Shimon Samuels, who represented the Simon Wiesenthal Center at the recent World Social Forum in Mumbai, provides a chilling report on the anti-Israel atmosphere that pervaded the gathering.
Has anyone else noticed that when what passes for the “international left” gathers these days, Israel-bashing is at or near the top of the agenda?
Some 60 WSF seminars addressed Israel’s “crimes” – against Palestinian villagers, women, children and the Arab world.
How many seminars were there on Russian policy in Chechnya, I wonder? How many on Mugabe’s criminal regime in Zimbabwe? How many on the horrors of North Korea’s concentration camps? And can we conclude anything from such a comparison?
Saddest of all, in my opinion, were the efforts of certain Israelis at the forum to prove their pro-Palestinian credentials, only to be rebuffed.
An Israeli backpacker added: “I am a good Israeli. I accept the Palestinian right to violent resistance.” He was crushed by the response of Faisal from Tullkarm: “I know better Israelis; they are dead.”
