The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has rebutted the claims made since the recent war in Gaza that Palestinian Arabs are attacking Israel on account of the Israeli blockade of Gaza, noting that, were this the case, Palestinian Arabs would be also attacking Egypt, which is maintaining a very similar blockade on Gaza. The reason Palestinian Arabs are firing missiles at Israel, but not Egypt, is because they seek to kill Jews. The Palestinian Arab war on Israel is the result of on-going Palestinian Arab refusal to accept the permanence and legitimacy of the Jewish state of Israel, as repeated polls of Palestinian Arabs show.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “The Israeli blockade of Gaza –– which was necessitated by Palestinian Arab terrorism both before and after Hamas seized Gaza in 2007 from the Fatah/PA –– is not the issue. If it were, why would they not demanding that rockets be fired into Egypt to lift Egypt’s similar blockade on Gaza? Why aren’t they firing rockets into Egypt?
“This is about hating the Jews and seeking to destroy the Jewish state, not blockades, restrictions or any other bill of particulars.
“Moreover, the Israeli blockade is a legal, limited maritime blockade, designed to prevent weapons and war materiel reaching Hamas-run Gaza. There is no embargo on food, medicines or other supplies. Far from starving and depriving Gaza, Israel continues to provide it with electrical power, even during hostilities. Clearly, Palestinian Arab terrorism and aggression do not stem from Israel’s blockade.
“The war in Gaza is not about scarcity of land or resources –– other territories are far more densely populated and are often wealthy and prosperous, not wretched and poor. Hong Kong, Singapore, Monaco and Macau all have much large population density than Gaza –– in the case of Macau, the population density is over four times that of Gaza. All these other places are prosperous and flourishing and have some of world’s wealthiest people, largest ports and highest GDP. Gaza could be the Singapore of the Middle East. It’s poverty and strife is due to it waging war and terrorism on Israel and devoting the vast resources of international aid it receives to terror tunnels, rockets and other weapons, not construction, commerce and trade.
“It’s time this canard –– which defames Israel and thus the Jewish people –– was buried.”