COLUMN: The double standard of the Middle East
I’ve seen a number of anti-Israel opinions written by members of the USU community accusing Israel of human rights violations and even “terrorism.” One individual even claimed there is a discriminatory double standard against the Arabs and in favor of Israel. This is absurd as the Arab nations and others in the world, hold Israel (the Middle East’s only true democracy), home to 0.1 percent of the world’s total population and roughly half of the world’s Jews (0.2 percent of the world’s population!), up to an unrealistic and unreasonable double standard when it comes to dealing with human rights in wartime.
Some people think the basic, inalienable right of self-defense is inapplicable when it comes to Jews, and that the Jews are unworthy of life or must live as second-class citizens. To them, the existence of a sovereign Jewish state in the land of Israel (the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people) and Jewish self-defense cause them to feel they’re failing their religions and/or ideologies, and thus make them unworthy of heaven or their pedestals of self-righteousness.
Frankly, I’m not interested in how or why these racists feel what they do. We as Israelis and Jews have an inherent right to defend ourselves against any and every threat, and we will use it if necessary.
We didn’t start this war. It was forced upon us. We don’t incite violence and war against Israel and the United States. Somehow people think it’s fine if Palestinians educate their children to be suicide bombers. They don’t care that the Palestinian Authority (PA) teaches hate in their schools via racist textbooks and says on their Arabic media that in the end they will liberate not only the West Bank and Gaza, but also Jaffa, Haifa and everything that is now Israel. They’re not bothered that these people use their own children as human shields while they fire their weapons at innocent Israeli civilians, that they throw parties when their brethren fly hijacked planes into buildings in New York and Washington (the PA was very good at confiscating videos of and intimidating reporters covering these celebrations in Sept. 2001) or that suicide bombers blow themselves up in the midst of teenagers trying to enjoy the evening.
Nor do they seem to care that the PA’s leaders embezzle billions of dollars of foreign aid and taxes, and then scapegoat Israel and the United States for the suffering of the Palestinian people. They even term acts of terror and outright murder as “legitimate acts of self-defense.” They do not care that the PA denies its citizens political rights and freedoms.
On the other hand, Israel’s citizens, Jewish or Arab, are free to openly criticize the government, have equal voting rights and can run for any political office including Prime Minister. But they couldn’t care less about that. They kick and scream because Israel chose to make Jerusalem, the city toward which Jews pray, the city with Judaism’s holiest sites, the city which has had a Jewish presence for more than three millennia and a majority of the population for more than two centuries, its capital. Somehow they think that even though every other nation on Earth can decide where to locate their capital, Israel is not entitled to do so.
Let me say this, Israel’s former Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered Yasser Arafat 98 percent of the Palestinians’ demands, including a total of 100 percent equivalent land area, yet Arafat rejected it as the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem are not enough – he wants all of Israel. So he started this new intifada, killing at least 600 Israelis and 1,500 of his own people. He’s forced the Israeli army to reoccupy most of the PA-controlled areas. And he’s destroyed the Palestinian economy, which was dependent on Israel.
To the Palestinians I say, I’m sorry, but if you make war on someone, how do you expect them to employ you or want to do business with you? Do you honestly think they’ll want to eat in your restaurants or spend money in your casino? And do you expect them to smile at you and give in to your demands when you routinely and flagrantly violate every agreement you’ve ever signed with them?
Yes, I am aware that Palestinian civilians get killed in this war. But as many as have been killed, the death toll is extremely low – Israel goes to greater lengths to prevent the deaths of innocent civilians than any other nation on Earth. Few nations would put up with the level of hostility emanating from the PA, whose areas are situated only a few miles from Israel’s main population centers. Had a similar uprising occurred in an Arab country, tens of thousands of people would have been killed in just a few weeks, such as the “Black September” of 1970 when Jordan (a truly moderate Arab country) killed more Palestinians in two weeks than were ever killed by Israelis. But then no one ever expects Arab regimes to respect human rights.
As bad as I feel for the suffering of the Palestinian people, I personally no longer care about their civilian losses. We have every right to go after those who seek to destroy us. And if the Palestinians wish to use their civilian population as human shields, then they bear the full responsibility for any civilian losses. I say now to the Palestinian people, if you’re stupid enough to harbor or associate with terrorists, then that isn’t my problem. If you can’t or won’t choose leaders who will help bring about a true and just peace, then that isn’t my problem either. I’m not going to allow you or anyone else to try to kill my family, friends or myself.
If the world truly wants this conflict to end, it should hold the Palestinians and the Arab world up to the same standards it holds Israel. It should demand that the Arabs respect basic human rights and liberties for all. Maybe then it will be possible to make peace with the Arabs.
Guy Serbin is a graduate research assistant in the department of plants, soils and biometeorology. Comments can be sent to him at gserbin@mendel.usu.edu.