Did you ever see that classic 1939 movie, The Wizard Of Oz?
If so, I am sure you remember the scene where the wicked witch of the west melted into nothingness…and all the soldiers who, until that point, had unquestioningly following her/done her bidding, suddenly had a 180 degree change of heart and – no longer being threatened by the witch – profusely thanked Dorothy for ridding them of her.
I have a fantasy. Nothing I expect, mind you, but something I can at least dream about.
My fantasy is that, if Israel is successful in ousting hamas from power, a great many Gazans – despite being taught hatred for Jews and Israel by their hamas masters (in schools overseen by the Israel haters of the united nations’ UNRWA) – will be like those soldiers.
-That they will feel liberated from having to pretend they are OK with the relentless exploitation of hamas at their expense (where did all those billions of dollars in aid go?????)
-That they will feel liberated to notice that those supposedly “genocidal” Jews in Israel never attacked Gaza until hamas massacred well over 1,000 Israelis.
-That they will feel liberated to notice that Israel made peace with Egypt 45 years ago, made peace with Jordan 30 years ago, have peacefully coexisted with both of them ever since, and the same could always have happened with Gaza.
-That they will feel liberated to think – maybe even say out loud – that if Gaza had done the same; that if hamas, instead of spending most of the foreign aid billions on military tunnels, armaments and the billionaire lifestyles its “leaders” led in Qatar, had instead spent it on infrastructure and, generally, improving the lives of Gazans, they would have been incalculably better off.
Can this happen? Is it a realistic fantasy?
In truth, I doubt that more than a relatively small number of Gazans would be in such a place. Fear of reprisal (even in a non-hamas world) and Jew-hatred have been too thoroughly ingrained.
But I don’t know that for a fact. So I can at least fantasize.
Maybe you have the same fantasy. I hope so.
