Business Day's Fog

Again, South African political cartoonists take a one sided stance against Israel, portraying them as all powerful and heartless aggressors in a battle against noble victims.

It is indeed true that Israel has far superior military power but the reality is that Israel never unleashes its full military capability as this cartoon from the Business Day suggests.

If Israel did, then the battles with the Palestinians would not be so protracted and drawn out. Furthermore, the ratio of civilians to armed combatants killed would be much higher. Israel could operate entirely from the air and not risk the lives of their soldiers with ground troop invasions.

Whilst the cartoonist is entitled to consider the Israeli response disproportionate he is masking the reality by portraying the Palestinians as helpless, innocent bystanders.

The Palestinians have fired over 1000 Qassams into Israel since the evacuation from Gaza but no local cartoonists ever acknowledge this.

Comments

[Mike]

I think we are in for a tidal wave of anti-Jewish hate not unlike the beginning of the intifada. The relative lull that we have seen since the disengagement is over.

The mainstream SA media have no understanding of our narrative. They view Israel through the prism of Goliath and the Arabs as David. Israel is unfortunately seen as the Bully of the Middle East. Thus the minute Israel uses its military might, no matter how justified or proportional it may be, they will go mad.

The South African Jewish community and other friends of Israel have failed hopelessly to explain our position. As the fighting intensifies our views will become more and more at odd with those of broader South Africans. We are in for a rough time.

[Steve]

I agree - but to elaborate - i think that it is very difficult to make our views heard when we get the chance.

We lack the training that the other side get. I could go on the Telly in a panel debate with someone who knows less than me and he would wip me just because he has been trained.

The failure is in part due to the lack of interest that most of our community has for this issue.

[Mike]

I think that’s part of it. The organised Jewish community here has failed to invest the kind of money needed to build an effective lobby. Look at what American Jewry have achieved. All we do is apologise and pray for peace. We never stand up for ourselves.

Also I don’t think we make use of our allies enough. South Africans are generally religious Christians. As such they have an innate understanding of our narrative. We don’t do enough to reach out to them.

[Gary]

Mike , it is true that there are groups of Christians who support us fully (mainly Evangelicals and groups like the African Christian Democratic Party) , but it would be a mistake to see all religious Christians as being our allies.
some of them (like the SA Council of Churches) practise the anti-Semitic replacement theology and liberation theology (pro-terrorism)
G-D bless the Christian Zionists , but they are only a fraction of the Christian population.

[BRETT CHATZ]

WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST

That dreaded three-letter-word – War, is now a very real possibility. Semantics aside, what is transpiring is ugly. The carnage, mayhem and catastrophe are dastardly and revolting. The loss of life is tragic. Whether the media uses the words incursions, strikes or assaults doesn’t deter from the reality of the situation: full-scale war is imminent if a diplomatic solution isn’t found. There is surely nothing worse than man’s ability to wreak havoc against his fellow man. As a species we have developed the most sophisticated weaponry and technology possible with the sole purpose of murdering one another. Trillions of Dollars are spent annually by nations of the world in an attempt to gain the military advantage over their enemies. The cost of such actions is frightening.

World-Security now faces its toughest challenge: How to diffuse the violence in the Middle-East? What steps should be taken and what compromises must be made to broker a peace-accord which all parties are willing to consider? The United Nations has already dispatched a senior delegation to resolve the tensions. The European Union has urged restraint and the former Soviet Union has been critical of the ‘disproportionate use of force’ being meted out. The United States has expressed support for Israel to defend itself against terrorist attacks. So where does this leave the conflicting parties? Nothing is clear at this juncture and the only thing which is certain is that, if left unchecked, the violence will escalate into a regional conflict.

