A Hamas official on Tuesday accused Israel of exporting to the Gaza Strip chewing gum laced with an aphrodisiac to “corrupt the young,” according to a report in Israeli daily, Ha’aretz.
As goofy as this claim is, and it was labeled “absurd” by an army source, it tells us something about the nature of all religiously coercive societies. When faced with a problem like drug sales, which are rampant in Gaza and which relgious culture should have done away with, the only way to deal with the problem is to blame outsiders. But this is not a Muslim thing, or a Jewish thing or a Christian thing.
Hamas’ claim is not the real issue. The ireal ssue is how religious fanatics find it impossible to let people take responsibility for their lives or take responsibility for their own. They legislate matters of conscience for others and substitute wild conspiracy theory for real personal accountability for the cultures they create. A sad and dangerous state of affairs wherever and whenever it happens.