I’d like to call your attention to two items in the news that I believe are very telling of the true situation in the Middle East.
The first is a story about the former White House reporter Helen Thomas who resigned in disgrace after making extreme anti-Semitic comments on camera. Since her embarrassing resignation she has not backed down from or apologized for her comments and has even continued to espouse anti-Semitic and anti-Israel remarks.
Thomas’ own peers have distanced themselves from her and her entire career has been tainted by the more than likely possibility that her reporting has been highly biased. The Society of Professional Journalists even decided to discontinue a yearly award bearing Thomas’ name due to her bigoted comments. So why then did Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas honor her with an award “recognizing” her long career in the field of journalism?
Apparently Abbas and the entire Palestinian Authority openly embrace offensive and anti-Semitic comments. Hopefully, this embrace ends at the level of rhetoric and doesn’t extend to anti-Semitic actions, however rare that possibility may be. If the Palestinian Authority is truly interested in peace and advancing the Palestinian cause one would think that they would not embrace the extremist racist ideology promulgated by the discredited reporter.
The second story that struck me reported that medical workers for the Palestinian Red Crescent, the equivalent of the Red Cross in the United States, have been arrested as suspects in an attack. If true this wouldn’t be the first time that elements of the Palestinian Red Crescent have been involved in a violent attack in some way.
Medical workers across the world uphold a Hippocratic oath obliging them to respect life. Yet it seems that for some Palestinian medical workers this oath, and a common compassion to mankind, doesn’t apply equally to everybody. Contrast this with Israeli hospitals that treat Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Muslims, and everyone else according to their need and regardless of their disposition. On a daily basis Israeli doctors and other medical workers save lives of Palestinian men, women and children who need medical care that is not available to them in the Palestinian territories. So as Israeli medical workers treat everyone equally and according to their needs, all the while reaching out at their own expense to help their neighbors who lack proper medical care, some Palestinian workers actively work to inflict harm on their neighbors.
Photo credit: Jerusalem Post
