Gaza, Israel and Taiwan

If you’re an Israeli abroad there’s no escaping it, even in Taiwan.

The other day I was at the Taipei Main Station tourist information center looking for some info about what was happening that week in Taipei as a smiling old Taiwanese looking man approached me in English. "Welcome, welcome" he shouted at me, as if I had trouble hearing, the Taiwanese around us naturally stopped whatever they were doing and stared at us. "Welcome to Taiwan! American?" he asks, with the broadest smile he could master. "No, not American" I replied. "Oh, oh, England, England!" he kept yelling, to which I decided to reply – "No, I’m Israeli, 以色列人". His face changed in an instant as he barked "Israel, not good, always war, kill many people, Israeli people, bad!". Feeling extremely uncomfortable, I muttered "not that bad, sometimes have some problems, but usually okay", to which he sneered back in contempt "bah! not sometimes, always! not good!" and walked away waving his hands at me as if trying to wave me away.

I wouldn’t usually really think much about this, but I’m afraid this had occurred a few times this past week on different levels with different variations, and even my Taiwanese friends keep asking me questions that show confusion at best and extreme disapproval of me at worst. I usually don’t comment much about Israeli politics as it’s an impossible subject to deal with, but I will go out of my way on this one to say a few words.

I’m not a big supporter of this war or the one previous to that in Lebanon. As the Israeli support for the war reaches over 80% approval rates I am among the few Israelis that I know who does not extend strong support to what is happening although I can understand the people who do and have no alternative solutions or suggestions to offer. I hate the loss of life and misery bestowed upon innocent civilians and believe this may eventually cause more harm than good to both sides. It may not, too. But I also believe that the Israeli side of the equation is misrepresented and misunderstood and that influences people like me that feel they have little to do with the results of this conflict.

Two weeks ago, there was no "actual" war, The Israeli troops long ago withdrew from the Gaza Strip, as they previously did over a decade ago from Lebanon. The Gaza Strip, due to American ignorant insistence on pseudo-democratic elections, has given way for a terrorist organization to take power resulting in a steady stream of rockets launched at Israeli cities that are located up to 30-40km from the border with the Gaza Strip.

I remember, back in the days, being a 7th grader in Rehovot, carrying around a Gas Mask and waking up every night to sounds of missile attack alarms as Saddam Hussein was sending rockets down on Israel due to what the Americans decided they need to do in the Gulf. I also remember the weeks of terror in Jerusalem being a high-school and university student, as buses, restaurants and cafes exploded all around my neighborhood, and us not knowing where it’s coming from or where it will happen next. I have a close family member who was one of those unsuccessfully trying to protect a Jerusalem neighborhood (Gilo) from terrorist gun shooting from the neighboring Palestinian town. So, I believe I have a slight sense of what it’s like for those towns around Gaza that receive the missile rain every day. I’ll shortly summarize the feeling – it’s not a good one.

I’ll quote something from a Taipei Times article that I believe delivers some of the point in "If you were in Israel’s predicament, wouldn’t you do the same?" :

Imagine your next-door neighbor — with whom you have had a long and bloody feud — pulling out a gun and shooting into your windows, from his own living room, which is densely packed with women and children. In fact, he’s holding his daughter on his lap as he tries to target your own kids. He claims he will not stop until your family is dead. Police are unavailable. What should you do?

One option is to do nothing, or little. You try this for a while. After all, your neighbor is poor and traumatized, there is a sad and complicated history between you, and you bear some of the blame.

But finally, as one shot hits your child’s bedroom, you decide that enough is enough. You pull out your far superior gun. You attempt a surgical strike: aim at the shooter’s head and try to spare the innocents.

In an abstract sense, this is what Israel is doing right now.

But there is nothing surgical about the blood and agony that have engulfed Gaza in the last week. Try as Israel might to target militants alone, civilian bodies are being pulled from the rubble because, like our metaphorical gunman’s home, militants and civilians inhabit the same urban space in the Gaza Strip.

Most would argue that the Israeli response is out of proportion. That is, naturally, debatable, and I have little to add to either sides of the discussion, but what is probably easier to agree on is that any normal country would react, and not mildly. Look at how the US and allies responded with their zero-tolerance to a one time 911 terror event. Imagine Mexican terrorists continuously raining missiles on Texas, or Brighton UK shot at from Wales. How about British Canada receiving rocket rain from terrorists in French Canada? Not the same, eh? some insist of comparing Gaza and Taiwan, even though I believe there are huge differences and Taiwanese spirit to resist violence is especially incomparable to the Gazian current spirit of terror. How would China react to Taiwanese rockets landing on Hong Kong or any other big city in Fujian province in order to gain independence?

The situation is complicated, it really is. It’s endless to try and discuss it. What is important for me to point out :

1. There are two sides to every story.
2. Most people who only briefly read the newspaper or watch the news probably don’t know much about either side.
3. Israelis are not blood hungry monsters, as Palestinians are not all terrorists. The war is between the Israeli government and the Hamas Gazian role, and people are the ones getting hurt.

(If you decide to comment, please do so in a calm respectable manner)