Anywhere I look this week I read the same: Israel attacks a ship which was carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, in Palestine. However, depending on the media I choose to read, the incident looks completely different.
For some, Israel, the Chosen People, the Jews, have defended themselves against a group of communists disguised as charity workers, who were trying to carry guns into Gaza, and who were the first to attack.
For others, Israel, the terrorist state, has proven, once again, that they don't respect international law and has killed some people who were just trying to help the oppressed people of Palestine.
As usual, mass media are biased, and none of them tells the whole truth, while both sides tell part of the truth.
The first mistake most people usually make while discussing Israel is identifying a state with a religion. It is true that Israel is the only officially Jewish state, but that doesn't mean that all Israelis are Jewish (even if it's a wide majority, 16% of the population is Muslim, and there are Christian and other religious minorities. Moreover, not all Jews are Israeli and not all Israeli Jews follow the exact same precepts. Actually, some of the Christian population in Israel define themselves as “messianic Jews”.
So, the origins of this problem are in the very origins of the State of Israel. We are used to having politicians solve our problems, and it is becoming commonplace that they never really solve anything. Well, this was not an exception: while solving the Zionist problem and giving the Jewish people an official state, the didn't do the same with the Palestinians. And while some countries (the USA was the first, closely followed by the Soviet Union) quickly recognised Israel as a State, the surrounding countries (most of them officially Muslim) were more hesitant. Actually, the day after Israel was officially declared an independent state, 5 neighbouring countries declared war and tried to invade it, with the UN sitting back watching. The result of the continuing wars was that Israel gained an additional 26% of surrounding territory, and an estimated 726 thousand Arab and Palestinian refugees (according to UN only 1/3 are really refugees, since the other 2/3 are displaced inside the same territory) This is the main problem, and the one which has not been solved yet. On the other hand, a number of Jews were also expelled from the Palestinian and other Arab neighbouring regions.
So, is this a religious problem? I don't think so. There are Muslims living in Israel, just as Jews living in Arab countries. It is basically a political problem, and a badly solved political situation in the first place.
Now, speaking about the particular incident that took place this week, who's to blame? In my opinion, the Israeli army (as usual) responds with an excess of violence. And (also as usual) the UN does absolutely nothing. The UN should have boats in the area, and it should be an international patrol who check what goes into and out of Palestine, never an Israeli patrol in international waters.
