Hamas Doesn’t Take Western Volunteers, So Working For The Red Cross Will Have To Do

by Tor Olafssen, International Committee of the Red Cross

Gaza City, February 13 – I must confess that disappointment nearly crushed me when I first discovered, two years ago, that my non-Islamic origins and lifestyle precluded my admission to the ranks of the Islamic Resistance Movement in Gaza. But I rallied and found a suitable alternative: giving “humanitarian” imprimatur to the Resistance’s activities, facilities, and, uh, inventory.

Working for the Red Cross means everything I do has a halo effect, since the Red Cross still, for some reason, conjures up associations of selflessness and generosity in the face of impending catastrophe. That provides the perfect cover for facilitating everything Hamas wants to do, while pretending it’s all part of a grand humanitarian project. It’s not even a metaphor for, but the very manifestation of, my home culture’s racism of low expectations and its comfortable antisemitism.

You will note that the International Committee for the Red Cross has offered not a single coherent or convincing justification for visiting exactly zero hostages in Gaza, or for participating in those farcical “graduation” ceremonies for the hostages that did get released – and we were so happy to chauffeur them a few hundred yards into Israeli custody! Yay us! Our work for the day was done!

Well, not quite – we still needed to have that last round of handshake with the Islamist guys. But you get the idea.

I guess I find most amazing that the ICRC still has such a halo effect, after having refused to insist on access to Jews in Nazi camps, and falling for the farce that was Theresienstadt – even as we demanded, and got, access to Allied prisoners of the Nazis. My own straightforward explanation involves the creation of Israel in 1948 – the Jewish State rescues and helps Jews facing humanitarian crisis, which means the Red Cross hasn’t faced the dilemma of helping Jews at scale, and the memory of our inaction during the Holocaust has faded. Until now.

We still have demanded – and got – access to Palestinians in Israeli prisons, which should tell you a thing or two about this organization’s preferences. Also about Israel’s status as sucker for agreeing to such things when we do bugger-all for Israelis in Hamas captivity, but that’s for a different time.

Our ideological and organizational allies over at UNRWA might by suffering from taking the overlap with Hamas too far – how were they to know it would end badly, after getting away with it for decades? – but we can still do our part.

I’m no Palestinian, but I know a noble anti-Jewish cause when I see one. And I’m glad there’s a kosher way for me to help.

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