The perception of Israel we’re fed by the media in Europe is of a militaristic, racist totalitarian state, something I believed for many years. The wholesale abandonment of logic and journalistic impartiality as the Palestinian narrative has become THE narrative of the region. It’s become cool to Pro-Palestinian, well in actuality those groups and individuals that support things like the Boycott of Israel and hurl abuse at representatives of Israel on British campuses aren’t pro Palestinian, they don’t help Palestinians one bit(read Khalid Abu Tomah article), they’re anti-Israeli. Don’t get me wrong being supportive of Israel does not mean you can’t be critical of Israel, in fact in a democracy as Israel is there are many groups and organisations representing a vast spectrum of political, religious and social views, even in the most liberal democracy’s I don’t know how the idea of a member of parliament calling for the destruction of the state would pan out, yet this is quite the norm in Israel. We’ve seen in recent weeks and months how people wanting to vocalise opposition to their rulers have been treated by other countries in the Middle East. Israel is a democracy, where each citizen has a vote, an independent judiciary steadfastly treating all equally in the eyes of the law and protecting the rights of all of Israel’s citizens. This is what is probably most amazing about Israel, in the most difficult of circumstances it has maintained its democracy, its given power to its people, while so many nations, some pre-dating the re-establishment of Israel by decades keep their people subjected by all manner of dictatorships, yet Israel bashing seems to take priority, the criticising oppressive regimes who send tanks to crush peaceful protests.
But why Israel, there are other democracy’s in the world, what makes Israel so special, because no nation on this planet has constant assaults on its actual sovereignty the like Israel suffers no nation’s very existence is questioned as Israel’s is, no nation focus of targeted campaigns to damage and destroy the viability of it as Israel does. The question is what makes this okay? Why can Israel be singled out, a democratic state, with freedom of press, judiciary, where freedom of worship is guaranteed, while the likes of Saudi Arabia, where a Muslim can be locked up for praying.