Tony Blair’s Sister-in-Law’s Gaza Media Circus
In an interview with PJM, Ms. Booth says she has tried three times to leave Gaza — once via Erez Checkpoint, which leads into Israel, and twice via the Rafah border crossing into Egypt. She was turned away by both the Israelis and the Egyptians, but told me she holds Israel solely responsible for her predicament. I pointed out that both a senior IDF spokesman and several well-informed Palestinian journalists confirmed that Israel has “zero control” over who crosses the Rafah border. In other words, perhaps Egypt was at least as responsible as Israel for forcing her to remain in Gaza. This elicited an angrily dismissive response from Ms. Booth, who claimed that “high up sources told her” that Israel is pressuring Egypt into keeping her trapped in Gaza. She would not reveal the source of her information, nor did she explain how it would serve Israel to have her stay indefinitely in Gaza.
The Egyptians have controlled the Rafah border, keeping it mostly sealed, since Hamas took power in June 2007, following a bloody civil war with rival Fatah. EUBAM-Rafah (European Union Border Assistance Mission) pulled its multi-national monitoring staff out of Gaza immediately after Fatah was routed, in accordance with the EU’s policy of no contact with Hamas. A skeleton staff of 18 remains “on standby” in the Israeli town of Ashkelon. Spokeswoman Maria Telleria said that the EU is “not involved in Rafah border decision in any way right now.” According to Ms. Telleria, the Egyptians have opened the border crossing 60 times since June 2007. Most recently, Egypt’s President Mubarak ordered the border open over the two days preceding Ramadan, which is when Ms. Booth tried to cross and was turned back. “They [the Egyptian border officials] told me, ‘You are one of the people who came on the boats. We have received a call about you,’” recounted Ms. Booth.
Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza following the Hamas takeover, allowing only basic supplies and humanitarian aid to enter. Very few Palestinians are permitted to enter or leave the territory. Egypt brokered a truce between Israel and Hamas, but the occasional Qassam still lands in the Sderot area and Israel maintains its blockade as a means of pressuring Hamas to release Gilad Shalit, an IDF corporal who was abducted from Israeli territory in June 2006.
As a result of the blockade, Gaza suffers from a variety of shortages — especially fuel. Some of the shortfall is made up by smuggling via tunnels dug under the Rafah border, but friends in Gaza report many shortages of basic things like chalk for classrooms. Goods, of course, cannot compensate for the psychological burden of feeling trapped indefinitely in a rather small strip of land. That is why Egypt opens the Rafah border every so often – as a release of psychological pressure on ordinary Gazans. Senior Hamas officials are, according to several sources, allowed to enter and leave the territory via Rafah at will.
I am an Israeli who opposes the blockade of Gaza. I do not believe in collective punishment, and I do not see any evidence that the blockade is either loosening Hamas’s grip on power or expediting the release of Gilad Shalit.
When I spoke with Jeff Halper, the only Israeli Jew with the Free Gaza group, I respected his position: he did not meet with Hamas leaders, as Lauren Booth did (even accepting a Palestinian passport from Ismail Haniyeh) nor did he make any dramatic or self-aggrandizing statements to the media. He said he wanted to force the Israeli government to acknowledge that its control of Gaza’s borders and territorial waters is a form of occupation, even in the absence of an actual Israeli presence in the territory, and that if Israel does control Gaza’s borders then it also has a responsibility to its residents. Halper did not try to mitigate the terrorizing effect of the Qassams launched on Israeli civilian population centers from Gaza. He did not even complain about having been held overnight in jail after he entered Israel through Erez (Israelis are forbidden by law from entering Gaza).
I may not agree with all Jeff’s positions, but I respect him.
I cannot say the same for Lauren Booth. I was completely prepared to speak with a sympathetic woman who was interested in having a real conversation, but this was not to be. Almost as soon as I identified myself as a reporter from Tel Aviv, she launched into a tirade that was characterized by a mixture of hectoring, self-righteousness, drama, and the occasional falsehood.
