There’s a saying that goes something like this: When things are bad, a Jew cries. When they get even worse, a Jew cries more. And when they even get worse than that, a Jew laughs. As indelicate as this may seem, the current situation makes me want to laugh.
That’s so because things are more ridiculous than they are scary. As the advice and claims of others get increasingly absurd, you have no desire to listen to them. You just have to do what you know is right and stop having any doubts about it precisely because the arguments on the other side are just so historically inaccurate, factually false, and illogical.
For those joining the story late — a group that seems to include Western politicians, media, and academic “experts” — here’s a little background. In 1993, Israel made an agreement with the PLO to try to achieve peace. It turned over the Gaza Strip and much of the West Bank to a Palestinian government. Israel accepted the establishment of large security forces, the supply of guns, and the transfer of billions of dollars of aid.
Israel made major offers of territory and concessions to Syria and the Palestinian Authority in 2000, after almost a decade of negotiation. The other side rejected those compromise solutions. The Palestinian leadership instead launched a five-year-long war of terrorism. They lost. Then Israel was attacked by Hizballah. The world intervened and made promises to Israel. These were broken. Then Israel was attacked by Hamas. It defended itself. Again it won, but the world rushed in to save Hamas and to condemn Israel.
Of course, you can say that Israel did mean things and didn’t keep every commitment it made. Yet any balanced and honest assessment has to acknowledge the basic accuracy of the preceding summary. And any that doesn’t is basically worthless as a guide to policy or education.
Now, what are the latest developments? Well, let’s see:
– Turkey’s government has gone berserk (in fact, a product of its Islamism and a celebration of breaking the armed forces that posed the last barrier to its total control and transformation of the country) and has started acting as if it is at war with Israel. There is a real possibility that Turkish naval vessels will escort ships organized by terrorist groups to violate a legal blockade to strengthen a regime in the Gaza Strip that openly talks about killing all of the world’s Jews. That government, behaving as if it is at war with Israel, is simultaneously being used by the U.S. government to help direct Syria’s future and lead its main new counterterrorism project.
Feel the chuckles coming on yet?
– The Palestinian Authority, allied with the aforementioned antisemitic, genocidal Hamas, violates all of the agreements it made during the last 18 years — after refusing to negotiate for 2 years — by seeking unilateral independence in the UN. This would mean it will never have to negotiate with Israel or compromise in any way. Thus, this stratagem will kill any chance of negotiations.
Nevertheless, countries are lining up to vote in favor of this proposal. It’s the ultimate embodiment of “social justice” and endless entitlements. The Palestinians “deserve” a state and don’t have to do anything at all to obtain one except to demand it.
– Egypt’s revolution is baying for Israel’s blood. Palestinian-Egyptian terrorists cross Israel’s border and kill Israeli civilians; a mob attacks the Israeli embassy as the authorities stand by and do nothing. Hysteria returns to the country as if the Camp David peace agreement never happened. The Muslim Brotherhood — which we were told is weak and not Islamist — is now heading toward either a takeover or at least becoming the country’s most powerful force.
– What is the reaction in much of the West’s media, universities, and governments? Let’s use the appropriate acronym for this trio — MUG. Guess who is getting mugged?
Let me limit myself to one example of the genre. The former failed and minor Jewish organizational politician Seymour Reich writes in The New York Times:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gained nothing — except placating his right-wing coalition — by rebuffing President Obama’s proposal in May for negotiating Israeli-Palestinian borders based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, although some reports indicated that he may have later softened his stand.
This is an amazing paragraph, if only for the fact that Reich attacks Netanyahu for taking a position that Reich admits he didn’t actually take! And after many occasions on which Netanyahu did precisely what Reich wants failed. Of course, there’s no mention about years of Palestinian intransigence or of the previous risks and concessions made by Israel and even by Netanyahu.
I do not mean this as a direct reference to Mr. Reich but as an observation about the current institutional set-up. In biblical times, one sold out for a bowl of stew (“mess of pottage”) while today one does so for a New York Times op-ed piece, or perhaps a tenured professorship, or admiring media coverage of oneself. Christians speak of “the wages of sin.” Well, those salaries are at all-time highs, with great fringe benefits, and extremely low unemployment.
Reich continues:
Mr. Netanyahu must step back from the brink. He should cast aside his far-right coalition members, form a government with moderate parties and add a freeze on settlement construction to an offer to negotiate without preconditions. This would demonstrate seriousness.
