A Short Note on Equivalence and Anti-Semitism.

No doubt we’ve all heard or read about the International Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, among others, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Joe Biden of the USA – which is not a signatory to the ICC and is keen to keep Israel onside purely for strategic purposes – called the warrant ‘outrageous.’ He said there was ‘no equivalence’ between the actions of Hamas and those of the IDF. Well, nobody takes much notice of anything Biden says any more, but let’s suggest an analogy:

Somewhere in America live two families, one white and one black. They’re near neighbours, but the white family believe themselves to be superior to the black family and constantly treat them badly in all manner of ways. One day the black father snaps. He breaks into the white family’s home and shoots the mother dead. That’s murder, no doubt about it. When the white father discovers what has happened he goes to the black family’s house armed with an assault rifle. He sprays bullets everywhere, killing everybody in the house including the children. That’s multiple murder. And that’s the equivalence.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu predictably called the issue of the warrant ‘anti-Semitic.’ And here we have the same old smoke screen belching out ad nauseum to shield the Israeli hard liners from blame, no matter how hideous their actions might be. The warrant has nothing to do with anti-Semitism, which is an expression tragically misunderstood by those of little brain and frequently misappropriated by those who should know better. I needn’t go on because I’ve done so often enough on this blog. (But I do suspect that there are probably a lot of good Israelis in Israel who would love to see the back of Netanyahu and his cohorts.)