Thursday 8 October, 2009

World
Middle East

Gum balls: chewing gum that is supposedly increasing sex drive

By Nick Thompson

The Independent has a columnist, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, who regularly attacks Israel as a racist and apartheid state at the same time as waving the fig leaf of ‘Jewish friends’.

So maybe she carefully chose the timing of her latest column which effectively painted Israel as being in the same league as Iran when she called it fanatic, aggressive and a stockpiler of nuclear weapons.

The column came on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and was therefore sure to avoid immediate Israeli response. Irrespective of the issue of nuclear weapons, it seems a bit odd to compare democratic Israel with theocratic, holocaust-denying, terror-supporting Iran. None of which prevents Alibhai-Brown labelling Israel profoundly evil. But why let facts get in the way of a good comment?

One of Ms Alibhai-Brown’s sources on Israel is the UN Goldstone Report which seems to be attracting more and more criticism each day. One of the best oddities I have read from the report is the claim by Hamas police sources that Israel is distributing chewing gum that increases sex drive and is destroying the morals of young Gazans.

The source of this police intelligence is a Palestinian drug dealer, yet it appears as a highlight of the report. But a veritable flood of complaints followed over its veracity and independence, of which this is just one.

“My name is Dr Mirela Siderer. I am a gynaecologist living in Ashkelon, Israel. Judge Richard Goldstone, in July you invited me to testify. I told you my story. I am known by my patients – including many women from Gaza. For me, every human-being is equal. On May 14 2008 my life was changed forever. I was working in my clinic.

“Suddenly the building was hit by a missile, fired from Gaza. I was terribly wounded. Blood was everywhere. My patient was also wounded, and more than 100 others. Next month will be my eighth operation.
“Judge Goldstone, I told you all of this, in detail. I testified in good faith. You sent me this letter, saying, ‘Your testimony is an essential part of the mission’s fact-finding activities.’ But now I see your report. I have to tell you: I am shocked. Judge Goldstone: in a 500-page report, why did you completely ignore my story? My name appears only in passing, in brackets, in a technical context. I feel humiliated.”

Maybe Judge Goldstone had an agenda which Dr Siderer’s testimony failed to fit?

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