Kate Burton, who was once held hostage by the gangsters of Gaza, has appealed for the release of BBC reporter Alan Johnston. In a classic display of Stockholm syndrome, Burton writes of her own captivity:
I can only say that beyond the actual denial of our freedom, those who held us treated us with the utmost respect, and gave us everything we needed in an attempt to maintain our physical strength as well as our morale and psychological well-being.
Our kidnappers constantly repeated the fact that the respect I had earned in the Gaza community deserved the same respect from them towards us.
Yes, these psychopathic murderers certainly deserve respect. But anyway, now Burton uses the best argument she can muster: let Johnston go because he is on your side, and most importantly — you wouldn’t want to be compared to Israel, would you?
When no-one else was covering the reality of what is going on in your world, Alan was there.
He described the sonic booms after the disengagement, the electricity shortages after the power plant was hit, the constant and never-ending closures that affect every part of your lives, the massacres, the medical patients suffering at Rafah crossing…
He was telling your entire story to the world, piece by piece, and now there is no-one left to tell it.
If you continue targeting foreigners such as Alan Johnston I fear you are doing the same that Israel did when its troops killed Tom Hurndall, Rachel Corrie and others.
Kate, I think you are not doing Alan justice by writing your message on the BBC website. I think the best thing would be for you to return to Gaza and talk face to face with these fellows who respected you so much and who so much deserve all of our respect.
I’m sure you’ll be able to convince them.