Weird News from Israel
You can tell it’s summer; with so many reporters at the beach or on furlough, we’re being glutted with oddball little stories, some coming from the Jewish state and its environs.
Tablet, the newish online Jewish publication, has this winner: Israel’s blockade of Gaza has kept the swine flu out of the overcrowded region (read it here).
Seems if people can’t come or go, the flu bug can’t, either.
I’m wondering: how long will it be before Israeli right wingers tell us this proves the blockade is actually humane - a kind of enlightened public health exercise by Israel? How long before the Palestinians figure out some way to recast this unexpected side benefit of the Israeli blockade as a sinister Zionist plot?
In another bizarre tale, former Rep. Cynthia McKinney visited Israel this week. Unfortunately for her, the accommodations were something less than the usual for VIP delegations. Instead, the former Georgia lawmaker, whose career was marked by repeated brushes with the Jewish community, was being hosted by Israeli penal authorities who, like Georgia voters a few years ago, were having a hard time getting rid of her.
Seems McKinney was on that boat that was trying to run the Israeli blockade to bring supplies into Gaza. McKinney pulled the same stunt back in December.
Israeli officials were busy this week trying to deport her, but the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported they were having a hard time because she was being – get this – uncooperative.
Imagine.
I thought about writing about the incident several days ago but was too busy yawning. I mean really, this is a politician who successfully vied last year to be the new Ralph Nader and lead the Green Party to yet another stunning electoral defeat. Talk about irrelevant.
But it’s summer, and we need stories.