Opinion: European Sanctions Against Israel Border on Criminal

Israel has been finding itself the focus of increasing boycotts recently, in what is reminiscent of the days before World War II and its anti-Semitic characteristics. But we cannot say the nations ganging up on us evoke associations of the Holocaust or we will find ourselves facing the banal accusation of “cheapening the Holocaust.”

Those who would accuse us of doing so cynically say we are using our historic catastrophe to justify the wrongdoings we perpetrate against the Palestinians.

Winter is a good time to read some of Nathan Alterman’s poems. Just like in his poem about the little boy named Abram, news of the 70 nations armed with the hatchets of financial sanctions is multiplying. It seems that ever since Abram left his home in the old country, the nations have been restless, eager to bring him back there, to the house of death, so they may kill him in his sleep, just as they killed his family.

This burning hatred is not solely the nature of nations and individuals such as the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton. It is also second nature to prominent individuals, such as Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters, best known for “The Wall.”

Waters is unfazed by the horrors of the world: Millions of Syrian refugees are fleeing President Bashar Assad’s forces; thousands of people are butchered in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen; and millions of Africans die a myriad of strange deaths and drown by the dozens en route to Europe’s shores, while others are shot to death as they infiltrate the borders of social welfare states. But Waters is obsessed with only one thing—the Israel-Jewish “apartheid.”

It seems that Waters and his ilk are driven by a secret desire to see the Jews placed within the confinements of “The Wall”—but not the imaginary one that sprang to the feverish mind of a band whose psychological disorders were the soundtrack of our youth, but the one of the ghetto. This humanitarian used the image of a black pig with a red Star of David painted on it as part of his 2013 summer tour of Europe.

Waters and his ilk are unwilling to hear how the security fence saves Israeli lives from Palestinian terror, which is why it is imperative that Israel retain control of the Jordan Valley.

Those who hate us refuse to understand that Israel is the best possible example of a people united, regardless of the color of their skin, and that nothing can be further from us than apartheid.

For many, like this despicable man, the Palestinians and their claims are the hatchet with which they can realize their burning hatred for the Jews. None of them can be accused of loving the Palestinians, of course—they just hate us more.

The 70 nations refuse, for some reason, to accept that the refugees’ elders have died, and since one cannot inherit being a refugee, their children reside in Arab countries that deliberately deny them citizenship. Both these Arab nations and the international bodies care little for ending the conflict and much for perpetuating the current situation, as they would rather use the aid money given to them for their own benefit while ignoring the plight of true refugees.

The 70 nations ignore, for some reason, the fact that the Palestinians do not strive to end the conflict but to end the state of Israel. They ignore the uselessness of reaching a peace agreement with an illegitimate Palestinian leadership, heading a divided and terrorist people that claim land that is not theirs. They rally to the Palestinians’ side unilaterally, and their officials compare Israel to racist South Africa and describe its actions as crimes against humanity. These are pots calling the kettles black in an attempt to purge themselves and their parents of the crimes of the Holocaust.

The 70 nations ignore, for some reason, the fact that the land of Israel was our home at a time when most of them—the Palestinians included—lived in tents and caves. They seek to use the crime of sanctions, the new face of anti-Semitism, as their weapon of destruction. Just like in Alterman’s poem, “We are upon you with 70 decrees and 70 hatchets.” This is a belligerent attempt to force us back to that death house.

In our world, power is the only thing of significance. When the nations, including Iran, come to realize just “how great the strength of Avraham is,” they will relent, and that is word enough to the wise.

For the original article, visit israelhayom.com.