The anything to do with Israel is evil campaign has been continuing. The most recent attack is report of alleged IDF abuses during Operation Cast Lead. The reporta had no way of validating the truth behind the allegations or even verifying that the testimony was more than just hearsay. The British have revoked licenses to supply the Israeli Navy with ammunition for their boats.
Despite these moves, support for the protests against Israel has been fading fast. A combination of gerneral apathy, more interesting world events and a proper response by the Jewish community have all softened the blow in attacks against Israel.
The BDS (Boycott) campaign against Israel had been hailed as the ultimate way to collapse the Israeli economy the same way it helped bring change in South Africa. The biggest hole in the campaign was to focus on certain companies, rather than holding to true moral values. The Jewish community has brought another major hole to the BDS campaign by offering financial support to those exposed to boycott efforts.
There have been a number of boycott failures this year. A call to boycott Israeli wine in Toronto resulted in the targeted store being sold out in 10 minutes and the small group of protestors overwhelmed by support for Israel from the Jewish community. A call to boycott and deshelve Israeli products at Trader's Joe got such a poor turnout, the organizers didn't bother publicizing the event happened. The Dead Sea Scrolls now being displayed at the ROM in Toronto. Palestinians leadership cried foul, declaring the Scrolls to be part of stolen Palestinian heritage. This sad and desperate claim once again rallied the Jewish Community, driving up ticket sales. It also exposed the Palestinian pitfall of trying to claim ownership on anything that helps their cause.
Free Gaza is an organization that runs celebrity filled boats to run the blockade to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. They like playing the hero. How the aid is delivered is far more important than the aid reaching the intended recipients. The fact that over a hundred truck loads of aid pass through Israel into Gaza each day, (far greater than what they can get on their boats) is not relevant to their cause.
Their most recent run lead them into some public relations mistakes. They originally filed their travel plan to Cyprus authorities, as heading to Egypt. It was only after being out to sea that they changed their course to Gaza. The ability to change course is legal, but they never had any intent of going to Egypt. They may not have even recieved permission to leave port if they were honest with local authorities. They seemed shocked that Israel has control over Gaza waters. Egypt gave up claims to Gaza long ago and it is not like they tried to coordinate with the Palestinian Authority. They claimed to be in mortal danger after the Navy threatened to open fire on them. They didn't even receive a wanring shot. Their first mate said that they would be boarded and arrested. That is exactly what happened. No surprises, no real danger.
Throughout the ordeal they did their best to cry foul. They tried claiming they had no desire to go to Israel. Their manifest of the aid they were bringing kept changing. One report said they each carried a bag of cement while, their Twitter account said they only had a symbolic bag of cement. There cries for media attention fell mostly on deaf ears. When the British deportees were returned to London, they got out maybe a dozen supporters and zero media coverage.
There have been a lot of world events taking the focus off of Israel. The defeat of the Tamil Tigers in Somalia, Health Care Reform in the United States, Garbage Strike in Toronto, Michael Jackson's death and the election results in Iran. Iranian officials have even found a way to blame Israel for the protests in Iran.
Barak Obama has been pumping up the pressure on Israel, while the world focuses on more relevant issues. Some of the apathy can be attributed to other world events. If even some of the public has noticed some of the inconsistancies with criticism towards Israel. It makes the world a better place for Israeli's and Jews around the world.
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