The ’cursed’ nation, groupthink cue and friendly rockets

Once again, the words and phrases of the usual gloom, "condemn, disproportionate use of power, crime against humanity, concern, bloodshed, call for ceasefire, anti-Israeli rallies, the intifada, bombings, tragedy," are flaring in the air that fills government and editorial rooms. And once again, it is time to express our overt or covert hatred of the "cursed" country barely the size of New Jersey, be it for ideological or religious reasons.

Back in May, in the days of limitless optimism about Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s "Istanbul initiative," which aimed at facilitating an Israeli-Syrian peace, this column read: "Of course, no one, including the Americans, is obstructing the Istanbul initiative. And there is certainly no harm if Mr Erdogan and his genius foreign policy advisers wish to toy with a too difficult idea. But they should be able to understand that their American friends are more concerned about the Palestinian leg of Israel’s woes, not the Syrian leg as priority. Also, as long as there is an ’all-out war’ in the Middle East a naive start with Syria will probably yield no good result."

Barely half a year later, an angry Mr Erdogan appeared before crowds and cameras and called the Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip "Éalso an act disrespectful to us (Turkey)," and, with the tone of an offended child, said that he would cancel a planned phone call to Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister.

Meanwhile, the crowds that made his party fans were shouting, "Down with Israel!" We cannot guess how many sleepless nights Mr Olmert will have to spend because Mr Erdogan would not ring him, but he must have better reasons to worry. Understandably, Mr Erdogan is more concerned about the collapse of his peace-maker role than violence itself.

No one with a sane mind would deny the Israeli offensive, as almost always, is disproportionate use of force. No one would deny either it would be a good thing if violence stopped. But the group-think on the latest scenes of violence smells too much cheap intellectual romanticism and looks, unsurprisingly, biased.

For example, you would learn from the same group-think that violence at the turn of 2008 takes its roots from holy books, "God punished the arrogance and hubris of the Hebrews in the Old Testament by making them wander the wilderness for 40 years, before allowing a later, more humble generation enter Canaan." Or you would learn from Vakit, an Islamist newspaper, that the "pro-Jewish Hurriyet" which on its front-page coverage denounced the offensive, deliberately "twisted the facts and linked them to imaginary mortar and rocket attacks on Israel." According to Vakit, Hamas did not fire a single rocket on Israeli soil. You would also hear Pope Benedict XVI "imploring an end to violence;" or a Saudi cleric urging Muslims to target "interests and anything that has a link to Israel," which he declared "a legitimate target everywhere." Alternatively, you would read a Greek daily accusing Jews of rehearsing for WW III.

On a more amusing note, you would hear Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, calling for "Arab unity to stop Israeli raids." A veteran diplomat like Mr Moussa cannot be serious about that, if he was not just "doing his job" not necessarily believing in what he talks about. Arab unity? Has it ever been seen anywhere at any given any time?

Ask Libyan leader Moamer Qadhafi and he would stand up and accuse Arab leaders of cowardice. Ask Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of Hezbollah, he would tell you how "certain Arab regimes" were conspiring with Israel. Ask even Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, he would tell you his Palestinian frenemies, the Hamas, were responsible for "every drop of blood spilled in Gaza." Alternatively, in any Turkish newspaper you would see fancy photos of Muslim protesters all around Turkey who were chanting the slogan, "O God the merciful! Curse this nation (Jews)!" All that because "those cursed and evil Jews" did not run from their homes with big smiles on their faces and embrace the rockets that were coming "with love from Hamas." Criticizing Israel’s disproportionate use of force is one thing, "Jew-bashing" is another. Those on the group-think cue should ask themselves a few tough questions:

How many millions of people all around the world would openly Ñ and how many more millions would privately Ñ smile and cheer up if the Mullahs in Tehran dropped an atomic bomb on Tel Aviv? Did Japan not officially apologize "for causing the Americans drop atomic bombs on Japanese soil?" Were the bombs not a disproportionate use of force? Who does the history blame the bombs on? The bomber or the bombed? Who apologized for the bombings? The bomber or the bombed?

Where were the fellow Muslims, Turks or Arabs, when non-Muslim allied forces invaded Muslim Iraq and caused Muslim deaths in figures with multiple zeros? Has any of the fellow Muslim nations stopped "doing business" with the non-Muslim invaders? And, finally, is chanting slogans calling for God’s curse on a nation not an offense based on "inciting hatred along ethnic/religious lines" according to the Turkish laws? Can we publicly ask God to have his curse on other nations too, and escape prosecution? Is inciting hatred against Jews an exception from our anti-racism laws?