Tom Friedman is one of my favourite columnists with the New York Times. His column in Saturday’s paper is one of those that causes you to pause and think about some things.
He’s discussing an apparent change in world opinion against Israel. The context is an Israeli film maker who arranges for a seriously ill Palestinian baby to be treated in Israel. When the baby is brought home to Gaza, his mother says she hopes he grows up to be a suicide bomber against Israel. Her apparent hatred is palpable despite what Israelis have done to save her baby.
The complete article can be found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/opinion/08friedman.html?src=me&ref=general
Here’s a brief excerpt:

I’m not here to defend Israel’s bad behavior. Just the opposite. I’ve long argued that Israel’s colonial settlements in the West Bank are suicidal for Israel as a Jewish democracy. I don’t think Israel’s friends can make that point often enough or loud enough.
But there are two kinds of criticism. Constructive criticism starts by making clear: “I know what world you are living in.” I know the Middle East is a place where Sunnis massacre Shiites in Iraq, Iran kills its own voters, Syria allegedly kills the prime minister next door, Turkey hammers the Kurds, and Hamas engages in indiscriminate shelling and refuses to recognize Israel. I know all of that. But Israel’s behavior, at times, only makes matters worse — for Palestinians and Israelis. If you convey to Israelis that you understand the world they’re living in, and then criticize, they’ll listen.
Destructive criticism closes Israeli ears. It says to Israelis: There is no context that could explain your behavior, and your wrongs are so uniquely wrong that they overshadow all others. Destructive critics dismiss Gaza as an Israeli prison, without ever mentioning that had Hamas decided — after Israel unilaterally left Gaza — to turn it into Dubai rather than Tehran, Israel would have behaved differently, too. Destructive criticism only empowers the most destructive elements in Israel to argue that nothing Israel does matters, so why change?
No comments:
Post a Comment