Diplomacy is always the favoured option in resolving a crisis: In this form of conflict resolution, delegates from opposing parties would typically gather together and carve out a peaceful settlement to their qualms. Oftentimes neutral observers such as the U.N. or other vested interests would chair such processions. However, in this scenario we have power blocs which are capable of commanding significant attention. The Arab-League, although fragmented at times, is a powerful negotiating component and it is largely backed by Russia and China. On the other hand there is Israel with strong American support and partial European support. Already you can see where this is headed. Add America’s disagreeable relations with Iran and Syria into the mix and it’s not too difficult to ascertain what might transpire. Perhaps America’s military failure in Iraq (success would have brought peace, not civil-war) and Afghanistan will serve as a deterrent to all vested interests. Even if cities are leveled to the ground, the will of the people will prevail in the end. This works for both Muslims and Jews: neither party will capitulate to the other. While it is true that the tactics employed by these opposing factions differ dramatically, subservience or surrender is not an option.

The failure of America in the Middle-East came not from their strategic military initiatives (they succeeded in that respect); it came from the guerilla warfare employed by the insurgents. Suicide bombers cannot be defended against effectively. They are the unseen enemy and their capacity to wreak havoc is unparalleled. Such is their impact against organized military, that they have become a regular feature of Islamic insurgent groups. Israel knows all too well of the power of suicide bombers.

According to the cryptic messages of the Torah and old-Hebrew scriptures this is the time when the nations of the world will do battle. The erstwhile soothsayer, Nostradamus, predicted as much in his prophecies. Let us only hope that we have interpreted these messages incorrectly, for if we have not the cataclysm to follow will be our undoing!

[Lawrence]

I don't know how you guys are going to find the time to blog on even just some of the most noticeable Jew-hate spew in the SA media, blaming the relentless Arab jihad on the Jews, what a non-surprise. I think SA Jews like their British and French/European counterparts should more than ever consider Aliyah, or just volunteering in whatever capacity for Israel. I'm off to Israel in a few weeks hopefully no matter what. I had decided to go last year and now I am going for sure PRECISELY BECAUSE of what is going on, not inspite of it. Diaspora Jewry do not do nearly enough for Israel and I mean the majority of us who stand for Israel (obviously the self-haters don't count), we need to do more, although like the rest of you I know everything is stacked against us.

Steve, Jews can employ better rhetoric than they do in their fight against anti-Semitism by pointing out the obvious, sticking to this basic fact - namely that there is no fundamental difference between the stance of the SA media, govt and the like over Israel and the stance of neo-Nazis and Muslim extremists. Whatever happens or doesn't happen in the M-East, the SA media say and don't say the same things that neo-Nazis and Muslim fanatics do, they cite the same sources - Pilger, Fisk etc. We also need to repeat the old Jew-hate lies that the media have spouted, again and again - like the massacre in Jenin that never happened, the al Dura affair, comdemning Israel for killing Hamas terrorists, the praise for the terrorist Arafat etc in order to show that the media are PROVEN jew-hate liars and that this SAME MEDIA cannot be trusted to give a fair account of the facts NOW, because it is the SAME media after all.

We need to keep hammering the same points, Fisk is Osama's and David Duke's favourite journalist and is on record as supporting 9-11 conspiracy paranoia nuttery. Lots of South Africans share his 9-11 conspiracy madness, this is what we are dealing with.

We also need to cover WHAT THE MEDIA ARE NOT REPORTING, the civil war between Fatah and Hamas, the execution of homosexuals in the PA territories, honour killings, the harassment and violence agianst Palestinian Christians and the jihadist literature in the schools, the Hamas charter, the bloodlust of the mullahs etc, the oppression and mass-murder and brutality and all the rest of so many other Muslim nations. But of course this is very difficult, programs need to be launched in our schools and education for adults on all this through a kind of outreach. SA Jews must come to know what is really going on they must be educated they must know what the rest of us know at least in outline.

We must pull no punches call these Jew-haters what they are. In the 1930s the attitude of European Jews was let's not offend the Nazis, and say or do anything untoward, otherwise they might hate us even more and make life even harder for us. Seriously. Many Jews today are making the same mistakes. let's not offend the jihad supporters, they might wish us ill otherwise.

[Gary]

Hi Lawrence , I'm also going to Israel in a few weeks. Maybe we will be on the same flight.

[Evan]

Yup, there's hatred in the air.

Check out this guy, for instance: http://ellissharp.blogspot.com - this stuff is so anti-Israel, I'm surprised Hamas hasn't put him on their payroll.