Santa Galloway: not thirsty in the desert

Haaretz reports on the latest adventures of the Spiv:

More than 400 members of an international aid convoy to Gaza declared a hunger strike on Sunday to protest Egypt's refusal to allow them entry into the Hamas-ruled territory via the Red Sea. Alice Howard, a spokeswoman for British-based Viva Palestina, said the group was consuming only liquids, as it remained stranded in the Red Sea port of Aqaba.

At least it's not that hot in December, so the Santa Claus and his reindeers are not in acute danger of dehydration. As for hunger: one glass of beer brings with it about 200 calories. Assuming a daily caloric intake of a person at about 2000 calories, 10 glasses of beer will do as a liquid diet.

Another notice from the same article drew my attention:

Amongst the hunger strikers is an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor who came from the U.S. to participate in the planned Gaza Freedom March to commemorate last year's Gaza war.

Haaretz decided not to follow up on the name and pedigree of the Holocaust survivor in question. Which is a pity, because the name is Hedy Epstein and her "survival", not to speak about her peculiar affinity to any anti-Israeli do are remarkable.

While it is true that Epstein lost family in the camps (she mysteriously has photos that she cannot account for as to who took them, it would be interesting to find out if they are even genuine, but let's say they are), she nevertheless spent the war in safety in England as a child. Calling oneself "a Holocaust survivor" connotes images of someone who was in the camps him or herself, starved, beaten and ultimately facing a gas chamber. Ms. Epstein was none of these.

The International Solidarity Movement that employs and sends Ms. Epstein around has only one goal: To send a message that "See? The Jews have no right to a Jewish homeland. We can parade around a Jew who will agree with our aims and mitigate everything we say and do." She’s a world traveler, staying in nice hotels, putting out the ISM party line and getting paid for it. Nice work if you can get it.

More in that linked article (already two years old, but neither ISM nor Hedy seem to get the message).

Oh jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way...