An Israeli investigative news television program recently carried the story of a four-year-old Sudanese girl who was abducted by Egyptian soldiers as she and her family tried to make their way into Israel.

Many Sudanese fleeing from the genocide in Darfur have arrived in Egypt, only to find their hosts nearly as hostile as the Arab militiamen who drove them from their homeland. Those who have read a Bible or have knowledge of the Nazi Holocaust have then turned to Israel and the Jews for refuge.

In a telling display of their hospitality, Egyptian soldiers have taken to shooting at desperate Sudanese refugees as they make a dash for the border. Venus, the little girl at the center of the aforementioned news report, was a victim of one such incident.

When the Egyptians opened fire on Venus and her parents less than 100 yards from the border, the frightened family began to run. But little Venus' legs could not carry her fast enough, and the toddler was separated from her parents in the chaos.

After crossing the border, Venus' parents turned around to see the girl had been taken by Egyptian soldiers. They begged for her release, but the Egyptians refused and demanded the parents return to their custody.

The distraught mother and father were then picked up by Israeli soldiers, who immediately began to make calls to those who could assist in the situation.

To make a long story short, following five days of intense negotiations that involved the heads of intelligence and the first ladies of both Israel and Egypt, Venus was finally returned to her parents, who had by that time taken up residence and been given jobs in the southern Israel resort town of Eilat.

As I watched this report I became infuriated at the fact that the stories of Venus and so many others like her are being almost completely ignored by the mainstream international press, the United Nations and the loudmouth human rights organizations that are never at a loss for words when it comes to criticizing Israel.

Innocent people, refugees with nothing but the shirts on their backs, are being shot at by heavily armed soldiers for absolutely no reason other than to satisfy their cruel urges. And no one says a word. Can anyone imagine the outcry if Israeli soldiers were the ones firing on these poor souls?

Earlier this month, Israel Today published an interview with a Sudanese refugee who had been in Egypt for about two years before coming to Israel. Among other things, he recounted how in late 2005 the Sudanese in Egypt had held a three-month mass demonstration opposite the UN's office for refugees in Cairo. Though the refugees were protesting against the UN and its lethargic response to their situation, the Egyptians became fed up, and ordered the Sudanese to vacate the square they had occupied. When threats failed, the Egyptians turned to violence.

This man spoke of a fateful night in late December 2005, when Egyptian soldiers surrounded the thousands of Sudanese gathered in central Cairo - a gathering that included many women and small children - and doused them all with water before sending massive electrical shocks through the crowd.

Eventually tiring of their sadistic game, the Egyptians picked up their rifles and opened fire. Twenty-five people were killed and hundreds more were wounded.

Internet searches reveal that while some small Sudanese news networks and a few personal blogs reported on the massacre, not one major news outlet carried the story.

All of this is just further evidence that the international community in general does not really care about the suffering of displaced, dispossessed and oppressed peoples in other parts of the world. If the world really cared, then there would have long ago been massive global movements and special UN committees for the Sudanese, the Kurds, the Tutsis of Rwanda, etc.

The only reason these things exist for the Palestinians - who by comparison represent almost a non-issue in terms of human rights - is because Israel and the Jews are on the other side of the equation. Mask it with whatever terms or special causes you want, but anti-Semitism is alive and well today, and the proof is in the enormously disproportionate attention received by those who claim to be victims of the Jews.