It's not hard to imagine the existence of a pair of parallel universes in which two different Turkish flotillas set sail for Gaza. In one, all six boats are peacefully diverted to Ashdod by the Israeli Navy where they offload their cargoes. The world nevertheless loudly criticizes Israel for its aggressiveness and lack of humanitarian concern. In the second universe, dozens of genuine peace activists are magically transformed into hardened mercenaries who ambush the boarding SEALs and savagely attack them with knives and metal rods, all of which is caught on video for the world to see. In this universe, much of the world tempers its criticism of Israel since it is clear that they were reluctantly drawn into bloody violence by vicious and premeditated actions.

Yeah, right.

The "two parallel universes" ploy is a helpful way to deconstruct an event to gain insight, and in this case it hits the mark. When wildly different events in both universes yield similar results, the objective observer is forced to conclude that it is simply irrelevant whether or not Israelis show restraint: they are still going to be the bad guys. Something else besides “unacceptable behavior” must therefore be in play in generating condemnation. In this case that something else is the widespread and growing belief that Israel is an illegitimate entity, a pariah state awash in original sin and ultimately responsible for all consequential damages that arise from its ill-gotten existence. Thus the “embedded thugs” on the peace boats are to be forgiven their sins of violence, since they are battling evil occupiers. Thus Hamas should be forgiven their sins of targeting civilians with missiles because they too are battling interlopers with no rights to their land. It all goes back to the notion of original sin.

In case anyone doubts the prevalence of this narrative, the newly retired White House “dean” of reporters, Helen Thomas, set the record straight a few days ago. Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine” she said. “They should go home, to Poland, and Germany, and America, and everywhere else".  She has underlined for all of us here in Houston what is on the mind of many in the global media, namely that the core problem is not the blockade, the separation fence nor the presence of controversial settlements. It is Israel’s existence.

Of the dozens of lessons to be learned from this episode, here is a very simple one for Israel. Condemnations will stop and peace will occur only when all neighbors choose to embrace a reality that includes Israel as a neighbor, as was boldly done by Egypt’s Sadat and Jordan’s King Hussein. For the Palestinians, the lesson is simpler still:  stop being used and manipulated by others for their own agenda. The Turks care nothing for the true welfare of Palestinian Arabs. They occupied Palestine for centuries where it remained an inconsequential backwater, and they rank 26^th in donations to the UNRWA Palestinian relief fund. They are rallying to the aid of the Palestinians as part of a new strategy to expand their sphere of influence and possibly aspire to leadership of the Islamic states, something that worries many in Europe and the Middle East. Turkey is close on the heels of Iran, another player that cares even less for Palestinians – remember that Iranians have killed more Arabs in the twentieth century than any other non-Arab actor. Both the Turks and the Iranians have regional aspirations, and Israel-bashing is the quickest way to deflect internal criticism and curry favor with both the Arab streets and Islamist elements in their own countries. Scapegoating is an old trick, but it works like a charm. It’s a trick that the Jews of Europe knew all too well.  Maybe someone should tell Helen that it feels more like home every day.