March Madness

As explained by Wikipedia, “mad as a March hare” is a common British English phrase, both today and in Lewis Carroll’s time in the 1800s.

This March seems no exception as far as Israel is concerned. In fact it qualifies as yet another vintage example of lunacy exceeding anything written by Lewis’s “Alice in Wonderland.”

Any month of the year is open season for Israel phobic individuals and groups but this current month has attracted a record number. With Passover and Ramadan coinciding, the stage is set for an orchestrated symphony of mayhem. Ramadan is supposed to be a month of fasting, prayer, reflection and community.

No amount of hypocritical exhortations by international and local politicians will avert the annual hate festival generated by Islamic extremists at this particular time. Any gestures Israel will make in a misguided attempt to avert violence will fail as it has done in the past.

As most Israelis know from past bitter experience, Islamic religious observances are inevitably the perfect occasion for incitement and terror. The tragedy is that instead of tackling the root problem it is usually the victims who get the blame especially if they retaliate.

When masses are brainwashed and historical truths are inverted and most critically when the next generation is educated with lies it is certain that the problem will never be rectified. UNRWA schools controlled by Hamas and the PA continue to use textbooks which preach delegitimisation of Israel and Jews. Despite this, international aid continues to flow. No wonder increasing numbers of teenage Palestinian Arabs find it legitimate to murder Israeli men, women and children.

A perfect example of how this plays out is illustrated by a speech given a few days ago by the PA Prime Minister on behalf of Abbas, President for Life and internationally anointed saint of democratic values.

“This land has been ours since the time of the Canaanites. We do not need to provide proof that we are the original owners of the land.” 

The land he is talking about is all of Israel including Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem. Note that he claims that no proof is necessary to validate their fantasy. The reason of course is that there is no proof to back up these claims. That is why the PA frantically disposes of all evidence validating the presence of Jews here well before the advent of Islam and the fake Palestinians.

Wouldn’t you think that following this fictional historical connection to the Canaanites there might be some sort of rebuttal from our own Government as well as from overseas officials, commentators and academics? Unfortunately this is not the case. Our own politicians are either too busy attacking each other or have abandoned the fight in the name of woke political correctness. As the international community remains mute the lies and fables manufactured by so called peace partners multiply and become the accepted gospel. My guess is that the garbage spewed forth from Ramallah is deliberately ignored in world capitals because it suits the nauseous narrative that Israel must surrender parts of its homeland in exchange for genuine peace.

Continuing the March hare madness theme one must hand out prizes for “chumps of the month” to the following (in no particular order of insanity).

It has been reported by several news media sources that the Biden Administration proposes to provide five thousand Palestinian Arabs with commando training in Jordan. These commandos in training who will be provided with 5,000 rifles and presumably enough ammunition will in effect join the thousands of Fatah and Hamas supporters who already are in possession of illegal weapons. Does anyone in their right mind actually believe that these enforcers (many of whom may already have carried out terror attacks) will fight the terror groups now running rampant in the PA territories?

This hare-brained scheme which could only have been hatched in the warped minds of totally detached progressive officials ought to be literally shot down before it can gain traction and menace every single Israeli. So far, there has been silence and as we all know where there is silence acquiescence follows.

Meanwhile, the annual Jerusalem marathon has taken place with participants from all over Israel and also from abroad. Many ran as part of groups raising money for various worthy charitable causes.

Not by chance, but by deliberate design, the PA decided to organise their own marathon event in Bethlehem. Organised by the PA Olympic Committee whose head is a well-known inciter of anti-Israel rhetoric (Jibril Rajoub) this event should normally elicit no criticism. The only problem however is that like everything else Abbas and his cohorts are involved with, it has been used as a means to once again delegitimise Israel. The T-shirts worn by the runners displayed a map of Palestine which unsurprisingly encompassed all of present-day Israel. Anyone with even a superficial understanding of the way the warped minds of our “peace partners” work will have received the message loud and clear. The marathon uniform made the ultimate objective of the PA perfectly unambiguous.

Pretending that this plain message is really a harbinger of peace remains the prevalent default position for hallucinatory progressives and UN members. Proof of this assertion was provided by the staff members of the UK Consulate to the PA. They participated as Team UK and proudly posed for photos wearing the T-shirts which wiped Israel off the map.

Apologists for this blatant display of perfidious British hypocrisy will excuse it by suggesting that either the Consulate representatives did not understand the logo or they did not notice it. Both excuses, of course, are rubbish.

Confirmation that this shameful episode was no accidental lapse of Foreign Office protocol was subsequently revealed.

The UK Consul General to the PA based in “occupied” Jerusalem has met with a senior PA cleric (Mahmoud al – Habbash) who also happens to be an advisor to President Abbas. Sounds innocent enough, doesn’t it? Well, this Islamic man of the cloth has claimed on TV that “Jews are cursed by Allah and are like apes and pigs.” In case this message was not clear enough, he also stated that “the Temple Mount must be returned, liberated, defended and purified from the defilement of the occupation (i.e. Jews) and theft.” This was reported by PMW and the UK Jewish Chronicle.

Think about this for a moment. An official UK diplomatic representative meets a PA official who is on record spouting this sort of incitement. Is this another case of “we didn’t know” or rather a deliberate display of what the UK really thinks about Israel and its citizens?

It should not be too difficult to arrive at an answer, especially when you take the reaction of the UK Foreign Office into consideration. After being challenged by the JC to explain this miserable piece of British diplomacy, the Foreign Office completely ignored the questions and responded that “British policy is to support a 2 State solution.” If that does not clarify exactly where the UK stands, then nothing else does. With proclaimed “friends” like these, who needs enemies?

Proof that drippy diplomats are not confined to the Court of St. James is provided by the incredible response of the German Ambassador to the attempted lynching of two German tourists who drove in their Israeli rental car into Nablus. They wished to purchase some coffee and were attacked by mobs of Palestinian Arabs convinced that the tourists were Jews. Shaken and one hopes now wiser as to the realities of the situation here, they were rescued.

Incredibly the German Ambassador’s subsequent reaction included these words: “we know the pain of the Palestinians. We support their peaceful aspirations towards a State.”

These totally inane sentiments explain why level-headed sane Israelis have long since lost any respect for those who burble such unhinged tripe.

I mentioned that this March was madder than usual.

One wonders how loonier it can get.

Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.