Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Hamas closes border. Isn't that a crime against humanity?




The world's humanitarians love Hamas. They love 'humanity'. 

They stand up for Hamas. They protect Hamas. They demand 'humanity' be protected.

For example, whenever Israel closes its border with Gaza, humanitarians call immediately for action against Israel ("Israeli closure of the Gaza strip: a crime against humanity", globalresearch.ca, November 24, 2016).  They say closing the border is a crime against humanity. They demand an investigation by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ibid). They want the criminal Israel punished!!! 

Humanitarians claim that a border closure creates a 'collective punishment' of the Gazan people. They argue that Gazans depend upon an open border to get goods it needs to survive. Close the border, and the transfer of vital goods stops. When that happens, survival becomes difficult.That threat to Gaza's collective survival is a crime against humanity.

That crime must be punished. Punish the criminal Israel!

Despite such an avowed humanitarian concern for Gazans, two news stories appeared recently that make one wonder how seriously the world's humanitarians take this concern. It seems the border between Gaza and Israel recently got shut down. But it wasn't Israel who shut it. It was Hamas (Adam Rasgon, "Hamas closes Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel", jerusalempost, March 26, 2017). 

Humanitarians said next-to-nothing about that closure. Only Palestinian NGO's and the UN spoke up (Ben Ariel, "UN criticizes Hamas over crossing closure", arutzsheva, March 30, 2017). 

They spoke up--but they didn't say the Hamas border-closing was 'a crime against humanity'. They didn't call for the ICC to prosecute the 'criminal' who closed the border. They didn't shout loudly enough to get a 'collective punishment against Gaza by Hamas' headline. 

On these questions, they were silent. Their humanitarianism is limited. It doesn't include a concern for Hamas humanitarian crimes. 

What about all that 'collective punishment' humanitarians say Gazans suffer when Israel closes the border? Silence.

Isn't 'collective punishment' particularly harsh when Hamas closes the border against its own citizens? Silence.

What about the grave concern for Gazan survivability? Silence.

Humanitarians tell the world repeatedly that the criminal who closes that border must be punished--for humanity's sake! Well, the border was closed. Shouldn't the criminal who just did that be punished?

Apparently not. For this closure, all Hamas got was a clucking of tongues. Apparently, the only time closing the border becomes a horrific crime against humanity is when Israel does it--even if Israel does it for self-defense reasons. 

Humanitarians act this way because they have rules. Rule number one is, a 'crime' by Israel is a a grave moral concern that must be denounced at once. Rule number two is, a crime by Hamas is no moral concern at all. 

They're correct. Ignoring Hamas crimes is not a moral concern. 

It's a moral hypocrisy. It's the kind of hypocrisy that proves that humanitarians aren't humanitarian at all. They're just Israel/Jew-haters who dress up to fool you. 

Are you fooled yet?

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