FATHER FRANK’S RANTS - Children of Gaza

Rant Number 398 3 June 2010

Lecturing & gobbling up Kultur in New York last week, escorted by my nice godson Felix, a seemingly incongruous thought struck the priest. Triggered off by the news of the takeover of the boats meant to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. The rulers of Israel behave a bit like my late uncle Amerigo.

Uncle Amerigo got his name after the explorer who gave America his name, Amerigo Vespucci. A wealthy man, he lived in Naples. Occasionally, he would visit us in Rome. A good man, no doubt, but not one to bring children much cheer. Because he never, never brought me, still little, any present. No toys, no sweets, no cash gifts, nothing. He was that sort of man.

How are the Israelis like – actually, worse than - uncle Amerigo? Simple: they deny the children of Gaza any toys. Because toys are amongst the items the Israelis ban from impoverished Gaza. The embargo is a cruel one. It includes jam, chocolate, dried fruits and toys. Can you imagine them turned into Kassam rockets or any other kind of weapons? No way. Collective punishment is the name of the game, apparently. And the meanest kind of punishment is surely that of the innocent. Depriving children from toys. A peculiarly low thing to do. I cannot think of any rational justification for that, apart from sheer nastiness. What have the children of Gaza got to do with Hamas? Even if their parents are, how can children be guilty of that? And treated as if they were?

‘It is a horrible thing to teach children to hate.’ A statement made by a young Israeli during an interfaith conference I attended in America way back. He meant, I think, Palestinian children indoctrinated by their parents to hate Jews. I wonder whether that young man today thinks that the toy ban will diminish or encourage that hatred. Trying to stop kids from enjoying the most harmless, natural amusements – is that conducive to feelings of amity towards you? Of course, the priest may be naive. And sentimental (I am!). The long siege of Gaza, the occupation, the killings, the humiliations, the disruptions of daily life are enough to generate hatred galore. But the toy ban seems to exceed them all, in terms of pettiness and stupidity. What in God’s name are the Israelis hoping to achieve with that? It beats me.

Poor uncle Amerigo has long been in eternity. I pray for him sometimes. However avaricious to his little nephew, he never meant to stop any child from playing at all. Neither will the Israeli ban keep Palestinian children from their childish games, I am sure. Kids have an inborn ability to amuse to invent games and to lose themselves totally in play. In the backstreets of Cairo I saw some kids role-playing the muezzin, the worshippers at prayer, even the minaret. But I am sad thinking about the games the Gaza kids may play now – taking murderous revenge one day on their enemies. Growing up in hatred. Indeed a terrible thing for a child. I am sure there are plenty of humane, decent Palestinians who would never wish to bring up their little ones that way. In this case, alas, that hatred seems fostered primarily and foolishly by the Israeli authorities.

With the raids on the Gaza Flotilla Israel has scored a spectacular own goal. Even the Israeli ambassador to London has deprecated them. I have just watched Tony Blair, that man of sin, declaring on TV that the Gaza blockade should come down. (Quite remarkable, considering the way he contributed, when PM, to messing up the Middle East.) If there was anyone in the Israeli government with real savvy, they would immediately cancel the side of the ban that target kids. Moreover, Israeli kids should start sending toys to their Palestinian counterparts. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Vain hope, I fear.

By enforcing this ruthless, cruel and petty embargo Israel is actually making a rod for its own back. They intend the blockade to turn the Gaza population against Hamas, for which they democratically voted, and so undermine the power of that Islamist organisation. However, as a correspondent of mine, the able Murad Al Shishani, has argued in a recent article for Al Ghad Arab paper, there is increasing Salafi-Jihadist activity in the Gaza strip. Such activities are helped by the crisis the people of Gaza are suffering because of the blockade. They result in increasing alienation amongst youngsters. They may abandon Hamas to join more extreme jihadist groups whose outlook is far more radical than Hamas. The dire consequences of that may soon be felt by all of us around the globe.

The wages of hatred is always terrible. When it comes to children, it is doubly inhuman. Hannibal, the great Carthaginian general and hero, was taught as a child by his own father Amilcar to be implacably inimical to Rome. The father indeed forced the son to swear a solemn pledge, holding him over a fire. Hannibal kept his promise. He won great battles and came close to annihilate Rome but eventually it was he who perished and Carthage was utterly destroyed. Today the tourist who visits its insignificant ruins near Tunis may muse over the melancholy fate of that once mighty city. A lesson, perhaps. Paraphrasing St Paul: verily, the wages of hatred is death.

I suppose some Israelis will counter that it is all the Palestinians’ fault. That radical Islamism stands behind their current woes. That fanatics have used children as suicide bombers. That Hamas & Co. wish to wipe out their nation. Drive its people into the sea. Undermine Judaism. And even commit holocaust on the Jews. Familiar lines. Maybe only a Jew can fully comprehend their paranoia. Hatred of Israelis is just as bad as hatred of Arabs. I certainly would set my face like flint against anyone who sought to commit genocide on God’s ancient people. Still, thank God for the many Jews, secular and religious, who strongly disagree with, and speak out against, Israel’s unjust and short-sighted actions towards the Palestinians.

‘Dear Frank, please, pray for our poor Palestine’, a friend from Gaza e-mailed me way back. Yes, dear Ehab, I do. And for innocent children of Gaza. That God may never allow darkest hatred to blight their lives.

Revd Frank Julian Gelli