Referring to the interview she gave to Noa Raz, I asked if she had compared Gaza to the Nazi concentration camps. “Yes I did,” answered Ms. Booth. And do you really think the situation in Gaza is comparable to that in Darfur, where 400,000 people have been killed over the past five years? “Well,” she said, “Do we want to wait until 400,000 Gazans are dead?” She added that she had visited a camp in Gaza where 16,000 families had malnourished children, and the rate of unemployment hovered around 90 percent. If accurate, these are shocking figures that should concern all Israelis. But does Ms. Booth really expect to arouse our sympathy by making the grossly inappropriate suggestion that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza?
“Do you think that Gaza receives less media attention than Darfur?” I asked. “Absolutely!” the British activist answered vehemently. So I did a search on Google news for “Darfur,” where 400,000 people have been killed over the past five years, and received 13,912 results. A search for “Gaza,” where, according to B’tselem, 810 Palestinians were killed in 2006-2007, brought up 17,605 results.
Asked how long she thought she would be stuck in Gaza, Ms. Booth answered tartly, “As long as the Israelis decide I should be here.” Then she added in a passionate tone, “I must see my children! They are 5 and 7 and they are waiting for me in France!” She did not explain why, if she was so concerned about her children, she elected to stay illegally in Gaza when she had the option of leaving on the same boat that brought her there.
But what irritated me the most about Ms. Booth’s long tirade was her description of what happened at Erez Checkpoint, which leads into Israel. I crossed Erez several times before it was closed to Israelis, and remember it vividly.
According to Ms. Booth, she arrived at the checkpoint without a permit to cross, which means that the Palestinians, who coordinate via phone with the Israeli border police on the other side of Erez, would have prevented her from continuing. Ms. Booth: “I tried to coordinate with the Israelis two days in advance, via the British Council, but that didn’t work. So I went with an old lady who did have a permit to cross, although she had been turned back several times.”
Ms. Booth said she was prevented by Israeli soldiers, who threatened to shoot her. “There were Israeli soldiers on the Gazan side of Erez?” I asked. Hearing the incredulity in my tone, she answered with irritated impatience, “Oh, I don’t know what they were. They were uniformed men with guns, alright?”
“Okay, I said.” “They were Palestinian men guarding the checkpoint. So, did they stop you?”
“Oh no!” she answered. “The Palestinians advised me not to cross, but I walked right into the tunnel and started walking. I was nearly at the Israeli side when a Palestinian man came running up behind me, holding a mobile phone and shouting that the Israelis had told him they would shoot me if I took another step.”
Perhaps the Palestinian border guard really did call his Israeli counterpart to tell him that Ms. Booth was trying to cross into Israel against their orders, and to ask him what the Israelis would do to her if she continued. And perhaps the Israeli border guard really did tell his Palestinian counterpart that he would shoot Ms. Booth if she continued another step. But I really doubt the incident occurred as Ms. Booth recounts it. Here’s why:
The entrance to Israel via Erez is practically impenetrable. It is a maze of turnstiles that lock automatically, bulletproof glass, closed circuit cameras and disembodied voices that issue instructions via the public address system. One does not see an Israeli soldier until one has passed through security, which is remotely controlled. During the June 2007 civil war, dozens of Fatah members took shelter from Hamas fighters in the Erez “sleeve.” But none tried to make a dash for Israel, because it is simply not possible — physically — to just push through.
In a phone interview, IDF spokesman Yigal Palmor said, “Ms. Booth is determined to provoke Israel into a confrontation. She put herself in this position [of being stuck in Gaza]. According to international law, you cannot just show up at a border and demand entrance to a country. The Israeli authorities are considering the request of the British consulate to allow her to exit Gaza through Erez. The matter is still under consideration.”
Palmor continued, “By the way, what has Lauren Booth done for peace since her arrival in Gaza? Has she done anything practical and concrete to help the Palestinians? Has she demonstrated for peace? Has she tried to work for the release of Gilad Shalit?”
