Israel the illegitimate country

Just a few pieces that caught my eye this week that show how there is always one country that is fair game for vilification by UK media and personalities, in a way that other countries just aren't.

First Honest Reporting report the recent Dubliner op-ed piece that included lines such as:

'the Zionists have absolutely no right in what they call Israel, that they have built their state not beside but on top of the Palestinian people, and that there can be no peace as long as contemporary Israel retains its present form.

...

Did the Jews of the Old Testament come from what is now Israel? The answer is No.'

Do read the whole of the Honest Reporting article and it's links, most illuminating.


Second Honest Reporting take on the UK Advertising Standards Agency for declaring that Israel may not use the 'Wailing Wall' in it's advertising as it is not in Israel. Oddly I don't remember the ASA being interested in other territorial disputes such as China's invasion and overrunning of Tibet.


Third Frankie Boyle defends his 'jokes' about Israel that even the anti-Israel BBC found unacceptable. Here are the jokes:

"I’ve been studying Israeli Army Martial Arts. I now know 16 ways to kick a Palestinian woman in the back. People think that the Middle East is very complex but I have an analogy that sums it up quite well. If you imagine that Palestine is a big cake, well…that cake is being punched to pieces by a very angry Jew."

And his defence is as one-sided as one would expect:

'The situation in Palestine seems to be, in essence, apartheid. I grew up with the anti apartheid thing being a huge focus of debate. It really seemed to matter to everybody that other human beings were being treated in that way. We didn’t just talk about it, we did things, I remember boycotts and marches and demos all being held because we couldn’t bear that people were being treated like that.'

Maybe someone could educate Frankie Boyle as to the realities of the Palestinian/Israeli situation; but somehow I doubt that his mind would accept anything other than the Palestinian position. That is a shame as he seems an intelligent man; anyone up for the challenge?