As you can see from my name that I am an Icelander, and I am a supporter of Israel´s fight against the terrorist organization Hamas. It irritates me tremendously when I hear government ministers and the media laying the blame for the current situation in Gaza and the West Bank almost solely on Israel.
Ministers and the media are always quick to point out the number of deaths of Palestinians compared to Israeli deaths as a way of showing who is the victim.
What they never mention is that Israel takes enormous steps to minimize civilian deaths in any military operation it undertakes, but it is very difficult when hamas uses civilians as human shields and fires rockets from schools and mosques.
The problem with this skewed view held by many Icelanders is as I see it not antisemitism, though i don't deny that it exists in Iceland.
The reasons for this skewed view in my opinion are as follows:
- A biased media that too often neglects to report on the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas, not only on Israelis but also fellow Palestinians, like their persecution of members of any opposition to their rule, Their intentional targeting of civilians and their fetish for killing Jews.
- Failing to hold Hamas to the same standard of conduct as they do the Israelis, this was demonstrated when our foreign minister condemned Israel for the Mavi Marmara "Incident" before any investigation into the matter had been undertaken and failing to retract his statement when footage showing the Turkish crew members attacking Israeli soldiers armed with paint ball guns with rebars and knives and continuing to attack one soldier while he was down.
- A lack of real debate on the issues.
I hope that one day Iceland will come to realize that Israel is a friend, a friend facing a real threat from people that wish to destroy not just Israel, but everything Israel holds dear: Democracy, free speech, equal rights regardless of gender, sexual preference, race and religion.
