver’s arsenal.
liat@jpost.com