Why do Israel or Netanyahu need to show at this date that they are serious? Don’t the virtually daily efforts of Netanyahu to restart negotiations show seriousness? The nine-month-long settlement freeze? The quick acceptance of Obama’s proposal for a summit conference at the end of 2009?
Watch for it in the coming weeks: an explosion of rage in Israel as details emerge of how Gilad Shalit was mistreated by Hamas during his 5-year captivity.
The rage may well be so deep as to effect policy.
Then why the #$&! did Israel release 1,000 subhuman Nazi genocidal savages for Gilad Shalit?
Barry, they should have written him off as dead, and nuked Gaza.
After Schalit is returned Mossad should seek out and assassinate every single one of those released prisoners so that Hamas never tries to pull anything like this again.
To paraphrase a certain 20th century dictator, if Israelis are unwilling to make sacrifices in defense of their people, then perhaps they deserve to perish.
me too!
Well said! – couldn’t agree more.
My mistake… I was agreeing with Eric R… although the other comment rings true.
Why did Israel release 1,000 Palestinians for 1 Israeli Soldier?
Because that is their relative worth.
Couldn’t agree more! The morons in Gaza settled the prize themselves. What a low selfesteem! >8-D
The Gilad Shalit saga demonstrates very clearly what happens when a culture that treats every life as sacred meets one that treats any life as expendable.
Barry, please proof-read this piece. It’s so excellent I’d like to send it to as many people as I can. Thanks.
Barry Rubin – No disagreement here with anything you said. Just keep up the drumbeat about the perfidiousness of the LSM (and the incompetency of the curent POTUS).
Jack in Silver Spring: Your naivete is showing. Obama is surely misguided, but he is far from incompetent. He knows exactly what he’s doing and at the direction of his “string pullers” he’s not only a threat to peace in the Middle East, but here in the U.S. as well. All part of the plan.
When your back is against the wall, and you are surrounded by enemies, remember who your friends are. You may need them.
Beck has taken a strong, courageous stand for Israel, ass well as several conservative talk-radio personalities. The Christian right has also backed Israel (Joel Rosenburg, Chick Smith, Liberty University, …). Gov Mike Huckabee is outspoken in support of Israel, and has been there many times. Pray Huckabee becomes POTUS and changes the US policy back to sanity before it is too late to deter Iran.
The liberal left appeasenicks, in and outside of Israel, appear to be a lost cause. They openly side with your enemies. This, unfortunately, appears to include the United Nations and the present US President and Sec State, and most of the traditional world media. Watch your back.
“I will pay no more attention to these people. They are not serious.”
-Good! I hope, in a friendly way, that your readers can keep you to it! Still, we need to reflect on why so many people are motivated by a facile intuition that Israel contravenes some equalitarian imperative. In dismissing the unreality of our opponents’ views we should not dismiss the reality of their existential bind.
serenity now!
It is very convenient and even largely correct to blame the Western Leftist elites for their failure to understand the dynamics of the Middle East and to even get their facts wrong, but really, would anyone expect them to be as well versed as the Israeli security and political leadership?
I would point out that the three most absurd and dangerous security policies that Israel has inflicted on itself for the past twenty years were put in place by Rabin, Barak, and Sharon.
All of these men were IDF Chiefs of Staff, all were highly decorated Generals, all were considered military heroes, and all were considered to be top level Israeli security geniuses who ran for and were elected to Prime Minister on their security credentials. Yet Rabin brought us the Oslo catastrophe, Barak abandoned the North to Hizballa with his panicky pullout from South Lebanon, and Sharon rammed the “Disengagement” down our throats and opened the South of Israel to daily rocket, missile, and terrorist attacks.
Now Netanyahu is going to reignite the Palestinian terror war against Israel by freeing over a thousand dangerous and unrepentant Palestinian terrorist killers.
Sure guys like Seymour Reich get things wrong, but so what? His mistakes won’t necessarily kill anyone, all he does is talk and write.
But our Israeli leadership is a different situation entirely, when they make mistakes people really can die, and far too often do.
You really start to wonder what is wrong with Israeli thinking, or if anyone thinks at all here.
I think I can answer this.
Rabin and Sharon for sure and possibly Peres (he is more of a cynic), believed in the ultimate zionist goal of freedom in our land at peace with our neighbors.
