Arab activists are fighting hard to oppose any intervention in Syria against the country's dictator Bashar Al-Assad. And their strongest argument is not that Assad didn't use chemical weapons to kill 1,429 civilians in a Damascus neighborhood on August 21, 2013, but rather that Syria shouldn't be criticized because no one criticized Israel when it used White Phosphorous against Palestinian Hamas fighter in the Gaza Strip in 2008 and 2009.
The issue to the extremist Arab activists is not the issue of the killing of civilians, even though that is what they scream in their protests about Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip. No, their complaints are driven by political considerations, driven by the hatred of Israel and their belief that Syria is a part of the anti-Israel network led by Iran and Hezbollah.
So many Arab activists have responded to the Syrian chemical murders of the civilians in Damascus by asking, "Why don't we condemn the Israelis for using White Phosphorous against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip."
It's an outrageous argument to oppose responding to Syria's use of weapons of mass destruction.
The point is that Syria is murdering civilians today. Israel is alleged to have murdered civilians in 2008 and in 2009 during its war against the Hamas terrorist organization that Israel provoked the day it was clear that Obama would became America's first Black president (with a Muslim middle name, Hussein, and also close friendships with key palestinian activists with whom he has since distanced himself.)
I'm no defending the use of White Phosphorous chemicals by Israel's military. Clearly, Israel is accused of war crimes in its assault on Hamas in 2008-2009. But the activists are not saying "Yes, let's condemn both Syria and Israel." They are using Israel as a shield to prevent the condemnation of Syria. In fact, the Arab fanatic activists are defending Syria against accusations that it intentionally used chemical weapons to murder the civilian residents of a Damascus neighborhood where the Syrian rebels had a stronghold. The Syrian army had failed to weed out the rebels and could not move to Aleppo to purge the rebel stronghold without first destroying their presence in Damascus.
So, according to Secretary of State John Kerry and British Prime Minister David Cameron, Syria carefully planned a chemical assault against the Syrian rebels over a three day period and then gave their military protections, medicines and gas masks. The Syrian dictatorship then prevented anyone from entering the area for four straight days after the chemical attack was launched. And then Syrian military units pounded the area targeted with chemical attacks but bombarding four times harder than it had any previous rebel held territories. The Syrian military was trying to destroy the evidence of chemical weapons.
In the case of Israel, the Israel invasion forces used White Phosphorous as a cover for its soldiers, resulting in some civilian deaths. UN Inspectors reported several dozen deaths and serious burns from its use in civilian areas.
That's not justified, but does it compare to the murder of 1,429 civilians in Damascus?
The real issue is the failure of the extremists Arab activists to gain any major international support behind their allegations that Israel used White Phosphorous against its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Their failure is a reflection on their inability to get their facts right. They often exaggerate their facts to make it worse. The call Israeli racism and discrimination, which is non-government policy, "Apartheid" because in the minds of the extremists Arab activists, it's not enough to be racists. Israel has to be Apartheid, too.
But Israeli policies are not Apartheid. They are discriminatory by practice, not government policy.
Their failure combined with their desire to protect Assad who they view as a cornerstone of the crumbling anti-Israel front in the Arab World is their motivation.
Rather than denounce Assad for using Chemical weapons, they want to distract the argument away from Assad to Israel. They failed to make their case against Israel, although they continue to exaggerate the facts surrounding Israel's limited use of one chemical agent, White Phosphorous.
They are trying to say that it is okay to kill 1,429 civilians in Syria and that the only issue the world should focus on is the use of chemical weapons by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Both are crimes. But the Syrian government use of Chemical weapons is one of the most heinous widespread atrocities in the Middle East, far more severe that Israel's use of White Phosphorous.
Worse is the absence of principle and the balanced application of International Law by the extremist Arab activists. They want to condemn Israel because they are driven by hate and anti-Semitism. They want to protect Syria because they are driven by selfish political policies.
Those failures are in fact the reasons why today's debate is on Syria and so few in the International community are focused on Israel.
- RAY HANANIA http://www.hanania.com