The official response from the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv regarding Ms. Booth’s predicament? “We have no comment.”
Ms. Booth’s final words to me were, “I hope you will report this story in a fair manner.”
I’m tired of these rich Western useful idiots supporting tyrants, terrorists, etc. Self-absorbed imbeciles.
we are not tyrants but people who speak the truth. the only reason yall call us tryants is that yall cant handle the fact that our religon is right.
What religion are you talking about?
Very interesting, I appreciate your candor in reporting… it is, sadly, becoming more rare in America. It is good to see that is not true every where.
I detect a Barabara Cartland melodrama in the offing, with a book deal, theatre play, movie rights, TV interviews (BBC is most interested, Lauren, but there’s more money in America!)and 15minutes of fame.
Now if she really meant it she would stay in Gaza, marry, wear a burka, have a couple of legitimate children, and after 15 years she will have proved her bona fides to the world.
Right now she comes across as an exploiter of Gazan misery for her own mercenary purposes!
Why grant this pathetic woman the oxygen of publicity that she evidently craves ?
You can’t really expect anything but this sort of Nazi-like Jew-hatred from slimey Limeys, it’s all you hear out of them. Everything is always either the fault of Americans or Jews, ad nauseam. Britain and France are the most anti-Semitic nations in the West, they’re both contemptible in their fawning and grovelling to Islamists. As a Canadian, I’ve been disappointed that Islamists have not struck British cities repeatedly. I look forward to seeing hundreds of thousands of sleazeball British die in the coming years in the Islamic civil wars that will soon be raging there. This 100% would serve the British right.
If you are wondering why the Europeans are so ill-informed on international events, look no further.
Maybe some of the more traveled commentators can correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that in order to leave a country you have to have it’s stamp showing you entered. You can’t get to Gaza legally without going through Egypt or Israel, therefore they won’t let her leave either. And I thought Europeans were supposed to be so worldly. The reality of the situation is one that has been stated already, publicity. The media didn’t originally care about the boat trip, but now, suddenly its an issue because she and several others chose to stay for no other reason than to perpetrate a lie. The lie being that Israel doesn’t allow those currently in the strip to enter Israel. Shame that the international press doesn’t do a better job telling the truth.
As a Canadian, I’ve been disappointed that Islamists have not struck British cities repeatedly. I look forward to seeing hundreds of thousands of sleazeball British die in the coming years in the Islamic civil wars that will soon be raging there. This 100% would serve the British right.
That has to be the most ignorant statement I’ve ever read. The Islamists support a legal system (Shariah law) that, at its best, is a series of apartheid civil laws. At its worst, Sharia encourages mutilation, terrorism and genocide.
It should be considered a crime against humanity to support this legal system. It certainly should be a crime against humanity to encourage or eagerly anticipate Islamist military actions against anyone, whether you think it “serves them right” or not.
What is she doing sailing into a closed military zone anyway, how misguided and arrogant can you be? Go fight for a real cause, that isn’t a publicized soap opera for the greater Islamic world.
Yeah, thanks Stephen. Tar us all with the same brush as mad Lauren here, why don’t you? I don’t deny that there’s a nasty anti-semitic and anti-American atmosphere hovering over Britain, but it’s far from universal and statements like that don’t help one bit.
Seriously, they don’t: you may be Canadian, but do you think any of the nutters are going to mention that when they quote your “comment from a right-wing American website” to “prove” their case?
Stephen Carter:
The British People are suffering under the tide of Islamists. The vast majority aren’t haters but normal people like the rest of us. The blatant anti-semitism and support for terror that comes out of Islam is state sponsored, disseminated by the Labour party and BBC. The British people have no control over this; they are losing their rights every day. While it is their fault that Labour is in power, I doubt anyone could have foreseen this in 1997, the raving Jew hatred, etc. It’s the state and their fringe supporters, as well as the flood of Islamic immigrants, that is causing the tide of anti-semitism out of England, not the everyday pub going, chip eating brit
What amazes me is how uncritically her story is accepted. As Lisa has pointed out alot of her story is clearly false. Did it not bother anyone that Israel let these people, let them out, only rapped on the knuckles an Israeli who went there and let the people take some Palestinians out but stopped the sister-in-law of an ex-PM? That the Egyptians let Palestinians in and out of Rafah and again chose to stop only this woman?
