Ehud Barak, the defense minister of Israel, said this to Robert Gates, our own defense chief: “A million and a half people are living in Gaza, but only one of them is really in need of humanitarian aid.” He meant Gilad Shalit, held hostage by Hamas for four years. Hamas does not permit the Red Cross to see Shalit, of course. Neither does the Cuban dictatorship or Chinese dictatorship permit the Red Cross to see prisoners. May I remind you that the Red Cross visited inmates in Nazi concentration camps? One was Carl von Ossietzky, the pacifist journalist who won the Nobel Peace Prize for 1935. And may I remind you that Red Cross representatives were regular companions of Nelson Mandela, imprisoned on Robben Island? If Gilad Shalit were other than Israeli, there’d be mass demonstrations in his behalf all over Europe, and on American streets, too. But . . .
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About the Author
Jay Nordlinger was a senior editor of National Review and a book fellow at National Review Institute.
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