The world can go jump in a lake

Several activists with French Communist Party stickers on their shirts were wandering the Aix-en-Provence market on Saturday morning, explaining to anybody willing to offer a few moments that the Palestinians were the paradigmatic victims of the 20th century, and that Israel remains unwilling to grant Gazan citizens independence.

A few minutes earlier on the French news channel BFM TV, I watched as leader of the New Anticapitalist Party explained why he is satisfied with the authorities' decision to allow yesterday's pro-Palestinian demonstration in Paris. "We are here to express our full support for the Palestinian underground and to protest against the extreme right-wing government ruling Israel," he said.

There was no word, God forbid, on Hamas' sixth breaching of a cease-fire, no word about the ongoing rocketing of Israel, no word about Hamas' very existence as a terrorist group. It's no wonder then that French Jews have encouraged the Israel Defense Forces to complete its objectives, just as Israeli citizens do. Anyway, the world will always be there to denigrate, deride, denounce and dog after Israel. If it is ultimately impossible to satisfy the international community, let us at least satisfy ourselves.

You should notice that as far as pro-Palestinian activists -- they are also anti-Israel (though they'd never admit it) -- are concerned, the facts are unimportant. Israel does not control the Gaza Strip; Israel left Gaza in 2005; Hamas is recognized by Western governments as a terrorist organization. But for the extreme Left in France in particular and in Europe in general -- this group doesn't represent the majority in Europe -- Israel has become the world's greatest woe.

Without a doubt, the extreme Left in Europe is a minority, but Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip also number less than 20,000 people. The extreme Left has become Europe's Hamas. A revolting cohort, which theoretically battles the extreme Right as well as Holocaust deniers, are no better. In my opinion, they are "modern Holocaust deniers." Under the guise of human rights activists, they do not recognize Israel's right to defend itself, which is simply a mask for their non-recognition of Israel's right to exist. How audacious do you have to be to actually believe that we are the next imperialists?

For family reasons, I left Israel for 36 hours. It is unpleasant to be an Israeli abroad these days. Diaspora Jews made the choice to continue residing outside Israel, and being a Jew abroad is no great pleasure. But we chose to live in Israel, despite the trend to move to Berlin. Just witness our vindication.

Anyway, the war in Gaza has two possible readings, and they are the opposite of each other. In Israel, one senses consensus. A whole society stands behind its marvellous army and supports that military's mission.

Here in France, the public believes that the Israeli army is an aggressive occupation force and that Israel is an extreme right-wing society disrespectful of its minority -- basically, Israel is an apartheid state. And you wonder why I want to go home-

The left-wing Liberation newspaper asks on its front page: "Is it possible to judge a war-" Similar to other international media, this newspaper too perceives asymmetrical force between Israel and Hamas. Compare that now to responsibility for war crimes, and it reads, "Both sides broke the law." The periodical states, "According to international law, Israel and Hamas are committing war crimes." Here, symmetry exists.

In other words, if Israel behaves as a terrorist organization, Israel is a terrorist state. So why are we still surprised when the street erupts in demonstration against Israel, whose credit has steady dwindled? After all, we're talking about a terrorist state battling a terrorist organization.

And as anti-Semitism in the UK hits an all-time high, perhaps the greatest weekly published in the world today, The Economist, has issued an admonition saying Israel "is winning the battle, losing the war." This is very similar to a piece in the The Atlantic last week by Jeffrey Goldberg, a journalist with close ties to President Barack Obama, whose conclusion is rather similar to that of The Economist.

And just as in Goldberg's piece, the British weekly examines the world in which the Gaza battle is being waged: a world that sees Israel as "a terrorist state," where extremist anti-Semitism is becoming more rampant all the time, where anti-Semitism is no longer hidden, anti-Semitism whose proponents are not only unabashed, but proud, vindicated. The article starts with a discussion that was held at a library in Manchester, where the question was raised of whether Israel is a mistake. Of the forty participants, not a single one of them bothered to say "no."

So now's the time to say that the world can wait. Israel is at war, and it's no less important than 1948. It is a war over the right to live, the right defend oneself. The world can wait. If I were less polite, I'd say the world can go jump in a lake.

And speaking of hypocrisy, former French star Eric Cantona joined that pro-Palestinian rally. He offered his name and star power through the networks to ask French President Francois Hollande how he has continued to pursue the same policy against brutal Israel.

Cantona criticizes violence. At this rate, it won't be long before Mohammed Deif starts preaching against killing. There's no limit to hypocrisy.

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