Israel as Victim . . . .

I saw the TV spot from the Canada-Israel Committee this morning and found it deeply depressing. Only the most dishonest kind of political spin can portray Israel as such a poor innocent victim. Here is a nation which, with the backing of the strongest Western Countries took the land of Palestine by force using the worst kinds of violence, (even against Western Nations when they thought it would be useful). They have maintained this power with billions and billions of Western dollars which has built one of the strongest military powers in history, as well as maintaining a nuclear arsenal against international treaties. But worst of all they have continued for a generation to illegally build settlements on land that is not theirs, against the will of the entire world except for the US, and this constitutes the worst kind of terrorism, because it is the intentional destruction of a people and a culture.

And after all this, the Israelis have the gall to portray themselves as victims because they know that it is an easy and effective spin. It would be like the American or Canadian governments trying to portray themselves as victims of Native groups. Own up to your active part in the conflict Israel! Leave the occupied territory, dismantle all the illegal settlements, dismantle your nuclear arsenal, help to constitute Palestine as a legitimate and prosperous state with a stake in the region's future. And then, if you have done all that and you still suffer from this supposed external hostility, you can start suggesting you are a victim.

If you'll pardon the expression - 'man-up' to your own expansionist and militaristic intentions.