Having failed to make any impact she is quite obviously manufacturing this storm in a teacup and only Ms Goldman has the sense to call her on it.
“Britain and France are the most anti-Semitic nations in the West… Everything is always either the fault of Americans or Jews, ad nauseam.”
WTF!
Maybe you should actually visit the UK before making idiotic statements like that! My partner is Jewish and we have never suffered any kind of anti-Semitism in the UK… though we did in the USA (though admittedly in a southern state). Please don’t generalise, it serves no purpose.
As for Lauren Booth’s story, it can’t be getting that much coverage here in the UK as this is the first I’ve heard of it (via the link from Lisa’s blog) and I make a point of watching or listening to the news (BBC & Sky) at least twice a day.
You can’t have been watching all that closely:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7593921.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7596702.stm
Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/2674870/Lauren-Booth-still-trapped-in-Gaza-after-protest.html
and a few others. Admittedly it is not terribly surprising the Guardian and the BBC carried the news but there is not even the pretence of questioning her lies
Anyone notice? She didn’t go to Darfur, a place where supermarkets are not so well stocked, and far more people are being killed. She went to a place whose inhabitants try to put bumbs in maternities, whe went to help those who want Jews exterminated.
“Ms Booth arrived in the Gaza Strip on a “peace boat” to publicise Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory.”
I thought the aim was to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as the ship’s doctor made sure to declare:
“Gaza stands on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe, with its population confined in a crowded area to which land, sea and air entry are all controlled by the Israeli military. Israel … it denies the vast majority of the population access to … medical care and basic necessities. ”
“In our first attempt to sail into Gaza, we will bring much-needed supplies.”
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/371366_firstperson21.html
What were those much needed supplies?
“The mission is intended to challenge the economic blockade imposed by Israel and deliver a cargo of 200 hearing aids for a deaf school and 5,000 balloons. ”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/23/israelandthepalestinians
Someone should confront these false humanitarians with their lies, someone should publicize that photo of Booth shopping in that minimarket side by side with a photo from the concentration camps. If this is her idea of what a concentrtion camp was like, I would not be surprised that she can hardly spare a sliver of pity for Holocaust Jews.
And to Nic:
I would suggest a visit to Engage website, to get yourtself up to date about antisemitism in the UK.
http://www.engageonline.org.uk/blog/index.php
And here, too:
http://boycotted-uk-academic.blogspot.com/
(chuckle)
If this all the silly clownish “operation” and its elequent celebrity spokesperson can come up with, I wish them many such future success stories.
What a trap and masterful handling by the Israeli government. I am sure the Gaza Palestinians are equally un-impressed.
The fact that the AP photograph got out at all tells you a great deal.
We never see photos of people checking out Mentos and Snickers bars in nice Gaza shops. Had these ‘supporters’ been taken seriously by Hamas that photo would never have gotten out. She was left without proper supervision. An AP photo was published with operating connected computers and checkout, cell phone, and lots of boxes of corn flakes and other goodies right in the background.
Looks like Hamas would like these idiot jihad amateurs to just go away. They cannot even be played out as cannon fodder anymore. She doesnt want to die or sacrifice, she just wants some sort of place in the spotlight.
Now she wants to see her kids and knows that she has made a terrible mistake.
This is not what she imagined.
Solutions here are much tougher than these clownish folks can even imagine. Economic base, decent government, and realistic security would be a start. These things cannot be accomplished by failed stunts such as this.
Spindok
“thank you for the balloons and old donated hearing aids”
Try as she can the defense and security apparatus prevent her from coming in to contact with the IDF except on their own terms. This is no place for such ‘useful idiots’.
