A primer is a book of basics. It is intended to ensure that students grasp the essential foundations of a subject. I think we need a primer on the nature of the conflict in the Middle East over the state of Israel.
Fact #1: Israel is a self-governing entity that is a friend to the free world.
Fact #2: Israel is surrounded by enemies that want to destroy it.
Fact #3: All these enemies are Islamic believers.
Fact #4: Hamas, a terrorist group, runs the Gaza Strip.
Fact #5: Hamas wants to obliterate the state of Israel and sends thousands of rockets raining on Israel every year.
Fact #6: Israel, for its own protection, inspects ships coming to Gaza to make sure they are not carrying weapons meant to kill Israeli citizens.
Fact #7: Although these ships say they are taking humanitarian aid to a starving people, the people in Gaza are not starving at all. Yet Israel allows these ships to take this “aid” anyway.
Fact #8: Islamist extremists deliberately set up confrontations that will end in deaths/martyrdom and paint Israel as the problem.
Fact #9: Most of the rest of the world takes Islamist propaganda at face value and condemns whatever Israel does to defend itself.
Fact #10: It just happened again this week. The world fell for it again.
Palestinians Protesting Israeli Boarding of Ship
Some people still have their heads on straight over this. Carol Platt Liebau is one:
Mona Charen throws some facts into the bilious stew of press coverage on the “humanitarian” flotilla attacked by Israel. It’s a must-read. Of particular interest:
Upon learning of the intentions of the Gaza flotilla, the Israeli government asked the organizers to deliver their humanitarian aid first to an Israeli port where it would be inspected (for weapons) before being forwarded to Gaza. The organizers refused. “There are two possible happy endings,” a Muslim activist on board explained, “either we will reach Gaza or we will achieve martyrdom.”
No agenda there, though. Of course not. Nobody but Israeli bad guys in this scenario, right? Pleeease.
What always amazes me is the speed, venom and alacrity with which the UN can step up to denounce Israel — as it sits on its hands while Iran marches ever-closer to developing nukes with which to threaten the (pro-Western) world.
Life is anything but fair for Israel, but I think they’re used to that by now.
As of this writing, the U.S. government has not condemned Israel for its actions in defending itself. Let’s pray that remains the U.S. government’s position.