They believed that Israel was so strong and her military victories so legendary that our enemies would see they were beaten and make peace. This is also partly true, with few exceptions, Israel had relations with virtually every Arab nation, even secret ties to the Saudis.
The problem is Islamism. Israel has defeated neo-fascist, socialist, communist and pan-arabist rejectionist ideologies. The only one that has not been defeated is radical Islam.
The coming war, and war is coming soon, is the product of the arabs trying every ideology to defeat Israel and explain their defeats. Islam itself is not the last enemy standing but the Islamism of the Muslim Brotherhood is the true enemy.
The next war must be fought as a defeat of Islamism by modernism and democracy. True Zionists believe that Israel is an organic part of the middle east; we were there at the beginning and are still here. It may take generations to defeat Islamism but, ultimately, our Arab cousins will learn that we wish them only long good prosperous lives. Only defeat can teach away the shackles of the past.
In this sense, Rabin and Sharon were trying to change the world for the better and, eventually, the effort claimed both of them. Peres struggles on but has no power. He is the symbol of a failed hope.
Zionism wins just by surviving. The enemy must completely defeat Israel, they can try to rocket Israel’s cities but their armies cannot win. Israel needs to stay strong and hope (and help) the Iranian and Syrian oppositions.
With all due respect to your thoughtful comment, but why not just say that Israeli policy for the entire 63 yrs of our independence was a mistake, a succession of blunders. Every concession, every effort to seek peace, every negotiation, every foolish ”land for peace” retreat, our worthless treaties with Egypt & Jordan – all based on wishful thinking & false assumptions.
Up until 1977 most Israeli Jews knew perfectly well that concessions to the Arabs meant weakness, and that Israel must take a high and harsh hand when dealing with our enemies.
It was only after the Labor Party lost for the first time in 1977 to Menachem Begin, was taken over by the Left, and began it’s rapid slide into the European Leftist defeatist swamp.
The Israelis of 1948, the Holocaust survivors, and the WWII Jewish soldiers who defended the Yishuv from the Arab marauders knew exactly how to deal with Arab violence and aggression, you just kill “em.
Nowadays, too many Israelis have been brainwashed to believe that Palestinian and Arab violence and aggression should be dealt with by discussion and appeasement. The Leftist Israeli media, the cultured Leftist “elite”, the “beautiful” people, and much of the political chattering class counsel restraint and understanding when harsh and overwhelming retaliation is in order.
Indeed, nowadays most Israeli soldiers need to have a lawyer standing at their side to advise them before they even load their guns much less shoot at the Arab enemy!
The IDF’s legal departments are among the most powerful as they have the power to review (and reject) operations before they take place, and the power to put soldiers under “warning” in after-action assessments if there’s the slightest hint they violated the Purity of Arms rules. And yes, IDF soldiers are increasingly hamstrung by new “rules of engagement” – just like US forces in Afghanistan. Those rules both undercut military effectiveness and get our soldiers killed.
When you need a reason for why someone hates you it is possible to lose track of the empirical facts on the ground. The Muslims unlike Hitler don’t need a reason to hate Jews. Hitler’s reason was not rational either. The one Jew in a thousand who was a crook would only show up in the psychotically law abiding German Population. In America Las Vegas needs to erect statues of Bugsy Siegel.
The Muslims’ god cannot exist so long as the Jewish God exists. Christians and Jews will argue endlessly over the nature of god but they issue tweaks not whole new revisions. The Koran has passages which say that when in doubt the later passage supersedes the earlier history of all that Allah said to Mohammad. This not something that is compatible with people who have been counting years for over 5700 years.
I respect your point. Nevertheless, an endless war with 300 Arabs has to end at some time. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the US supremacy were viewed as game changing events that advocates claimed justify the risks.
I was one of the few focused on Arafat’s double speak and the failure to end incitement. Had the US held Arafat accountable, things might have been different. We will never know. And I always blamed Arafat for Rabin’s death, had he honored his obligations, Amir would not have have killed him.
In hindsight all blunders, at the time, there was a logic to Oslo, the left forgot the part about the other side making peace.
Israel has never lost at war. Israel has never won at peace.
Bibi is right. Israel is worth defending, not negotiating into oblivion.
and you wonder why I, as an American Jew have recently started chanting my new “brucha”?
it goes like this….
2 2 3……
5 5 6…….