They are no longer useful to anyone.
Hey, folks, cut the poor Gazans some slack…I don’t Kellogs Frosted Flakes anywhere on the shelves in that picture above, only totally generic Corn Flakes. Now THAT’s suffering!
If this honey REALLY wanted to do something constructive and memorable, she should fight an Israeli bulldozer mano-a-mano, to the death. She’d have a Broadway musical written about the combat and her messy demise. Maybe, a hundred people in NYC would pay to see it. It would be wonderful!
Great article!
the brits really haven’t been right in their noodles since losing their grip on as many of other people’s lands as could make the sun never set on the british isles. it is their deluded notions of royalty and class distinctions that move them toward a misadventure such as this ridiculous comic strip “experience” in gaza. what an idiot. and, since the brits are noted for being anti-semitic (even after the bank of england was saved by jews), i am quite pleased they are overrun by muslims. a certain obsequiousness not usually enjoyed by the pasty faces is beginning to stink up london. huzzah.
Lisa, that’s a great article. Booth is an attention-seeking leftie nut-job.
Stephen Carter: You said that “Britain and France are the most anti-Semitic nations in the West.” That’s absolutely false. See the following poll (does not cover all western countries but even Spain, Germany and Poland show that Stephen is wrong):
http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=262
From p.49 of the survey:
First column below: “Rate Jews Favorably”. Second column = “Rate Jews Unfavorably”. Third column = don’t know or did not answer.
France:
Fav. Unf. NoAns:
79% 20% 1%
USA:
77% 7% 17%
UK:
73% 9% 19%
Australia:
73% 11% 16%
Germany
64% 25% 11%
Poland
52% 36% 14%
Spain
37% 46% 18%
Brazil
36% 50% 14%
Japan
33% 42% 23%
India
15% 33% 53%
etc. etc.
The US, Britain and France also had the highest % of VERY FAVORABLE impressions of Jews.
This article is very enlightening. I had a hearty good laugh at dmh0667-LGF’s corn flakes quip.
Now see? This story here runs counter to 100 % of everything else I see hear and read about Gaza. My perception has changed because of it to the complete opposite of what Lauren Booth would intend.
Danny: It wasn’t widely reported on mainstream TV news, which is all I was saying! Yes you can find stuff if you trawl the internet, but you can find reports on most things that way!
Noga: Pasting links about the opinions of left-wing trades unionists (who most people in the UK pay little attention to) and a few academics (who probably live lives totally out of sync with the real world anyway) doesn’t prove that the whole of the UK are raving anti-Semites! You are judging an entire nation based on the opinions of a few fools!
Judy: A nice well-rounded, non-judgemental argument that doesn’t stereotype a whole nation based on the opinions of a minority…except it wasn’t! It was ill-informed and stupid! I could make a comment about all ‘Americans’ being rude, judgmental and prejudiced towards anyone that doesn’t agree with them, except I know that you can’t judge a whole nation based on the opinions of SOME of its citizens! Maybe you should look at your own country’s historic treatment of Jews before making such a sweeping generalisations, based on past events!
I remember watching Jerry Springer once, he had white supremacists on the show and a very young girl who was with them said that she thought all Jews deserved to die… luckily I didn’t judge ALL Americans based on the views of a very sick minority!
And we aren’t being “overrun” by Muslims, where do you get this stuff from? The Muslim population in the UK is estimated at just over 3% and guess what, going by research from Gallup, the Muslim population in the USA is estimated at around 3%!!
Zvi: Thanks for the stats! Having travelled in Europe I would say they are probably pretty accurate, Spain has a general problem with racism unfortunately, but both France and the UK are generally tolerant countries – with some exceptions, but that is the case everywhere! My partners synagogue often has low-key security in place, but so do most Mosques, and many black churches, and gay venues come to that. The danger here in the UK usually comes from a minority of mindless thugs who hate anyone who isn’t exactly like them… and they’ll target ANYONE who is different! It’s usually got nothing to do with anti-Semitism, they are just nasty little bigots and every country has them.
