I wasn’t really surprised with the results of a survey that were published by the Israeli newspaper Maariv. According to the survey, 82 percent of Israelis wants the leaders of Hamas, who the Israeli government holds responsible for the capture of one Israeli soldier on July 25, to be killed.
They also want Palestinian leaders to be murdered in revenge for Hamas attacks on Israel in recent years. To be quite honest I wouldn’t have been surprised if Israelis had asked their government to put to death the entire Palestinian population.
When I read this article, a question came to mind: What if there was a similar poll gauging the views of Palestinians? What if most Palestinians called for the death of Israeli leaders? Would such a survey be considered to be an example of freedom of expression? Or would the Palestinians be accused of ridiculously being anti-Semitic or terrorists?
When Israelis elect extremist right-wing governments such as the Likud party, whose leaders incidentally are wanted terrorists and war criminals in Western capitals, then they are considered to have made responsible decisions in a liberal and democratic situation.
But when Palestinians democratically elect Hamas — a party that is similar to the French Resistance in struggling against a brutal occupation — then they are considered to have committed a violent act contrary to the rules of peace. At this point we then notice countries like the US pressuring other countries across the globe to suspend relations with the Hamas-led government and calling for Palestinians to be besieged. Don’t you think such judgments are unfair?
Finally, I’d like to express my gratitude to the Israeli education system for teaching Israeli children from a young age how to hate people, especially Arabs. Thank you very much.
