Amira Hass has written an important article in Haaretz originally titled The Flotilla and the Jewish Stereotype. I mention “originally” because within the 10 minute interval of drafting this post for you last night Haaretz has changed the title to “In dealing with flotilla, Israel is anything but smart”. Which is true of course, in dealing with flotilla, Israel is anything but smart. Hass discusses why and how in the article; read the whole thing, especially the end: “blocking the flotilla only increased their motivation to keep placing the Palestinians’ demand for freedom at the forefront of the international agenda.” But the article is a jewel, a keeper, because of what she says about the Jewish stereotype, or the one lacking lately in the public image.
In anti-Semitic caricatures, the cunning Jew is doomed to lose and his control over the world is fated to come to an end. But Israel’s government is revising the caricature and sketching a glorious victory. A war of attrition, in the form of mysterious breakdowns and unprecedented red tape by the Greek authorities, thwarted the flotilla’s original plan to anchor off the Gaza coast. When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly thanked the Greek government, he knew full well what he was thanking it for.
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This is a convenient time to be using pressure tactics. Greece’s socialist government is in a fragile situation, as the European Union and the International Monetary Fund are forcing the country to adopt an austerity plan that most of its people oppose. True, the fact that Greece has become a subcontractor of the Israeli army did not bring the masses into the streets, but there is no doubt about it: The sympathy of the Greek soldiers who arrested the Tahrir’s passengers and of the bureaucrats who delayed them was with the flotilla and with Gaza, not with their government’s orders. That’s all we need: another country whose government gets along well with Israel in complete opposition to popular sentiment.
The flotilla’s organizers added a term from the world of business and globalization to their description of Israel’s domination of the Palestinians. Israel, they said, was outsourcing the industry of the blockade on Gaza. In exchange for reward, a foreign government – Greece – took on an active role and adopted a deliberate policy of keeping the Gaza Strip one huge prison.
Logic dictates that a government whose policy validates anti-Semitic stereotypes ought to worry Israelis and Jews worldwide. But the Israeli government is doing what its voters want and believe in. For there is one stereotype that has not been recycled here: that of the wise Jew.
(my bold)
It’s not often I disagree with Hass and she is brilliant in this article. But I think perhaps she discounts the fact many of the flotilla activists are Jews (wise ones).
Do not miss this article. What’s the reason Haaretz changed the title (original found here)?