Bour3: Being photographed in a very well stocked supermarket whilst trying to highlight the plight of Gaza just shows how stupid Lauren Booth is! And I reckon she’s only there to annoy her brother-in-law anyway, they hate each other and she never misses an opportunity to have a go (not that he doesn’t deserve it most of the time).
Lisa: Though I suspect Lauren Booth lacks the intellectual honesty to concede this, your account seems manifestly fair to me. I appreciate the straightforward reporting and the clear expression of your point of view. Your integrity as an observer stands in sharp contrast to the moral fraudulence of Lauren Booth.
Nic:
I think you may be in something of a denial about British antisemitism, historical and current. And the record of British polite antisemitism does not get diluted by pointing to antisemitism in other countries. Britain is doing just fine competing with other European countries in that regard.
Shalom Lappin wrote a rather comprehensive overview of it, here;
http://www.yale.edu/yiisa/lappin_yiisa072.pdf
And you may be interested in George Orwell’s take on it:
http://www.george-orwell.org/AntiSemitism_In_Britian/0.html
You’d like to think she’s a “useful idiot”, but I’d probably drop the term “useful” from describing her. She’s nothing more the a tourist in a toilet. And the fake concern about her “children”, give me a break. Who is raising them while she goes out on her useless trek for the grossly stupid? Let her rot there and take her children away and give them to someone with some brains. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Hope she rots in Gaza. I would not generalize her actions to all of Great Britain though. Remember that scum like Rachel Corrie came from the USA….
Noga: I’m not in denial, if it was a problem then it is something I would be aware of and concerned about, given that my partner and many of our friends are Jewish!
I didn’t download the PDF you linked to as I don’t tend to download stuff I cannot verify first, however if you can provide a web-link I’ll be happy to take a look!
The other link is irrelevant, given that George Orwell died over 60 years ago and his opinions are merely an indication of how SOME people fell at the time… remember back in the 1940s anti-Semitism was prevalent in the USA too! I’m sure I could find a lot of American anti-Semitic comment from that time, but it would serve no purpose because we are talking about the current situation, not the past!
By the way, if anyone can tell me why a couple of my posts appeared and then disappeared later (after moderation), I’d be grateful. I don’t see any point contributing further if the site is censored. I wrote nothing in any way offensive (though other appear to without suffering censorship), I simply commented on the know animosity between Lauren Booth and Tony Blair!
What a phoney. Peeps we all should spread this lie she and other ‘activists’ are perpetrating or the islamists will have their way! BBC is too biased to do honest reporting that’s why we gotta take up the mantle!
I guess I’m a little more punitive than Lisa. I’d make her stay in Gaza for 6 months, then make her stay in the Old City in Jerusalem for another 6 months.
Nic:
Try this. You may have heard of prof. Norman Geras, who blogs at Normblog. I believe an article of his was once posted on Pajamas media:
http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2007/11/britain-and-the.html
There is also anti-Semitism on the far Left. This is a worldwide phenomenon; it is not limited to the UK or France, and in fact is not at its worst in either of these countries. In the UK and France today, for instance, leftist anti-Semites don’t sit in the cabinet.
In many countries, leftists who supported the USSR and its clients during the Cold War, and who bought into Soviet propaganda that was strongly laced with anti-Semitism, suffered an identity crisis when communism collapsed around the world.
When they realized that nobody is interested in their dead-end ideology these days, and when they were apparently incapable of rethinking their bankrupt positions, the most vicious and die-hard people on the left simply fell back on the politics of hatred. They no longer have an affirmative agenda at all.
Rather than realign themselves with democratic, open western countries, these extremists continue to align themselves with anyone who is “angry” and “oppressed” by America, or Israel, or Jews (or, for that matter, Christians – but never Muslims). Thus, they support terrorists like HAMAS and Hizballah and genocidal mass murderers like the Sudan’s Bashir.
