WHY SHOULD THE PALESTINIANS IN GAZA RECEIVE HUMANITARIAN AID WHILE THE ISRAELI HOSTAGES RECEIVE NOTHING? - Benny Gantz must make the case for the double-standard in the delivery of aid.
By: Joseph Puder
Friday, March 8, 2024
What is galling about the pronouncements by US President Joe Biden and his Vice President, Kamala Harris, regarding the need for the immediate entry of humanitarian aid to serve Palestinians in Gaza, is that the same courtesy is not extended to the Israeli kidnapped hostages being held in Gaza tunnels.
The Biden administration and the sycophantic media do not insist publicly that a list of names of the living Israeli hostages be provided. Moreover, neither the administration’s echo chamber in the media nor administration officials are demanding publicly that food and medicine be provided to the hostages. The world at large has said little, if at all, about the fact that no neutral party has been allowed by Hamas to visit the hostages and ascertain their physical and mental condition. This double standard is a clear definition of antisemitism.
Shortly before VP Harris’ meeting with Israeli War Cabinet Member Benny Gantz she addressed the media saying, “Israel has a right to defend itself. Far too many Palestinian civilians, innocent civilians have been killed. We need to get more aid in, we need to get hostages out and that remains our position.”
To clarify, most of the Palestinian civilians Harris considers to be “innocents” voted Hamas into power. Additionally, many of those same civilians died because Hamas was using them as human shields and kept them hungry because the aid provided by the US is being largely stolen by Hamas operatives. And, while Harris speaks of getting the hostages out (she neglected to mention the actual words Israeli hostages) she said nothing about bringing aid to the Israeli hostages who have been tortured, raped, and starved by their Hamas captors.
Earlier this week Benny Gantz, leader of the National Camp Party, was in Washington on a mission that is vital to the preservation of Israel’s relationship with the Biden administration. It is apparent that Biden’s attention is focused on the November elections, and he is under pressure from the “Progressive” wing of his Democrat Party to force a cease-fire on Israel by conditioning arms supplies and denying Israel US support at the UN Security Council. Biden has stopped short of cutting off arms and ammunitions to Israel, and his administration is still vetoing anti-Israel resolutions at the UNSC. But his criticism of the Netanyahu government has become more intense.
As long as Israel cooperated fully with Washington and complied with the Biden administration wishes, Israel was able to count on Washington’s support in most situations. However, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision to partner with Ben Gvir and Smotrich, in order to maintain his coalition government is now costing him increased hostility from Washington which might bring about a drastic change in the reality Israel could be facing. A new situation that Israel has not experienced in the last fifty years. Israel, moreover, has no substitute for America, not in the security and defense sphere or in the economic, and legal realm.
It is clear that the Biden administration is hoping to use Gantz’s visit to discuss changes in the Israeli government and probe possibilities to bring down the current coalition government. Gantz would be happy to be Washington’s favorite, and as such, gain major points in the next election contest with Netanyahu. Still, Gantz is an Israeli patriot whose country’s interests are paramount. Gantz is, therefore, likely to attempt to tamp down the U.S. administration’s growing criticism of Israel and create operational space and support for the impending move into Rafah by the Israel Defense Forces and, the likely larger campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Although Netanyahu was against Gantz’s trip to Washington, mostly for political reasons, and Smotrich labeled Gantz “the weak link” in the Israeli war cabinet, Gantz is likely to positively present Israel’s case with regards to the humanitarian aid and the Israeli hostages in Hamas’s captivity. He should make a strong case in support of the families of the 134 remaining Israeli kidnapped hostages in Gaza who are blocking the entry of aid trucks through Kerem Shalom to Gaza as long as their sons, parents, children, siblings, and mates are in Hamas’s cruel captivity without knowing their condition or whether they are even alive at this point.
Following his meeting with the Senate majority and minority leaders, Chuck Shumer, and Mitch McConnell, respectively, Gantz rebuffed questions from reporters on whether the US should deal with him instead of Netanyahu. Gantz was quick to respond: “No, no, no. Israel has a prime minister (Netanyahu).”
It is obvious that the enemies of Israel always have a louder voice. With a billion and a half Muslims in the world and only 16 million Jews the level of deference is towards the larger demographic. In addition, you have a new alignment of the Green and Red - radical Muslims and radical leftists - which has magnified their voice in the mainstream media, the social media, and on campuses worldwide.
Justice, however, is not necessarily with those who scream the loudest and intimidate through violence. Israel has been attacked in the most brutal of ways and has every right and justification to defend its people. The expression, “Never Again,” following the Holocaust in which Six Million defenseless Jewish man, women, and children were brutally murdered for the crime of being Jewish, means that those who murder Jews will now pay a price.
Palestinian women and children must not be deprived of humanitarian aid, but we must demand that the Israeli hostages get the same consideration - perhaps even more. They, the Israeli hostages, were the victims of the very Palestinian people who now clamor for aid, and while the attention of the world is on helping the Palestinians, no such compassion is given to the Israeli hostages.