With thanks to our guest contributor ZCV Executive member Jack Chrapot
Posted by Elly Shalev on 09 November 2009 at 6:05pm:
In the movie, The Kite Runner, an Afghan Father talks to his young son:
“There is only one sin. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Do you understand that?”
“No, Baba Jan.”
“When you kill a man you steal a life. You steal his wife’s right to a husband, his children’s right to a father.
When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth.
There is no act more wretched than stealing.”
I was reminded of this scene when I read an article by John Lyon in Friday’s Australian entitled “Syria and Iran deny weapons smuggling claim.”
Lyons tells of the capture by Israeli commandos of a boatload of weaponry which Israel says was headed into the hands of Hezbollah for use against civilian targets in Israel.
In a joint statement Iran and Syria denied Israel’s claim. Syria’s Foreign Minister, Walid Muallem said the ship’s deadly consignment was in fact of Syrian manufacture destined for Iran and accused the Israelis of piracy. Students of the geography of the region would be well aware that a ship leaving Egypt and heading north in the Mediterranean Sea is not likely to end up in Iranian waters. According to Associated Press reports cargo found on the ship carried the logo used by the Iranian Petroleum Ministry.
Palpable lies such as the example above means nothing to the venomous ant-Israel crowd which will no doubt choose to ignore the dissembling utterances of the two sovereign nations, member states of the United Nations, who both have form when it comes to importing weapons for use by terrorists in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank. The arms contained in the latest shipment eclipses the previously largest haul, in 2002, of 50 tons of missiles, mortars, rifles and ammunition headed for Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip from Iran.
The captured weaponry adds to the hard evidence that Israel has of the intentions of Iran, Syria and the terrorist groups which they support, notably Hezbollah and the various Palestinian terror groups to wage asymmetrical warfare against the State of Israel and its citizens. Such evidence however, means nothing to those who are brought in by the UN and other agencies investigate the consequences of such warfare, notably and most recently by the Goldstone Mission which adopted two separate standards when dealing with evidence in relation to Israel’s January war against Hamas in Gaza.
Another matter of concern raised by Lyons is the growing move by Palestinians to consider giving up any ambition for a two-state solution that would see the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat is quoted as saying that the “Palestinian people haven’t excluded other options, including the option of a one-state solution.”
Of course, the Palestinians have never really accepted a two-state solution as envisaged by United Nations resolutions going all the way back to General Assembly Resolution 181 of 29 November 1947 which called for two states, one Jewish and one Arab. The official line is that it supports a two-state solution and yet, the Palestinian leadership has consistently refused to recognise Israel as a Jewish State.
Lyons also noted in his article that cargo’s “interception adds to a growing nervousness in Israel that preparations for war are being made by two of its neighbours – Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza,” and that Israel’s head of military intelligence, Major General Amos Yadlin, “told a Knesset committee Hamas last week had test-fired a missile with a 60km range into the Mediterranean.”
Hamas is no doubt emboldened by UN Human Rights Council to refer claims of alleged Israeli wrongdoing (but not that of Hamas) made in the Goldstone Report to the UN General Assembly. Given the well documented deficiencies in the way in which the investigating team headed by Sir Richard Goldstone compiled its report and how it dealt with some of the questionable evidence given to that team in Gaza one thing is clear – we have seen every variation of theft committed in this one single report.
Jack Chrapot
Zionist Council of Victoria Executive Member and Legal Practitioner
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