HYPOCRITES
(Article by Ben-Dror Yemini, Ma'ariv, 31.5.07, pp. 1, 9)
[English translation provided by Israel Government Press Office]

Why are we witnessing a recurrent historical phenomenon, a different law for
Jews - a unique and racist law - as opposed to all others? It is not
morality. Because, if human rights and human lives were what interested
the British, they would devote much greater energy to what is happening in
Darfur than to what is happening in the West Bank.

The British lecturers know the truth. They are at least supposed to know.
They know that in Chechnya, for example, Putin's Russia wiped out tens of
thousands of Muslims; some say hundreds of thousands, in order to regain
control of the rebellious region. They know that the Israeli army is the
epitome of humanity compared to the Russian army. They know that in Central
Europe, in Srebrenica, more Muslims were slaughtered in one week than have
been killed in 40 years of Israeli occupation. They know that British
soldiers, who control the Basra area in Iraq, and US soldiers in Baghdad and
in other areas, behave much less humanly than do the Israeli soldiers in the
West Bank, or Judea and Samaria. They know that the Syrian regime brutally
suppresses the Kurdish minority, and jails any intellectual who dares to
open his mouth against the regime. And, given this, they have not decided
to boycott Russia, Britain, the USA or Syria. A partial list. They have
decided to boycott only Israel.

Why? How is it that, once again, the Jews - excuse me, citizens of the
Jewish collective - are again deserving of boycotts even though they did not
perpetrate any crime against humanity then, seventy or eighty years ago, or
now, if we compare what other countries have done, including Britain, to
what Israel is doing to the Palestinians. Why? Why are we witnessing an
astounding, recurrent and disturbing historical phenomenon of a different
law for Jews - a unique and racist law - than for all others?

It is not morality. Stupid is the person who thinks that the British
morality glands are working overtime. Hypocrisy does not go hand in hand
with morality. Because boycotting Israel and not Syria or Russia, leads the
British hypocrisy, and not the British morality, to new records. Because if
human rights and human lives were what interested the British, they would
devote much greater energy to what is happening in Darfur than to what is
happening in the West Bank. The answer, hard to believe, is petrol. The
conflict here shakes the stability of the world oil markets. British
lecturers are deluding themselves that sacrificing Israel will appease the
Muslim tiger. They, at least, want to ingratiate themselves with the nations
that control most of the petroleum market. They are not boycotting the
Saudis whose repression of women is much greater than the repression of the
Palestinians. And not the miserable dictatorships of other oil nations.
Are you kidding? They wouldn't dare. True, the main reason is
brainwashing. The blue screen transmits to the British - and not just to
them - many more pictures from Beit Hanun in Gaza then from Chechnya or
Basra. About Darfur there is not much to say. Arab Muslims are massacring
black Muslims, a real massacre. Genocide. Hundreds of thousands have
already been murdered. Millions of refugees. And that's alright. Because
the hypocrisy of the British academics is not easily excited about

./2

anything unless it is portrayed on the television screen. And what is on
the screen is mainly what is easy to attack. Not what needs to be attacked.

The good news is that things must be put into perspective. Two months ago I
was present at some lectures in the framework of "Apartheid Week" that
called, for example, for the destruction of Israel. Some well poisoners
from here were present, such as Yitzhak Lior and Eyal Sivan, Israelis who
abhor the Jews' right to their own country. And - lo and behold - the
lecture halls were nearly empty. Those present were mostly Palestinian
students, a few Jewish Israel-hating activists and a marginal smattering of
somnambulant left-wing radicals. Most British know that the problem is not
occupied Palestine. The problem is Londonstan, which is being overrun by
Islamists who declare vociferously: We want to raise the green flag over
London. And therefore, the lecturers' decision is, for the most part, proof
of the decline and miserable state of its academia.

I only wish that it were possible to say that it is only happening there.
This disease is here as well.