I found an obscure op-ed dated 9 July 2015. The opinion by an editorial board: Gaza and Greece are comparable. Offhand I can think of two points for comparison: both border the Mediterranean, both begin with the letter “G.” GAZA NEEDS WHAT GREECE IS GETTING. thePretty much published on the first anniversary of the 51 Day War, also known as Operation Protective Shield.
The fantasyland of eternal bailouts. The fantasyland of eternal hatred.
The ultimate lesson about Greece is not economic, it’s about Fantasyland. Greece has lived in Fantasyland — just like Gaza.
Greece’s fantasyland is the free lunch. Gaza’s fantasyland is the attitudinal free lunch: hatred without consequences.
The Greek fantasy is the supply of money as automatic as the laws of nature.
The Gaza fantasy is the end of Israel despite the laws of nature.
The Greek fantasy is pensions, wages, holidays, insurance, subsidies, welfare, all based on funds from outside Greece, without limit.
The Gaza fantasy is the destruction of Israel based on random missile fire and terror tunnels.
The Greeks fight the laws of production. The Gazans fight the laws of decency and self-interest.
The Greeks are finding out the hard way that big bailouts are not forever.
The Gazans need to find out that hatred forever will not destroy Israel.
The Greeks are finding out that there is no way to economic strength other than work, discipline and the end of ridiculous policies, such as huge pensions tied to early retirement.
The Gazans need to find out that there is no path to social achievement other than tolerance, political pluralism and religious freedom.
The Greek bluff was called.
Excellent symbol.
Now the Gaza bluff needs to be called: no more “humanitarian assistance” when it is basic humanitarianism, i.e., the end of the hatred of Jews and Israelis, that Gazans need to cultivate.
Greece banked on the fear of others to let Greece fail. For this, Greece is failing.
Gaza banks on the blindness of others to the true cause of their suffering: themselves. For this, Gaza wins sympathy around the world, yet continues its suffering.
Greece is now getting a dose of reality. Gaza is long overdue for a dose of reality.
Greece turned its good people against the necessary pain and pleasure of hard work, economic reform and national self-reliance.
Gaza turns its people toward the unnecessary pain of dead Gaza children as the inevitable consequence of placing them in harm’s way.
Greece is learning: It is not someone else’s job to fix the mess it created.
Gaza needs the very lesson that Greece is learning: Its poverty is of its own making, not someone else’s responsibility to fix.
Greece is learning: Fantasyland cannot last forever. The day of reckoning inevitably arrives.
Ditto, Gaza.
Greece’s fantasyland is the free lunch
Gaza’s fantasyland is the attitudinal free lunch: hatred without consequences.
Greece is learning: It is not someone else’s job to fix the mess it created.
Gaza needs the very lesson that Greece is learning: Its poverty is of its own making, not someone else’s responsibility to fix.
billziegler1947 