40………….
45,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
9 ml…………..
12 gauge….
amen….
There is a time for peace and there is a time for hate, for every season….
War is coming…
I’m really disappointed in you. You didn’t get this prayer right. What kind of Jew are you? Included should be:
308…………
762…………
Now we can all say this barucha correctly.
Barry, the doors that thieves walk through are more often opened from the inside in the biggest crimes.
When a leftist stops being a Jew in his heart and accepts leftism as his singular deity, he makes a fine traitor. Israel has such people. America has such people.
The left has not turned its back on Israel, it has turned its gun sights on Israel. The best news for the American public, is that it has also turned its gun sights on America as well.
Leftism is at war with America and Israel. Laughing or crying, we must at the end of the day realize that both countries are under assault. Leftist sleeper cells have assembled, remain hidden within the walls and are disguised as something else.
When we say such things as, “They don’t understand, they mean well but have not processed the facts properly”…we add a layer to the masks they wear. We aid and abet the masquerade, we shore up the facade, we add credibility to the fraud.
Israel can have peace any time it wants. It merely has to throw itself into the sea and save the Hateful Hamas, Hezbollah and Helpers…the 4H Annihilation Club, the trouble of pulling off the inside job.
Our American media, academia and Hollywood are co-conspirators in the destruction of Israel and the overthrow of free market America. This is NOT because they do not understand the consequences of their actions. By continuing to ignore these facts, we can all have a great laugh. Because by continuing to ignore..the joke is definitely on us.
cfbleachers: You are exactly right! Amen, brother.
Re #7 Ken Besig in Israel: Excellent observation but there’s one major element to it that might answer your own question (about thinking/non-thinking in Israel). I’m referring, of course, to the Labor/Mapainik “heritage” (genetic mutation?) shared amongst Rabin, Barak, and Sharon (plus Moshe Dayan while we’re at it?). And shared, by extension, with the MUG (Media University Government [e.g., Foreign Ministry]) apparatchiks who abet the strategic madness. Present-day antics of the MUG include, as you well know, pushing Netanyahu into enough of a corner PR-wise (on the tent-city protest agenda and the Schalit family’s suffering) that he falters and adds his name to the roster of Israeli Leaders Making Major Mistakes. There’s something about the presence of a military-hero Mapainik that endangers an IZL/Lehi-origin-led Cabinet’s horse-sense.
Arab spring is the second chapter in the decolonization of the middle east. It is an historical moment and movement. No one can stop it. Ironically, it is the failure of the neo con project to establish pax americana with israel as the spear head that has freed the arab masses from the arab tyrants. It is time for israel now to asses its place in the region. Israel itself is not free from decolonization. Rubin constantly misses the point. He thinks US can shape the terrain in the middle east in Israel’s favor using force. That ain’t so. Every time US uses force US looses legitimacy. US does not have unlimited moral or material resources. The so-called war on terror did not make US stronger, on the contrary, it weakened it. From a real politik point of view the real challenge and opportunity for US is in Asia, not Europe or the ME per se. US would be well advised to stay away from the regional conflicts in the ME which depletes US resources. It is simply foolish to fight some else’s war.
Sadly friend it is you who gets nothing.
Israel is not the spear of the US it is the restoration of the Jewish people to our ancient homeland. Get used to it. Your attention is directed to the censuses conducted in 1845 and through the last century, Jews were always in the land. We need a homeland after the 2000 year cruelty of christian, socialist and islamic dictators.
Moreover, the US needs oil and without US protection, the world oil supply will be destroyed and the global economy will collapse. The US is the only power that can guarantee open access. This is real real-politik. There is no choice, the Islamic world, left to its own devices will disintegrate into lawless Somalias or Irans. No thanks.
Contrary to what you say, Israel has assessed its position: it’s fight or die.
….we do indeed need that critical oil….for now. But media accounts here and there claim that we are starting to move…..s l o w l y…..in the direction of tapping our own vast reserves as long as we can manage to keep the turtles, bears and blooming flowers out of the discussion. Once our domestic drilling gets established and underway, our refineries will happily adjust to the new shorter shipping distances and pipeline times.
Long run, let the Arabs and Persians choke on their oil. Granted, that’s a few years off….but it’s on the way.
