Day: 26 February 2009

Israel is being criticised by Hillary Clinton over not allowing pasta across the border into Gaza. It’s in trouble for not allowing other stuff in too, such as building materials.

Today Ha’aratez announces ‘Pasta is not a weapon’ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1067055.html. But it could be. Do you remember the 7/7 bombers who used ‘innocent’ food products to create bombs. This is Israel’s fear. But is this fear more important than the impression blocking this and other shipments gives to the outside world? 

Israel’s main priority is to protect its own citizens and bring pressure for the release of Gilad Shalit (who I actually doubt to be alive. I hope I’m wrong). But Israel is consistently losing out in the propaganda battle against Hamas. There is no doubt Hamas can use all sorts of stuff to manufacture weaponry. Can Israel really stop this by an embargo? Even if they can, they bring upon themselves accusations of ‘collective punishment’.

Now, for me, ‘collective punishment’ is a close relative of ‘war crime’, two phrases with enormous emotive weight when used against Israel. ‘Collective Punishment’ is what the Nazis did. ‘War Crimes’ is a phrase redolent of Nuremberg. And so Israel is beaten with the stick of its own people’s collective nightmares. These two terms when used against Israel are blunt instruments which fail to distinguish between Israel’s actions and motives and those of true criminal regimes (Sadaam Hussein and President Bashir of Sudan for example). 

Israel has to make careful calculations weighing the appeasing of world opinion against the threat such appeasement brings to its own people. If it eases the embargo to bring some relief to Gazans will this result in more rockets? Maybe it needs to take the risk to demonstrate that this is the case. With a White House now determined to show a more even-handed approach and to seek rapprochement with the Muslim world, Israel may have no choice in the end.