Kindness

An editorial in the PA mouthpiece Al-Hayat al-Jadida falsely claimed that the spread of coronavirus in Israel had “caused the Palestinian prisoners in the occupation’s detention camps to protest and return the food portions, because the occupation authorities have not taken the necessary steps to prevent the spread of the virus, and added insult to injury when they withheld disinfectant and cleaning materials from the prisoners — as if we are on the brink of a holocaust against the Palestinian prisoners, but not through ovens but rather through an invisible virus that still has no cure!”Comparisons between Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and the murder of millions of Jews in gas chambers (“ovens”) by the Nazis during World War II are routine in the Palestinian press.

Yes, even in the midst of the universal war against a common invisible enemy some deeply imbedded cultural features sem to be unalterable even as it defies the natural survival instinct. So prominent is the anti-Jewish component of their culture that apparently a life without it is just not worth living. For almost a year now, I have been bringing my elderly mother to Hadassah hospital for monthly eye injections. I have thus been able to observe how a good percentage of those being served there are Arabs enjoying the best medical care in the Mid East; some from the "Palestinian Authority". It is my feeling that though they are very keen to receive the kind care that the Jewish state and its advanced and generous medicine offers, this experience does not change their hostile views about Jews and the Jewish state. Why would I make such a blanket statement? True, I have not interviewed all the Arab visitors to Hadassah.

First, there is a long list of anecdotal cases of Arab beneficiaries of Jewish medical assistance only to return the kindness with hate and terror sometimes directed at the very hospitals and staff that help them. One may argue that for every such case there are perhaps many who feel differently and that only negative stories are given media attention. I might agree with this assessment if the "good" Arabs protested the "bad" ones, as Jews immediately do when a Jew does or says something that is in any way offensive to Arabs. On the Arab side there a sickening silence in face of all too common Jew-hatred and terror but their "leaders" spare no words in praise of it. The "Arab side" includes the entire gamut of their politicians throughout the Arab/ Muslim world (including Israeli Arab), clergy, writers, legal sector, mainstream, and social media. The myriads of Arabs who benefit from Jewish largess and large hearts have not pushed the dial one iota including the PA who depends on Israel for its very life-breath.

Arabs don't hate Jews because of the state of Israel; they hate Israel because of Jews. Bottom line is that the Arab lust for hate is the cause of their misery. No amount of Jewish kindness will altar that. On the contrary, it is just another reason for their frustration.

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