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A.P. photo/ Eyad Baba -- tunnels neutralize much of the blockade
Fifty-four Democrat Members of Congress accused Israel of inflicting “collective punishment” upon the people of Gaza. They urged President Obama to pressure Israel to end its [partial] blockade of Gaza.
The 54 were challenged by a pro-Zionist group, American-Israel Action Coalition for “Israel-bashing.” The Coalition represents a quarter-million Americans living in Israel.
The Coalition argued: (1) The 54 should have mentioned that Israelis no longer are present in Gaza; (2) The group should have mentioned that Hamas, elected by the residents of Gaza, now is responsible for the people’s welfare; and (3) Hamas received hundreds of millions of dollars worth of foreign aid, but diverts that money for the people’s welfare to war and its preparation (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/, 2/3).
The first two Coalition arguments by themselves are not relevant or logical. The presence of Israelis is not relevant to whether the Israeli blockade inflicts collective punishment. The responsibility of Hamas for its people is not a logical answer to accusations that a blockade is creating hardship for the Arabs there.
The third argument is appropriate. It shows that Hamas harms its people and makes sense in combination with the second argument, that the people elected Hamas to do this. So the Arabs there share responsibility with Hamas for their own hardship. However, the culture and elections there are not free, and the people had a poor choice between two sets of jihadists. They rejected Fatah for its known corruption. On the other hand, the people support jihad. Therefore, we are back to the people causing their own difficulties, as has been the case with the Arabs during their whole, unnecessary conflict with the Jews. This is not a case of collective punishment of an innocent people.
The world is not honest about this issue. Whatever means of self-defense Israel attempts, the world objects. If Israel made war, residents would suffer too. The world objects so much to a swift war to root out Hamas, and end the terrorism, that Israel resorts to blockade.
This leaves unchallenged the question whether the blockade is proper and what sort of punishment it is. Hardship is alleged but smuggling is so extensive, that one wonders how extensive the hardship is. Little documentation is produced.
Blockade is a traditional and legal means of warfare. Certainly, Israel is under no obligation to let food and medicine through its borders into Gaza, but it does. Some Israelis wonder why Israel furnishes Gazans with electricity, which assists the Hamas military manufacturing, and why Israel gives money to the Palestinian Authority that, in turn, transfers some to the enemy economy in Gaza. In any case, does the group of 54 suggest that the Jewish state has a duty to aid an enemy that oppresses its own people and tries to exterminate the Jewish people?
What the 54 Members of Congress suggest, that the U.S. President pressure Israel, is improper. Perhaps they did not suggest actual pressure. When George W. Bush was President, Democrats accused him of pressuring foreign countries. That would be a good standard for themselves.
Indeed, U.S. anti-Zionist policy has for decades perpetuated or at least facilitated the Arab-Israel conflict, by aiding the Arab aggressors. It is time that the U.S. determine what policies are in its national interest and not just in the interest of well-connected corporations or biased officials.
When many countries blockaded the Union of South Africa, for terrorizing its own people, there was no outcry that that was collective punishment. It was recognized that this is a way to bring down the oppressive regime. Why an outcry against Israel, attempting to bring down an equally oppressive and aggressive regime?
Where is the Congress Members' moral indignation against Hamas for smuggling in weapons with which to attack Israeli civilians? Their one-sided indignation is hypocritical.
(To read something about how Hamas treats the people of Gaza, click here )
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