The Holocaust of our time

“Aid convoy attacked by commandos”

This was the main news title which glared at me this morning from my computer screen and my shock and horror grew as I read news story after news story on this very subject. It seemed that a “civilised democracy” had attacked an aid convoy which was on its way to help impoverished people. As the action was taken in international waters it is classed as piracy some 20 aid workers lost their lives (at the last count) and many more were injured. As well as this the ships were then forcibly taken and are now being forced to dock in a port controlled by this country. The UN is very clear about what acts should be taken when an act of piracy happens on the high seas.

Article 100 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea clearly states that “all states should cooperate in the fullest extent in the repression of piracy on the high seas”

To clarify what piracy is a definition is given in Article 101 “any illegal acts of violence or detention against a ship or aircraft or against property or persons on board such ship or aircraft”

Therefore under UN rules this act by these terrorists is clearly piracy as defined by the rule of law. Therefore we should be expecting an international taskforce like the one in the Gulf of Aden patrolling Somali waters getting ready to free the aid workers held by these terrorists. However I forgot to mention one thing that these terrorists were Israeli commandos ordered by their superiors to carry out this raid. Therefore this taskforce idea will have to wait for a very long time. It seems that Israel has been given an unlimited number of get out of jail free cards by its western donors which allow it to cause transgression after transgression. Most notable of which is the biggest concentration camp in the world known to us as Gaza.

Gaza has been under siege for the past three years the main reason for this siege being that the wrong party won the elections held in Palestine. But it seems that in the Gaza strip democratic elections are only fair if the party that Israel supports wins. The people chose Hamas and because of this the Israelis imposed a siege in order to slowly starve the people of Gaza into submission. The Israeli list of blocked items includes basic foodstuffs and medical supplies which the Israelis claim if allowed in would be used to strengthen Hamas. This to me and a large part of the world looks like collective punishment. This under Article 50 of The Hague Regulations of 1907 and the Fourth Geneva Convention is illegal. But the world will carry on without batting an eyelid. From time to time we get condemnations from foreign ministers of nations here and there but after the attack on the Freedom Flotilla it is now clear that words are not enough and action must be taken against the unruly and spoilt child that is Israel. It seems that our leaders think that because of the holocaust the world now owes Israel. It is because of this reason alone countries do not take action against Israel for fear of being labelled as anti-Semites.

The Israelis as victims of the dark spot on human history known as the holocaust should clearly understand the wrongs they are committing and the pain and fallout it causes but instead they have gone from the victims to becoming the victimisers and are in the process of carrying out a systematic genocide against the Palestinian people. The gas chambers may be gone but it seems that the weapon of choice for the new holocaust instigators is the wall surrounding the Gaza strip and the restriction of food and basic supplies. The means may have changed but the end is still very much the same. Gaza is the holocaust of our time.

The question is what are we going to do about it?

Freedom of Speech?

This week I came across something on the internet called Draw Muhammad Day. The purpose of this was to exhibit freedom of speech and to show Muslims that they cannot stop people insulting their religion or so I think. The reason why pictures of Muhammad are not allowed by Islam is so people do not start worshipping that likeness instead of god. Someone told me this is stupid but if you think about it is that not what has happened to Jesus. People bow down in front of the statue of Jesus on the cross in their churches in order to beg for forgiveness or to fulfil some want or whatever reason. In effect bypassing god and praying to Jesus. Now back to the point, this draw Muhammad day got me thinking when does freedom of speech become hate or does it never become these things. Just the words freedom of speech indicate that there is no limit to what can be said no matter how insulting or hateful and this is where the problem lies.

This drawing day was clearly a provocation to effect a reaction I don’t know what reaction the provocateurs were after, they probably don’t know themselves what reaction they were looking for. My guess is that this was just another one of them post 9/11 Muslim bashing ideas that went viral on the internet. If freedom of speech is insulting the faith and ideologies of another person then I’m perfectly happy with speech restrictions. Have our western ideals really decayed that much that in order to “educate” people regarding their religion we have to stoop to disrespecting and insulting it. Is this what the creators of freedom of speech really intended to happen. Think of this as a real life scenario if i were to call your mother a whore or a Jewish person a Zionist scumbag or Stephen hawking a freak on wheels is this still freedom of speech. After looking at some of the drawings it was very clear that the drawers were intent on causing the most insult possible, this to me showed that this was not freedom of speech but freedom to insult and humiliate. Freedom of speech is one of the cornerstones of any free society but we have to be careful to ensure that freedom of speech does not become a vehicle of hate. The purpose of freedom of speech is to invoke argument for the purpose of understanding not insult for the purpose of hate. Ask yourselves this question; by drawing a picture of Muhammad what was my aim and was it related to freedom of speech in any way shape or form?

I’ve mentioned this to people before that since 9/11 Muslims have become the new Jews. This draw Muhammad day merely brought it into perspective as it demonstrated just how far the enmity towards the Muslims has got. It seems that people are telling the truth when they say that history often repeats itself. Draw Muhammad day can be likened to when Goebbels ordered the Third Reich propagandists to draw insulting pictures of Jews in order to alienate them. If history truly does repeat itself then remember this poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller.

"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."