Such die-hard leftists exist in the UK, France and other countries. Are they more common in the UK? Or are they simply more visible because when they try to take over a union, or when they spout nonsense on France TV, others are willing to fight back against them – because British and French societies are LESS deeply tainted with this kind of thinking than many other countries? Is it because they do more outrageous things (to get attention) than the anti-Semites in other countries, where distorted views of Jews are more more fully accepted by the broader population? (Booth’s idiotic propaganda stunt seems to be a case in point).
I have not lived in the UK for long periods but I have worked there at times, admittedly in high-tech, among younger, more pragmatic people. I have never personally met anyone in the UK who obviously took exception to me. I *am* aware of strains of anti-Semitism among academics, media, unions, etc. there. But what are the actual percentages, even among these groups?
Sorry this comment was so long.
Lisa, you wrote this: “I am an Israeli who opposes the blockade of Gaza. I do not believe in collective punishment, and I do not see any evidence that the blockade is either loosening Hamas’s grip on power or expediting the release of Gilad Shalit.”
Tell me, do you oppose the slaughter of Israelis by homicide bombers, random shooters, knife-wielders, and other Arab murderers? Are Jews less than Arabs that they should be subject to collective punishment by Muslims who would slaughter them just for being Jews.
My dear, if you are serious about your opposition to the blockade of Gaza (do remember why it’s necessary), I would suggest you venture into Gaza. See how long you would last there after you let them know you are a Jew. Then come back, if you can, and tell us about your opposition to the blockade.
I have no sympathy for the Arabs in Gaza. They are learning that genocide is not a good governing philosophy. One day, when they love their children more than they hate and want to kill Jews, there will be no more need for a blockade.
Helen,
Did you read page 2 of the article? Remember you are talking about THE Lisa Goldman. See One blogger mentioning her. I am not sure if she did this interview herself or a co-worker did it but she has been in Gaza.
If I was not charitable I would call you a bad name and say that it was people like you, with a different orientation, who got Rinat to stop blogging, a big loss to Israel and the mid-east in general. (Though I am limited in knowing her because I only read English.)
nic: i suppose banning israeli world class scientists (whose achievements are second to none) from attending a global scientific conference in the uk is not something you would consider anti-semitic. gee, for just 3% of the population (do the muslim fascists let you into their neighborhoods to do a census?) your scant muslim population certainly has quite remarkable clout. it’s funny. brit jews or even jews who spend enough time in the uk, seem to develop the stockholm syndrome. none of them say there is anti-semitism, and i have known some very close even in my own family. sadly, for jews in the uk, jew disdain is as plain as the nose on your face.
Helen,
The issue is the blockade is utterly ineffective and propaganda victory for Gaza. If there was a complete and utter cutoff from Israel – no people in, no people out, no goods out, no goods in and no fuel supplied, no “humanitarian aid”, no money, no taxes – nothing. Just say as far as we are concerned Gaza simply doesn’t exist and most importantly keep to it then it might have been worthwhile. What is happening now is the worse of both worlds, that Hamas gets the PR victory without much of the pain. Useless Israeli politicians boast about what they will do when every person with two brain cells know nothing is going to be done. That’s the objection – which I think Ms Goldman is referring to.
Judy, whilst I would love to think that “anti-semiticism” is the reason, I am afraid most of the “academics” are ignorant sheep and condemning Israel because it is a easy popular cause that ticks off the boxes – supporting “underdog”, tick; anti-american, tick; unlikely to have any consequences on my travel or academic arrangements, tick; unlikely to endanger me, tick; popular down the pub without having to learn any details, tick.
“Judy, whilst I would love to think that “anti-semiticism” is the reason, I am afraid most of the “academics” are ignorant sheep and condemning Israel because it is a easy popular cause”
Well, that argument hardly holds water. There is a pretty well established theory outt here that Hitler was not really antisemitic, that he used antisemitism because it was an “easy popular cause” around which to attract and mobilize people.
If there is a difference, I just can’t see it.
I don’t hate you personally but I’m on a mission. And that mission requires that I use the hatred others have for you, so I’m going to do it, even if it means that you are going to suffer for it.
