Gaza Aftermath: Israel and the "We Con the World" Video (Why I'm Not Laughing)

On Monday, the Israeli Government press office apologised after circulating a video, "We Con the World", mocking passengers aboard the Freedom Flotilla. Although the video was made by "private" pro-Israeli activists, the dissemination by Israeli officials gave it West Jerusalem's seal of approval.

Normally, I would not make comment on a video humiliating others. However, I am prompted to do so by the impudence and shamelessness of the spokesman for the Israeli Government, Mark Regev. Even as his colleagues were formally apologising, Regev told The Guardian of London, "I called my kids in to watch it because I thought it was funny. It is what Israelis feel. But the government has nothing to do with it."

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Since Regev is now going to re-present the video as a bit of harmless comedy, let's re-visit the episode, starting with the video and lyrics:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOGG_osOoVg&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

There comes a time
When we need to make a show
For the world
The Web and CNN

There is no people dying
So the best we can do
Is create
The greatest bluff of all

We must go on
Pretending day by day
That in Gaza
There is crisis, hunger and plague

Coz the billion bucks in aid
Won't buy their basic needs
Like some cheese
And missiles for the kids

We make the world
Abandon reason
We'll make them all believe that the Hamas
Is Momma Theresa

We are peaceful travellers
With guns and our own knives
The truth will never find its way
To your TV

Ooooh, we'll stab them at heart
They are soldiers, no one cares
We are small
And we took some pictures with doves

As Allah has shown us
For facts there is no demand
So we will always
Gain the upper hand

We make the world
Abandon reason
We'll make them all believe that the Hamas
Is Momma Theresa

We are peaceful travellers
We are waving our own knives
The truth will never find its way
To your TV

If Islam and terror
Brighten up your mood
But you worry that
It may not look so good

Well don't you realize
You just gotta call yourself
An activist
For peace and human aid

We make the world
Abandon reason
We'll make them all believe that the Hamas
Is Momma Theresa

We con the world
We con the people
We'll make them all believe
The IDF is the Jack the Ripper

Call me a spoilsport, but I'm immediately bothered by this fun-loving ignorance of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Contrary to the assurance that Gazans can receive everything they need in their daily lives, the most recent report by an Israeli human rights group, the Gisha Legal Centre for Freedom of Movement, says that Israel permits just 97 different items to enter, compared to more than 4,000 that entered before June 2007.

Here is what can no longer enter Gaza. Construction materials, of course, since rebuilding the area --- which may have suffered a bit of damage in Israel's Operation Cast Lead in 2008-9 --- would be an imminent danger to Israeli security. But rubber, glue, and nylon also seem to pose a risk, since they're blocked (perhaps because they could be combined to make a new type of rocket?). And paper is out of the question for unrestricted access. Ginger is banned. And, presumably because Gazans might react to Israel's "We Con the World" with "Yes, Yes, You Do", musical instruments are not allowed across the border.

But let's have a look at the security equation of "We Con the World": Islam = terror. No need to issue a specific condemnation of the makers of the video. After all, this is the rhetoric of Israeli decision-makers and even opposition leaders. Moderates v. extremists means that the simple juxtaposition of West Bank v. Gaza can be put forth. One gets a measure of economic interchange with Israel and the prospect (always the prospect, never the reality) of two-state talks; the other gets nothing.

But let's get to the specific. How funny it is to ignore the deaths of at least nine activists on the Freedom Flotilla! Laugh hard enough and you can accept the punch-line of Israeli "self-defense", protecting soldiers from "terrorists", while rejecting the most un-funny notion of civilians trying to protect themselves from fully-equipped soldiers boarding a ship in international waters. You can turn hundreds of people --- some of whom might have refused initially to surrender to Israeli soldiers and might have offered resistance --- into the unqualified, unmitigated aggressed. You might even giggle at how self-defense turned into shooting  four people in the head and one in the chest at close range.

So I'm bothered. I'm not sure that Mr Regev's interest, or that of the Israeli Government, is to make sure I have a good laugh. I'm not even sure they're really that sorry.  

Because, after all, in the end --- with no conning of the world -- those passengers were all terrorists.