Sderot, Shmerot...

Sderot, Shmerot...

By Kalash

The little attention being given to the situation in Gaza has gotten people on the Israeli side of the border feeling jealous. Where's the balance? What about Ashkelon and Ashdod? What about Sderot?

Lone Star Communications to the rescue. The PR firm organized a media event to promote a $5 million dollar rocket-proof recreation center that recently opened in the city of 20,000. Attendees included the Associated Press, the Washington Post, and numerous other western media outlets. The focal point of the campaign - the largest indoor playground in Israel - sent a clear message: don't forget about the 'suffering' of children in Sderot.

The man behind Lone Star Communications is Charley Levine, a businessman who has been an ardent Zionist propagandist for quite a while. He appeared on CNN when it was just getting started. His firm orchestrated the media coverage of the event with relative ease.

The playground propaganda campaign appeared to be a success. The Associated Press reported that "the children of Sderot finally have a safe place to play." Today, the Washington Post published an article on the significance the small city holds for Israel's portrayal of the situation in Gaza.

The Jewish National Fund [JNF] built the recreation center. It is a Zionist (i.e. racist) organization that helped lay the foundation for what became the state of Israel. The boundary between the group and the establishment is rather blurry. They regurgitate the same talking points with little to no variation. According to the JNF, there is a clear need for the multi-million dollar structure:

In the Israeli town of Sderot, parents cannot send their children outside to play on a beautiful day. Soccer fields are no longer home to after-school games. There is no sound of laughter, cries, screeches, or any other usual childhood noise. The streets are not filled with children riding bicycles but rather with an eerie silence.

What bothers me most about this type of rhetoric is that it's used by the Israeli authorities in a pathetic attempt to justify the havoc they wreak on the people of Gaza. Children anywhere have a right to live in peace, but there is no comparing the situation in Sderot to what happens on the other side of the border. Allow me to switch things around a little bit...

In Gaza, parents are in constant fear for the well being of their children, no matter where they are. There are few structures resembling anything close to soccer fields, and piles of rubble make for dangerously inviting playgrounds. The streets are filled with children, but the sound of their innocence is often drowned by screams and explosions.

The children of Gaza are the ones suffering the most from this conflict. In addition to the hundreds killed during Israel's war, there are thousands more clinging on to a life of desolation. These poor children have much more to fear than young Israelis in Sderot or anywhere else. They are stuck in what is essentially the world's largest prison and they have nowhere to go.

On the other hand, the people of Sderot have the freedom to pack up and leave. My sympathy for their children is tempered by my animosity towards their parents. Even if they insist on staying put, at least they have the freedom to take their kids to the bulletproof recreation center or drive to the beach. Meanwhile, Palestinians in Gaza begin their families with an air of uncertainty, in an inescapable place.