You’re at work.
A murderer from the next town breaks into your home, slaughters your entire family and while he is in the process of breaking into your neighbour’s home to continue on his rampage, the police arrive. The murderer resists arrest, starts shooting at the officers and is himself killed in the exchange of fire.
The murderer’s home town marks this event by naming the main town square fronting Town Hall in honour of the murderer. Schoolchildren are taught about the murderer’s heroic deed and encouraged to aspire to the same heights of achievement. The international community remains silent.
It doesn’t take long before more lethal attacks are carried out.
To stem the carnage, a fence is built between the two towns to prevent repeat offences. There is an immediate international uproar. Any protective fence should only be built around the houses of the intended victims, not in locations which would prevent the perpetrators from getting to their victims in the first place.
A few years later, some new houses are built in and near the homes of the increasing numbers of murder victims. Once again there is an immediate international uproar. The fallout is far-reaching.
The construction of the new apartments comes under scrutiny. Not by Town Hall where the buildings are to be constructed – we’re not talking zoning laws, infrastructure construction and utility installation – but by the UN Security Council.
There is still no discussion on the suitability or otherwise of naming town squares and educational establishments in honour of mass-murderers.
This scenario is not a figment of Kafkaesque imagination. It is unfortunately hard reality.
The West Bank town of El Bireh recently named its town square in honour of a Muslim Palestinian terrorist who slaughtered 38 Jewish civilians in Israel, including 13 children. The ceremony was scheduled to coincide with the arrival in the region of Joe Biden, the US Vice-President. Neither he nor US Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton had any comment on the suitability of this event. This silence is scarcely surprising since many public facilities such as streets, schools and sports tournaments in the West Bank are named in honour of Muslim Palestinian mass-murderers – accompanied by thunderous silence on the part of the US and the rest of the international community that bankrolls the West Bank regime of Mahmud Abbas.
The event thus passed without comment by the visiting US dignitaries.
However, both Joe Biden (read the Telegraph and Guardian on the subject) and Hillary Clinton have been scathing in their condemnation of Israel’s decision to build a number of apartments for Jews, sparking a diplomatic crisis between Israel and the US.
Some analysts regard this imbalance in responses as both revealing and cathartic – finally Israel understands what it is dealing with in the latest US administration. There is no longer any need for Israel to pretend that it has an honest and impartial broker in Washington.
Barry Rubin offers a refreshingly straightforward insight into what the US administration actually wants and believes in when it comes to Middle East policy.
So too does Daniel Pipes.
Half a world away, meantime, Sweden’s third-largest city, Malmö, continues to witness the exodus of Jews as extremist mayor Ilmar Reepalu continues to encourage Islamist aggression against the city’s Jewish residents. Mayor Reepalu maintains that if Jews “choose” to flee Malmö that is their business, and goes on to note that it is quite understandable that Swedish Muslims hate Swedish Jews owing to events in the Middle East.
At least Reepalu is not alone in his views. Yesterday Egypt announced that it would ban the public rededication of a refurbished Cairo synagogue. Egypt’s few remaining Jews are to be penalised for allegations of “aggression by Israeli authorities against Muslim sanctuaries” in Israel. Reepalu must be feeling that he is being vindicated where it really matters.
Public facilities dedicated in honour of Muslim mass-murderers by what the US and the EU insist are Israel’s “partner for peace”. Jews penalised for protecting their lives with fences where the fences do most good. Jews banned from celebrating the rededication of a synagogue in Egypt. Jews chased out of Swedish cities by Islamist extremists. And Jews excoriated by the US for building apartments.
The politics of topsy-turvy priorities is getting very confusing. Yet at the same time increasingly clear.