The Mother Of All Distraction

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called on Singaporeans to keep victims of the ongoing conflict in Gaza in their "thoughts and prayers" and to continue supporting fund-raising initiatives for humanitarian assistance. Before you could shoot up your hand ("keechiu!) to point out that according to Human Rights Watch's World Report 2014, despite controlling an overwhelming majority in Parliament, the Singapore government continues to impose wide-ranging restrictions on core civil and political rights. Singapore is also among the only 10 countries in the United Nations like South Sudan, Tonga, Myanmar and Brunei, which received a “red card” for ratifying 4 or less out of the 18 International Human Rights Treaties. Even countries like Afghanistan, China, Iran, Syria, North Korea and many African countries ratified and signed more International Human Rights Treaties than Singapore did. Still, the sheeple gathered at Hong Lim Green to protest on cue.

For the sake of a unbiased perspective - not easily available from the lowly ranked local paper - this is gleaned from the Economist's summary of the development at the Gaza strip:
The current violence was triggered by the murder of 3 Israeli teenagers, snatched on their way back from study at a yeshiva in an Israeli settlement in the West bank. That led to the the arrest of hundreds of Palestinians, including some prisoners recently released under an American sponsored scheme to boost peace talks with Abbas. In retaliation, and outraged at the murder of a young Palestinian, militants fired rockets into the heart of Israel. The Israel Defence Force responded with lethal force. A military spokeswoman told AFP that since the July 8 start of the military operation, over 2,000 rockets and mortar shells fired from Gaza hit Israel, with another 492 intercepted. A scenario that could have played out at the Little India enclave if the disgruntled foreign workers there had more effective projectiles at hand than trash cans and beer bottles.

In his facebook post, Lee said that while the Middle East is far away, Singaporeans still empathise with the pain and suffering of the Palestinian people, because of our common humanity. As if it's inhuman to empathise with the long suffering of our very own local born and bred.