The world is a stage and Israel, the target of everyone\u2019s incessant focus, is its leading act.<\/p>\n
This week, the theatrics of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir invited even more scrutiny of the tiny state. He posted a video<\/a> of himself taunting some of the 430 flotilla in Israeli detention after they tried to break its military embargo of Hamas by sailing from Turkey toward the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n Carrying a large Israeli flag, Ben Gvir said, \u201cThey came as big heroes. Look at them now. See how they look now, not heroes and not anything,\u201d as one activist was shoved to the ground while the others were kneeling with their hands bound behind their backs. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rightly condemned<\/a> Ben Gvir, saying his treatment of the activists was \u201cnot in line with Israel\u2019s values and norms.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben Gvir\u2019s abnormal, beyond-the-pale behaviour served Israel to its detractors on a silver platter. World leaders, including our own Prime Minister Mark Carney, quickly condemned the incident and called in Israel\u2019s ambassadors for a dressing-down.<\/p>\n For Israel\u2019s detractors, it matters not that Israel is a democracy surviving in an impossible neighbourhood. Israel tries its best to be a normal nation in an abnormal situation with a citizenry facing untold psycho-social trauma. Still, Israel is the only nation in the region that celebrates gay rights, that provides full minority rights and protections and that allows all its citizens full access to participate in all state functions.<\/p>\n In the upside-down world in which we live, none of these western values matter. Israel is a country with a target on its back. Every opportunity to strip it down will be undertaken by those who wish to knock it down a peg.<\/p>\n Gad Saad\u2019s recent book, Suicidal Empathy, based on the idea that being too empathetic is suicidal for Western civilization,\u00a0easily applies to the despicable Ben Gvir episode. In my own analysis, I have often referred to this syndrome as \u201cweaponizing kindness.\u201d Instead of turning their anger on the apparent pro-Hamas agitators for being there in the first place, world leaders turn against the victimized nation: Israel.<\/p>\n World leaders should be dressing down ambassadors of nations who permitted these agitators to board boats and sail into a war zone \u2014 from which Israel rescued them. More explicitly, they should be tracking the funds raised in their own countries to support the flotillas. Earlier this week, CBC reported that 11 Canadians<\/a> were aboard this most recent flotilla.\u00a0Are Canadian authorities (including the Canadian Security Intelligence Service) looking into the fundraising mechanisms that funded their passage?<\/p>\n We must always work to preserve human rights and dignity, but not at the stake of national security of democratic nations, including Canada. Canadians rightly stood up for Canada when Donald Trump threatened to annex our beloved nation. That\u2019s where we drew the line on suicidal empathy. No matter our political stripe, we stopped being passivists when our very survival as a nation was at stake.<\/p>\n Israel is a litmus test for the survival of democracy itself. Elon Musk\u2019s quote on the cover of Saad\u2019s book is right on: \u201cWestern civilization is doomed unless the core weakness of suicidal empathy is recognized, and actions are taken that are hard but necessary for survival.\u201d If siding with Hamas and the Palestinian Authority gets public sympathy, why not also undermine and revolutionize all democracies? That\u2019s in fact what is happening.<\/p>\n Israel is on the front lines in the battle of civilization, of\u00a0East versus West. It\u2019s a country that is desperately trying to save itself from the barbarians at the gate. It\u2019s a nation of a people who are deeply committed to doing good \u2014 to preserving human rights, freedom and democracy \u2014 and trying to survive at the same time. Instead of cutting it some slack, its friends and allies continue to berate the Jewish State while overlooking the rest of the world.<\/p>\n Where are the calls to action by the world community over the disaster that is now taking place in Sudan? The Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have displaced<\/a>\u00a012 million people, triggering massive famine and devastating infrastructure.\u00a0Let\u2019s not forget the Russia-Ukraine war<\/a> which is producing enormous casualties, presenting what is likely the most dangerous geopolitical crisis in the world.<\/p>\n Israel surely cannot be the world\u2019s focus. Look at Haiti<\/a>, a desperately poor island nation that is in near-state collapse. Gangs control large areas. There is severe food insecurity, kidnappings and widespread displacement. Like Haiti, Myanmar<\/a> is engulfed in civil conflict with militias and resistance groups battling the junta across large parts of the country. The Democratic Republic of the Congo<\/a> faces an Ebola emergency that threatens to spread across the world.<\/p>\n In other words, Israel is not the only game in town for criticism and ridicule. What Ben Gvir did this week was shameful and worthy of condemnation. But there are many politicians like him and far worse in numerous conflict zones around the world. So, will Carney be calling in their ambassadors for a dressing-down too?<\/p>\n National Post<\/p>\n Avi Abraham Benlolo is the chairman and CEO of the Abraham Global Peace Initiative, a Canadian human rights organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The world is a stage and Israel, the target of everyone\u2019s incessant focus, is its leading act. 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