According to a BBC survey, Israel is second only to Iran in being globally disliked. It would be humorous if it weren't so absurd. Or perhaps, it is both humorous and absurd. Have we done anything to deserve this? No...actually not.
It is like the hysterical (and wrong) claims of Suha Arafat, loyal wife of Yasir Arafat who couldn't even wait until he was dead to try to claim his embezzled fortune. She talked about Israel handing out poisonous candies to Palestinian children, poisoning the air they breathe, etc. And those who listened, nodded with a blank sort of stare in their eyes...WHAT was the woman talking about?
But nonsense soon becomes fact, when it comes to Israel. Look at the whole uproar about a collapsed gate leading up to the Temple Mount. The gate is OUTSIDE the Temple Mount walls and yet the Arabs put forth the concept that we were undermining the Temple Mount itself (the ramp simply attaches to the wall - on the outside (and the wall is several meters THICK). No matter. Facts mean nothing when hatred and ignorance prevail.
What can Israel do about it? Perhaps the answer is in something like this blog - THIS is Israel - all the good things we do around the world, technological developments, medical breakthroughs. We stand as the ONLY true democracy in Israel. We treat THOUSANDS of Palestinians in our hospitals - how many Germans are treated in French hospitals; how many Canadians in US hospitals? The answer is far fewer than what we deal with because both Canada and Germany invest millions (perhaps even billions) in their internal medical and care giving infrastructure. How much do the Palestinians spend on their health care? More specifically...why is so much spent on making war instead of seeking health?
Does the world see this? No - we are condemned for not treating MORE Palestinians - even though this has, on more than one occasion, been used as a method for attempting to launch a terrorist attack. Does the world hear about the rockets on Sderot?
No - the world has its mind set...and that is sad indeed. So, we are just above Iran on the "we don't like you" scale. We could spend all our efforts trying to change this and probably still fail - and so, with regret (and yes, a bit of a smirk), we accept this. Our accepting it - doesn't mean we like it - but we do not try to fool ourselves into thinking we can change it. The reason is as old as time and almost as deep as our roots in this land.
And so - in answer to the fact that the world doesn't like us - we can only say - THIS is Israel!
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