It's been clear for a while that the active role of Irish people in the Gaza flotilla has come to the attention of Israel's American defenders. Michael Rubin a few days ago saying that the Republic should prove its non-hyprocrisy by opening its borders to everyone. And National Review's Jay Nordlinger, not bothering with the arguments at all --
Ireland as a whole is a nasty little state, where Israel is concerned. Strange, because they were such friends of the Jews during World War II, huh?
Of course Israel still has its Irish friends. In extreme cases, some have found that the flag above is fairly easy to adapt to such causes, since it already has a 6 sided star in it.
But what's particularly strange about the fury against the Irish on the Palestinian issue is that it's all anger about peaceful forms of protest. Marches, flags, statements. Yes, you can go to a protest and find some strange conjunctions. Just like you could at a US Tea Party rally. Even the Rachel Corrie crew didn't put up any resistance once they knew the game was up. Yet with the rhetoric they attract, you'd think they were terrorists.
Which raises another point. Boycotts. Because they might end up as the most damaging form of protest about Israel's policies in the territories. Note the escalatation of rhetoric against it: the Palestinian boycott of goods produced in the Jewish settlements is "economic terrorism." Not to mention cultural terrorism. Ireland had a lot of that type of terrorist in the 19th century.
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