Is anyone on this forum deluded enough to imagine that the British are in any hurry to have this woman returned to England?
She’s a bloody embarrassment, like her dad. I hope she get’s stuck there forever. It was her decision to go. Then it was her decision to stay. Now she is bleating because two other sovereign states won’t let her cross into their territory?
No, let her fester where she is.
Noga: Thanks for the link, but you are still talking about the past, rather than life in 21st century Britain. History is important, and we should certainly be aware of the past, but if we live in the past then we are in danger of loosing sight of the present. Britain, along with most other western counties, has changed its opinion about any number of things in the past few decades. For example, in the 1950s a man could be sentenced to life imprisonment for being gay, now not only has that law gone, but gay people have their rights protected by law (though that isn’t to say that they are universally accepted, you are never going to get everyone to accept every minority group, not here or in any other country)!
My point being that, yes, some people here in the UK don’t like Jews, for the same illogical reasons that they don’t like gays and/or black and/or Muslims. Every country has its bigots and its hate-mongers, but there presence doesn’t mean that EVERYONE in that country feels the same way. They are a minority!
Judy, NYC: If the scientist was banned because he was Jewish, then yes, that is an anti-Semitic act! If he was banned as part if this stupid row British academia has going with Israel, then it would be a left-wing political act, which almost no one in Britain outside of academia supports! These academics DO NOT represent the majority of British opinion!
As for the 3% figure, yes it did indeed come from the official UK census, carried out every ten years, which it is a legal requirement for everyone to complete accurately.
Stockholm Syndrome? OK, you are right, of course someone living in the New York would be more far more clued-up about everyday life for British Jews than those who actually live here in the UK! Those Jews, including members of your own family, are clearly all deluded, whilst your ‘all seeing eye’ allows you to see the real picture all the way from the other side of the Atlantic. I bow to your superior knowledge and will tell my partner and friends that they are deluding themselves and that they are actually living under some kind of Muslim fascist dictatorship. I’ll also remind the Muslim fascist that they have a Jewish Foreign Secretary (and potential prime minister if certain people in the labour party have their way), just in case they haven’t noticed, I’ll also point out how many more Jewish politicians there are than Muslims, just so they can have them kicked out of parliament too! I’m very sorry to have ever doubted you, you obviously know far more about life in Britain than those who actually live here!
I won’t question your superior knowledge any further, please accept my humble apologies!
Monty: Here, here! You’ve hit the nail on the head. Especially as Lauren Booth has taken up certain causes as much to embarrass Tony Blair as anything else!
Anyone noticed that she did not buy,soap toothpaste,or deorderant.
Another self-righteous Briton, they created concentration camps in SA, had real apartheid in the same place even before it became the RSA, ran a brutal occupation in Northern Ireland and yet produce useful imbeciles like this lady. Every second of media attention is one too much.
Whoever travelled the ME knows that a lot of regular cities are no different from what one sees in Gaza, but here a mostly self-inflicted tragedy.
well done. I like your approach to the facts and showing how absurd so many so called peaceniks are when in fact they are outright presenting lies as if facts and cause more damage than good.
there are ways to create peace, lying about the reality is not one of them. blindly supporting the palestinians and their situation is not either. I’m sure there are hardships for them and I’m sure some Israeli soldiers treat them poorly, but that is a sliver of the whole picture. why is the world demonstrating against the so called Israeli occupation and few demonstrate against the palestinian lies and atrocities of their terrorism and even the entire palestinian situation being fabricated as admitted by its originators?
and good for the Israeli government to play into this stupid mess.
again, well done, great reporting on the reality.
is any media covering this properly? Is anyone else also checking these facts? I mean photos or videos of the crossing could be shown. the accompanying photo wonderfully shows a gazan mart is not quite like people would think based on typical reporting.
I meant to write: and good for the Israeli government for NOT playing into this
good good…this post deserves nothing …hahaha just joking
…nice post 