Last week, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Ron Prosor, published an op-ed in the Guardian calling for an honest discussion of the situation in Gaza. In contrast to those challenging Israel’s policies regarding Hamas, Prosor argues that Hamas is a danger not only to Israel but also to its own people. Hamas has retained its hold on power by eliminating rights to speech and expression and by misappropriating the very aid–supplied by Israel–meant to help the Palestinian people. The Western world, he writes, would do well to take Hamas and its threats to its neighbors at face value.

Showboating over Gaza
Israel last Saturday permitted two boats of protesters to land on the shores of Gaza. This disappointed the more aggressive agitators in the party, as they hankered for a confrontation with the Israeli navy that never came. Yvonne Ridley, on board making a documentary for an Iranian state-funded broadcaster, must have been particularly frustrated.
Having thoroughly assessed the security risks, Israel granted the ships safe passage. The protesters came ashore with enough hot air to fill the 5,000 balloons they’d brought for the children of Gaza. They also delivered 200 hearing aids. Yet their silence regarding Hamas’s abuse of its own people, let alone Israeli civilians, has been deafening. continue reading…

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