Bloomy in the Holy Land

Anybody left debating who is winning the p.r. war over the bloodbath underway in Gaza need only hold up the New York tabloids today. Besides running pictures -- exclusively -- of Israelis running for cover, we see half-page images of our own Mayor Michael Bloomberg, usually a man of reason and measured habits, over in Sderot, letting himself be herded into a bomb shelter before a passel of photographers.

Leaving the financial meltdown that's crushing his city behind for a few days, the Mayor mysteriously decided that his time would be better spent jetting off to Israel on the day after Israeli soldiers began their ground assault on Gaza. At that point, according to accounts available in the American newspapers, there were some 400 Palestinians dead, to four Israelis dead.

Bloomy was visiting Israel to "express solidarity with residents whose cities have been hit by rockets from the Gaza Strip," according to a story on his eponymously-named newswire.
"New Yorkers know what terrorism is all about," Bloomberg told reporters in the ancient city of Ashkelon, about ten miles north of Gaza. "If we were threatened in New York, we would do everything in our power to protect our citizens."

The rocket Bloomy avoided turned out to land without injury to person or property. Still, its threat made a nice photo op.

The attacks on New York City on September 11, 2001, which the mayor referenced without explicitly naming, were indeed traumatic. They also instilled in most Americans, including me, a visceral loathing of Islamic militants that we never had before.

Visiting Israel in the last year researching a book, I did feel strong solidarity with the people of that challenged nation. Israelis -- many of them descended from Europeans -- are more kin to us than the Arab Muslims on their borders and in refugee camps in their midst. And I revile the Islamists' misogyny, hatred of modernity, and willingness to slaughter civilians.

However, as a visitor to Israel and to the West Bank during those trips, I saw firsthand how nasty, brutal and hard life is for Palestinians -- and I never even got near the 1.5 million of them crammed into the fetid pen that is Gaza City. The vast majority of Palestinians I met in places like Bethlehem and Ramallah were not Islamic terrorists. They just wanted to be able to move around freely, hold jobs, and be treated with dignity and respect rather than herded through checkpoints.

In the public relations campaign accompanying the Gaza assault, once again, we are confronted with an effort to make all Arabs Islamists and all Palestinian resistance Islamist in origin. If this tactic sounds familiar, think back to the months before April 2003, when we were asked to believe that secular fascist Saddam Hussein was a BFF of Wahhabi fanatic Osama bin Laden -- and we bought it. Hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis and thousands of dead Americans later, we still don't really know the difference.

New York's Mayor doesn't just represent the men and women in his synagogue who will support Israeli policies without a sense of due scale and proportion, and dare I say it, common humanity. He also represents the millions of non-aligned, apolitical New Yorkers -- the vast majority of us really -- who remember 9/11 for what it was: a scene of mindless, unbelievable carnage and killing of innocents.

For our mayor to be truly expressing solidarity on behalf of New Yorkers who lived through terrorism, he ought to also set foot over into Gaza as well -- right now, today.

Comments

[DonnOB]

Nina

Right on! Isn't Bloomberg New York's mayor...New York's peoples mayor? How dare he speed off to Israel to take sides in this dreadful war! Now it's over 500 dead...thousands wounded...no water...no electricity...dead children...a bombed United Nations refuge. Any where is our Secretary of State? Ms. Wright should be in Gaza..on the street to stop this carnage! Shame on the terrorists..shame on Israel..shame on the US (it's our bombs, bullets, planes, tanks)..shame on the United Nations...shame on Bloomberg!

[quindy]

Thanks for honesty.

[Rianna]

What people won't do for those precious Jewish votes.

It is amazing how devoted many politicians are to their motherland, Israel.

Right or wrong, despite the unnecessary deaths of civilians, Israel has the power to make our politicians see no wrong in whatever they decide to do. No wonder Arial Sharon bragged that they control the US.

[SiberianRat]

It's not even their motherland, really. All of this though is another blatant violation of separation of church (and synagogue) and state. With Israel, it's also a giant, sanctioned money laundering scheme because we give them "aid" (billions) and they turn around and buy US weapons and buy US politicians.

[LeonBNJ]

Bloomburg is a mayor of the largest location of Jews outside of Israel in the world. He is probably one of the most powerful persons of Jewish faith in the USA. He went for personal political reasons. He is very rich, so probably used his own private jet and went on his own dime to visit.

[Freenation]

Right on...If he used tax payers money to pay for this phot-op trip then he should be asked to return it back as the same money can be used for other useful causes like education , poverty etc than paying for billionaires PR fantasies...

[Citizen54]

Right on, Ms Burleigh.

First his callous disregard for the term-limit bill voted in by the people of New York.... and now this stunt. Man, I hope the Dems come up with a good candidate to run against the billionaire.

[gayexmormonbotanist]

Great article, thank you!

[SiberianRat]

This is as bad as McCain "we're all Georgians" or "I'm calling off the campaign to save the country" crap.

[in4success]

shouldn't he just stay there?

no... wait... he just changed the law so he can be NY's eternal mayor.

[lisabanks]

Bloomy needs to get his butt back to NY and serve his electorate. Or like you say, "he ought to also set foot over into Gaza as well," in the interest of solidarity.

[ymax]

In 1967, after the "6 days war", Israel made a proposal to all countries that lost land in the war: all the land back for PEACE.
This offer was turn down as a big joke.
Now 31 + years later¦¦¦¦ that what we have. 1 big mess.

[Drew26]

"Visiting Israel in the last year researching a book, I did feel strong solidarity with the people of that challenged nation. Israelis -- many of them descended from Europeans -- are more kin to us than the Arab Muslims on their borders and in refugee camps in their midst. And I revile the Islamists' misogyny, hatred of modernity, and willingness to slaughter civilians. "

Isn't this part of the reason why Israel is winning the PR blitz? Why can't you call racism for what is it? I certainly do not condone the slaughter of civilians but your last sentence sounds like a sop for a half hearted admission that racism is what prevents most people here from asking how a body kill ratio of 5:500 counts as a "war".

[MauriceBendix]

I truly admire your honesty and courage for writing a necessary condemnation of Bloomberg's hypocrisy; yet you were incredibly balanced. If only we had more journalists like yourself. Bravo.

[yorkville7]

exactly