Immoral Equivalency

Mr Walinets claims that Israel is evil in fact so evil that he considers to be on a par with the former USSR in its treatment of the Palestinians. He cites no evidence for this - I am sure he can come up with an incident here or there but that would be consistent with every democratic nation where occasionally wrongdoing occurs; even by the much vaunted British Army which is not fighting a war on its own doorstep against terrorists who seek its very destruction.
However I challenge him to produce evidence of a consistent official policy by Israel of subjugation and evil against Arabs and the Palestinians in particular such as the Soviets carried out against the Jews who were persecuted for even attempting to practise their religion let alone seek the freedom to live in Israel.
Today, within Israel, Jews are a majority, but the Arab minority are full citizens who enjoy equal rights and are represented in all the branches of government. Some of the government’s harshest critics are Israeli Arabs who are members of the Knesset.
The situation of Palestinians in the territories is different. The security requirements of the nation, and a violent insurrection in the territories, forced Israel to impose restrictions on Arab residents of Judea and Samaria that are not necessary inside Israel’s what were the pre-1967 borders. The Palestinians in the territories, typically, dispute Israel’s right to exist within any borders whereas Jews living as full citizens in Russia did not seek the destruction of the USSR, only the right to live as Jews.
Despite continued Arab intransigence and their failure to curb terrorist activity or as they agreed to do dismantle the terrorist infrastucture Israel agreed to give and has given the Palestinians increasing authority over their own affairs. Today 98% of Palestinians live under the control of the PA or Hamas.
The principal impediment to Palestinian independence is not Israeli policy, it is the unwillingness of the Palestinian leadership to give up terrorism and agree to live in peace beside Israel. Now they seek to obtain from the UN what they are unable to achieve through negotiation.
It is however telling that despite all their criticism, when asked what governments they admire most, more than 80 percent of Palestinians consistently choose Israel because they can see up close the thriving democracy in Israel, and the rights the Arab citizens enjoy there. By contrast, Palestinians place Arab regimes far down the list, and their own Palestinian Authority at the bottom, with only 20 percent saying they admired the corrupt Arafat regime in 2003.
Mr Walinets' allegation that the policies of Israel towards the Palestinians are evil is at best misguided at worst it shows a complete lack of a moral compass.