The Ultimate, Hysterically Funny Israel-Bashing Story

by Barry Rubin

On the day that the British Prime Minister visits the human-rights-challenged country of China , the Guardian published nothing about human rights abuses there.

But it did find space for an article on the mistreatment of prisoners in Israel, kept in tiny cages, not allowed proper exercise, and given no entertainment or reading material despite the fact that they've committed no crime.

The prisoners happen to be...chickens.

Now you won't find anyone more obsessed with good treatment of animals than me--owner of four rescued cats (or vice-versa) and saver of innumerable drowning insects, one squirrel, and a sparrow, among others--but this is ridiculous. One reason why is that Israel's standards on chickens are precisely the same as those in the EU but the Guardian has never done any articles on the oppressed hens of the United Kingdom.

Here's a good article about this anti-Israel obsession gone beyond the bounds of satire. Incidentally, next week the Nobel Peace Prize is being given to a jailed Chinese dissident, Liu Xiaobo, who, I'm told, is an extraordinary person.