'Why Gaza saddens me'

Someone on the Left who seems to get it - Paul Estrin, the Chairman of Canada's Green party - says that Gaza makes him sad. Here's why.

It has nearly been ten years. Since August 2005, Gazans have been in control of their own destiny. Some might say otherwise, yet Gazans have their own government and they are their own people: If their neighbours, Egypt and Israel, close their borders to Gaza, one must look to a Gaza run by a terrorist organization cum government that teaches and propagates hate, death and destruction to understand why.

Since then, stories of resources being used, such as concrete supposed to be used for infrastructure for civil use instead used for purposes of terrors, or stories of repression of the people there by its own government, or stories of how under Hamas rule people no income or ways to support themselves … I’m reminded of Bill Clinton’s remark “It’s the economy, stupid” … but instead of showing openness to the world, or managing, or caring ... Gaza has instead shown that it is not interested in peace, in building a stable economy, in a secure future.

The Gazan government has had ample opportunity over these past years, nearly a decade, to alter its ways, change its mantra of death to the Jews, and become respectable caretakers of the people in their charge.

They have not.

Surely they could have done more. Should have done more.

We can forgive them for at first being overjoyed with the departure of the Israeli forces, and them as a terrorist organization unable to initially take up the challenge of good governance.

We can forgive them for not immediately changing their charter. In Canada and elsewhere, national charters protect the people. In Gaza, the first article calls for the death of Israel and the Jew. (Let me quote just a bit: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." I would like to believe all of us in our organization can see how atrocious such a statement is, and that we would believe in things like the right of people to not be obliterated …)

They said, they being the Hamas government newly in power, they needed time. They have had nearly a decade. What is the holdup … oh, wait, the hate and desire to obliterate.

So, let us fast forward past a decade’s worth of battles, wars, incursions, etc.

How much aide has Israel given Gaza? How much has the world given Gaza?

Giving aid is worthwhile, a noble cause. But, has it gone to the people that need it? Ten years …

So, now, this month, what do we see:

Israel is more threatened than even because its neighbour, instead of caring about the welfare and well-being of its citizens, cares about the cause of killing, of carrying the banner of martyrdom, and of watching its fellow people die.

And yet, these are the same people who are embraced and loved by the international community, with marches on Parliament Hill in Canada’s capital, and in cities throughout the world, holding banners and chanting about the destruction of the state of Israel and of death to the Jews.

Meanwhile, Gaza uses UN locations to launch or house weapons … yet the international community cries out, a day after the UN itself admitted this and said that this practise puts at risk those in these facilities given that these places then are not safe havens but rather places of war to be targeted ..

Meanwhile, Gaza is giving children grenades … and asking their citizens to be sheep to the slaughter.

Gazan officials tell their people to be killed while they hide in bomb shelters.

Cowards? No, this is worse than cowardice. It is vile and ugly and they should be put to shame.

Read the whole thing.  No, it's never been about a 'Palestinian state.' It's always been about destroying Israel. It was started by the Arab countries immediately after Israel's War of Independence. Many of the Arab countries have given up on destroying Israel, even if they won't say so. But they're still not willing to face the consequences of their actions. They're not willing to help resolve the monster they created. And the monster still wants to destroy us all.