Love of the Land: Dear Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin

Dear Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin

David Harris
In The Trenches/JPost
08 April '10

I'm an admirer of Ireland, a country whose charm, culture and beauty have all captivated me. And, as a Jew, I always identified with William Butler Yeats' famous quote, "Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy."

But reading your recent op-ed, "Gaza a Year Later", in the International Herald Tribune, was another story entirely.

Is it naiveté? Do you really believe that "the medieval siege conditions" you describe in Gaza are nothing more than an Israeli desire to inflict harm on another people, as if Israel were not governed by a moral code deeply embedded in its DNA?

Is it ignorance? Are you unaware of what's been going on in Gaza, including the brutal nature of Hamas rule, the smuggling of ever more sophisticated weapons, or the thousands of rocket attacks launched against Israel?

Is it fear? Are you seeking to ensure that Ireland doesn't come in the crosshairs of global jihadists?

Is it projection? Do you assume that all the people of Gaza today want nothing more than the people of Galway, namely, peace on earth and good will toward men?

Is it transference? Do you see the Gazans as the Catholics of Northern Ireland, even if Catholic nationalists never called for Britain's destruction as Hamas calls for Israel's every day?

Someone without any knowledge of the region would deduce from your article that Israel, having nothing else to do, simply decided one day to make life unbearable for neighboring Gaza.

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Love of the Land: Dear Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin