Missta‘ting’ the facts
I would like to comment on Sunday’s ridiculous article (“Negotiations impossible if parity is not created,” Oct. 12, page 8) by Hoon Ting, a so-called political commentator who was commenting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Ting began by lauding Sweden, which on Oct. 3 announced that it was ready to recognize Palestine as a state. He mentions that when land was partitioned under the UN Partition Plan for Palestine in 1948 “the state of Israel was quickly established,” while “setting up the Arab state … [was] interrupted by war.” This makes it sound like the war was an external event, but the sad reality is that in the conflict, six Arab armies attacked Israel.
The delay in establishing the Palestinian state was due to a desire to have all the land and it is the Arabs who were responsible for the war and the delay. The Palestinians were told to wait until the Arab armies drove the Jews into the sea and the Palestinians would then have the entire country, both Arab and Jewish sections.
Interestingly, Ting glosses over these events. In his one-sided diatribe against Israel, this misinformed (I will be kind) commentator mentions “Israel’s frenzied onslaught against Palestinian civilians,” referring to the Israel-Gaza conflict in July and August.
In the latest conflict, there were more than 30 terror tunnels built to kidnap Israeli civilians. Once again, there is no mention of the casus belli, the slaughter of three Israeli children or the 4,500 rockets fired from Gaza into Israel.
Ting also omits that Gaza’s de facto rulers Hamas fired these rockets from the vicinity of schools and hospitals. The UN even mentioned finding weapons at three of its schools. The claim that almost all the victims were civilians is ludicrous — Gaza did not send soldiers in uniform to attack Israel, they were all in civilian clothes.
Israel sent warnings before they bombed targets, including by telephoning residents so they could flee to safety. This was an unprecedented act of compassion on the part of the Israel Defense Forces. Meanwhile, Hamas told these same residents to stay put.
In some cases, they were kept there by force so that Hamas could cynically take photographs of dead babies to shock gullible people like Ting (who has no idea what the real situation in the Middle East is) into believing genocide was taking place.
Hamas’ rockets were crude devices, so few Israelis were killed and several hundred of these rockets actually fell short and killed people in Gaza. That became another photo op.
Ting also neglected to mention that Hamas’ charter calls for the annihilation of the Jewish state and that Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization by the UN, the EU and the US. Only Israel is expected to deal with terrorists and to give them a platform to destroy the country.
If Ting is a typical political expert, Taiwan will be in big trouble trying to negotiate with China. Israel is surrounded by 350 million Jew-hating Muslims and Taiwan is facing 1.5 billion Chinese. Both nations deserve compassion and understanding. Ting needs to find another career.
Palestinians should have their own state, but by electing Hamas and choosing violence, they show the world — and Israel in particular — that they are simply not ready. The Israeli leadership’s primary duty is to protect its people. As long as Hamas puts its efforts into tunnels, rockets and photo ops, things will not change.
Chaim Melamed
Pingtung
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