Right, Charlie…and ywh,
Defocus on a billion and a half folks, who just happen to be sort of into converting the world to their faith, and who are kind of ravenous and warlike, and we’ll undermine their influence (all this in spite of our dependence upon their oil, which is, turtle-like, replaceable by us). Then we’ll hop along on our own merry way, maximizing our interests as we go, as if they won’t care about us any more. Oh, by the way, lets turn our backs on democratic friends when need-be. Its, rather, “Go east young man!”
Don’t forget the nasty business of nuclear ambition. As the Islamic world achieves 65 year old technology to make atomic weapons, no one is safe.
The Pacific did not protect Japan from those weapons, and the Atlantic will not protect America. The world is smaller now. 911 happened. Hence, disengagement from the Islamic threat is not an option. America must identify her allies, and make common cause to stop the Islamic menace before it engulfs Western Civilization. Israel is a key ally in this fight.
Charles Martel had it right. Jan Sobeski had it right. George Bush had it right. Islam understands only force, and cannot be trusted in treaties.
George Bush had it right? Are you kidding?
Anyone who calls Islam the “religion of peace” doesn’t have it right.
Well said, ywh……
Here’s the essence, “…From a real politik point of view the real challenge and opportunity for US is in Asia, not Europe or the ME per se. US would be well advised to stay away from the regional conflicts in the ME which depletes US resources. It is simply foolish to fight some else’s war.”
The de-colonization of territories with their hand drawn boundaries created by Italy, France and Britain remain still a source of local aggravation in that these borders overlapped ethnic, religous, and tribal rivalries of centuries-long duration.
These same colonial creators responsible are now financially unable to step in and help undo what they’ve created.
So, why must we Americans be expected to take on the responsibility for solving these intractable colonial problems, not of our making….with our young lives? Already, we have thousands of American military gravesites in Europe. The era of the Marshall Plan and the Cold War is over.
The new replacement….this Islamic terrorism, infiltration, and subversion are trans-national, uniformless, shadowy, and has been continuing for fourteen centuries. Our American energies need to be aimed now towards containment and financial/commercial isolation of Islam from the rest of the productive world. They won’t police and curb their terroristic factions themselves…hence they must be isolated as a whole.
America’s future economic interests are emerging in Asia proper…..as China gets it’s capitalistic act together and is able to have it billion-plus and counting population, along with India and its billion or so more, become consumers instead of mercantilist exporters. Socialized and Islamicized Europeans have lost their influence.
They’re spent.
@ 12
How is transnational, uniformless, shadowy Islamic terrorism, infiltration, and subversion that’s been going on for fourteen centuries something “new”? But never mind.
Europe is Islamicized, and spent, and America is infiltrated, and practically broke.
Just how are American energies supposed to aim for containment and isolation of Islam and transnational Islamic terrorism as a whole from the rest of the world? That’s just empty talk, contain, contain, isolate, isolate . . .
We have to kill it.
Thanks Barry, I laugh with you, because the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel is laughing.
Shalom, chaq Sukkoth sameach,
Ben
I love the way Barry Rubin depicts the Middle East situation. His analysis of how the Western media deals with Israel is right on target. Israel gets no credit for its many concessions toward a true peace. The Palestinians offer no compromises. Yet, Israel is expected to risk its very existence in exchange for a fraudulent peace. Threats from its neighbors continue to plague the Jewish state, but the world pays little attention.
I can only hope that PM Binyamin Netanyahu will stand strong in the face of international pressure. And that G-d’s blessings and protection will prevail over those who seek Israel’s destruction.
I’m not laughing. I am furious, depressed, disappointed and angered by my governments capitulation to terrorism, terrorists, and the West. Israel has lost her sense of vision and direction. The Shalit ‘deal’ is beyond my understanding. Was it to weaken Abbas, was it to please the West, was it to strengthen Netanyahu’s regime in light of the social protests?
Barry, we blog, we talk, me scream, and it gets worse and worse. Is no one listening?
It has been rumored that Hamas will soon require foreigners to acquire a visa in order to visit Gaza. Does this imply that Hamas is establishing independent statehood without even bothering to use the United Nations?
Excellent take-down of the idiots on the left and the islamist supporting media. Israel will not be conquered from without if we remain vigilant but if we take our eye off the gunsights, they will be in trouble.
Israel has no choice, given the majority of the idiots in the world, but to stand ready to kill anyone that threatens their survival. It is truly a dog eat dog world and if you think I’m calling the Islamists dogs, you are correct.
