An Outrageous Double Standard

Let’s talk turkey here. There is a tremendous amount of outrage at this war. They have targeted and killed over 15,000 civilians thus far. They have kidnapped over 2,000 children and taken them far away to the other side of the country. They have deliberately targeted the electrical infrastructure of the country so that it will be a very cold winter for its civilians.

So, who am I referring to… Russia. Except, that’s not where the outrage is. Isn’t that strange? Russia is actively doing what Hamas is doing and there is zero outrage. There couldn’t possibly be a double standard.

What is the world’s preoccupation with Israel? In the first half of the 1900s, the British and French Mandate created the borders of half a dozen countries, several of which were virtually new in this world, such as Lebanon and Jordan. Saudi Arabia was not a country, but the Saud family-controlled parts of what is now Saudi Arabia for 100 years or so at that time. Of course, Syria and Iraq were not “new,” they had borders and cultural identities in antiquity or Biblical times. And Israel.

The borders were all created in the 1900s. In all instances, ruling tribes were given the task of creating a country. Only Israel and Lebanon tried to create democracies, the others were very content to create family kingdoms. Israel was given 8,000 square miles of land, Lebanon — 4,000 square miles, Jordan — 34,000, Syria — 71,000 square miles, Iraq — 169,000 square miles, and Saudi Arabi a whopping 830,000 square miles. Israel represents 0.7 percent of the entire land partitioned in the 1940s.

Again, I must reiterate what is so important about those 8,000 square miles versus the other 1.1 million square miles? Other than half of the population of this 1 percent being Jewish, what else happened to create this venomous hatred to this tiny country? Is there any other factor that created the ire of the world? (Since we are on a little bit of a history lesson, I want to add this. When Jordan became an independent country from the mandate in 1946, ruled by the Hashemites, they immediately took control of the West Bank. It was not initially part of their borders. In 1988, they unilaterally renounced their claim. Since that point, Israel has been providing utilities, roads, and protection in the vacuum.)

If it is not the hatred of Jewish people, what is it? It is certainly not the morality of war. Hamas and Russia both kidnap children, it’s not that. Israel warns civilians of the specific targets of incoming missiles, Russia targets civilians indiscriminately with no warning. Russia sends prisoners and new recruits to the front lines to take the brunt of any military damage, Israel moves its citizens out of the way and only sends experienced troops into battle. Russia targets utilities to cause hardship and death to Ukrainian civilians in order to specifically break the morale of its opposition. Israel will only hit utilities when Hamas purposely hides behind them.

Russia wants to take over another country. Israel has no interest in the Gaza strip – as was proved when they left Gaza 20 years ago (just as Jordan left the West Bank to fend for itself).

This double standard has no rational explanation unless it relates to antisemitism. There is not enough land to fight over, there are virtually no natural resources, there are no Biblically significant Muslim sights in the land, and the country is free to any religion or way of life (unlike every single other country discussed here).

I want to end with this. With Russia on the Security Council of the UN and perpetrating a war, targeting civilians, kidnapping children, colonizing another country, the UN is defunct. The UN can no longer serve the purpose it was created if a nation that can do all this gets to sit in a leadership position. It is beyond absurd. As absurd as Iran heading up Human Rights Council at the UN. To think that the UN can function is a farce.

Michael Morris is the Owner and Publisher of The Atlanta Jewish Times.