Mayor of the southern Israeli town of Sderot, David Buskila, on Saturday sent a scathing letter to South African justice Richard Goldstone, who headed the United Nations fact finding mission on Israel's offensive in Gaza last winter.
Sderot, as many of you know, is the town that had been, and is still being, bombarded by thousands of Palestinian militant rockets. These acts were the Israeli justification for Cast Lead, a military assault aimed at ceasing terrorist activities targeted at Israel from the Gaza strip. This operation was criticized heavily by Goldstone in a controversial "fact finding mission" mandated by the much-discredited United Nations Human Rights Council.
In his letter, Buskila wrote that his city had suffered from Hamas' aggression more than any other israeli city, with death and destruction that left an indelible mark on the residents of the city.
This really cannot be disputed. Thousands of rockets killing and maiming citizens of Sderot was the norm pre-Cast Lead. And no United Nations fact finding mission was conducted to determine the war crimes there. Which is why Buskila then condemns what he sees as a double-standard:
"The world, and you in it, was silent. You were silent in the face of the dead bodies of our children, in the face of our children's frightened eyes, you were silent in the face of every one of the 8,000 Qassam rockets that hit our city," Buskila wrote.
Again, it's hard for one to disagree with this. A mayor saw his town suffer through years of fear and disruption of normal life. With that terror came silence from the same body that would later mandate a mission to determine Israeli "war crimes" during Cast Lead.
It's hard to see life through the eyes of an Israeli, or even an American, Jew, unless you are one yourself. For decades, centuries, Jews around the world have been held to that double standard, blamed for everything. Just days ago, polling came out showing that 99% of American Jews believe antisemitism is somewhat of a or a very serious problem.
So when the mayor of Sderot says:
"Your silence was frightening, and reminiscent of things forgotten," he added.
It's not because he's trying to create drama, it's because that's how the vast majority of Jews feel, and it's probably why Israeli troops may have not been as careful as the international community thinks only they should be during wartime.