Seems appropriate to paraphrase the Barry McGuire song from the 70′
“The Eastern world it is explodin’
Violence flarin’,bullets loadin’
You’re old enough to kill but not for votin’
You dont believe in war , so whats that gun you’re totin’
and even the Jordan river has bodies floatin’
But you tell me
Over and over again my friend
Ah you dont believe
We’re on the Eve of Destruction
Think of all the hate there is in Red China
Then take a look around at the Wall Street Occupiers
I cant twist the truth it knows no regulation
Handfuls of Senators don’t pass no legislation
and Obambi rules by illegal declaration
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin’
We really are on the EVE OF DESTRUCTION.
On the trade of one Jewish soldier for onethousandtwentyseven Moslem terrorists…… Think of things this way, this is a win win for Israel. First of all there is no need to feed and house and guard these terrorists any more. Second of all, in the next confrontation, and there will be another confrontation with the Palestinians, many more than this thousand Palestinians will die. Better dead than fed. Now we know, and I hope that G-d hears me, we now know what one Jewish soul is worth.
They won’t be reasoned with. They won’t negotiate in good faith. They won’t ever stop, ever. All that’s left is to kill ‘em. Yeah, funny.
Time to move Isreal, its people and schools and businesses, to the west coast of Australia—large bits of coast and desert are available for next to nothing, and the UN and Arab tyrannies, surely, will be happy to pay compensations all around—and call the new settlement New Israel. Meanwhile, let the “Palestinians” have the whole area of what was Palestine on a fifty-year lease to see whether they can look after it properly.
I’ve got an idea, too. Let’s move all the arabs to Saudi. There’s lots of undeveloped sand lots.
Judith:
I’m not Israeli but it would seem to me a solider would be worth 1000 terrorists. If not more.
What is sad is that your enemies did not grasp the implicit insult in that trade.
It was mused somewhere that the arabs had no interest in going to the moon…unless Isreal relocates there…….
The Mohammedans dont hate Jews because of Israel they hate Israel because of Jews.
John said, “I’m not Israeli but it would seem to me a solider would be worth 1000 terrorists.”
Well said …. Life is precious and Israel’s future is bright. Yes, there may be wars here and there, but the destiny of Israel and America are intertwined. All we hear is gloom and doom and explanations of past and present … there is a future and yes; I believe that Netanyahu has a grasp of that future which is why he will remain uncompromising with evil. One soldier is precious to Israel … remember the parable of the sheep in the New Testament? Well, here’s a real life example in the prisoner exchange. God set His foot in Isreal and NOBODY will be allowed to mess with it anymore.
After noticing that Egyptians christians (and other non-believers) are being prosecuted/harassed/murdered because they are ‘only a minority of 10%’, while in Europe we must all bend over backward for the muslims because they are are ‘only a minority of 6%’, I have come to the conclusion that these politicians are going about it the wrong way.
One earns the respect of an Arab/muslim by standing up to them!
Israel should go into negotiations with demands: Return the West Bank and Gaza to Israel, since the conditions under which it was seceded were not kept!
Conciliation just breeds contempt, how about some fist instead?
From an earlier part of the discussion:
Charles Martel had it right. Jan Sobeski had it right. George Bush had it right.
Islam understands only force, and cannot be trusted in treaties.
Written with such clarity, thanks for speaking for many of us.
Putting Groucho’s photo on the front page for this article is highly appropriate, IMHO. Mainly because the attitude of the Western “enlightened elite’” toward Israel and her (and our) enemies has always reminded me of one of Groucho’s best lines.
The one that goes, “He was born half-witted and he’s been losing ground ever since.”
And I’m not talking about Israel.
clear ether
eon
“I will pay no more attention to these people.”
Yes, but why do we pay attention to them in the first place? Do you think I’d waste a single second on them or on feeling frustrated and desperate if they were just “hurting my feelings”? Who cares what these idiots think? The problem is that their ideas influence Western policy and that we’re depended on the West. And I don’t mean charity. I mean, for example, that Europe is our main export market, so when a European major party leader talks about using that against us, boycotting us to suffocate our economy unless we do what they order us, I take it seriously. If the West didn’t have various loaded guns pointed to our heads their insanity wouldn’t be such a huge problem.
It’s a dead end because they tell us to either jump off the cliff or they’ll push us over. We won’t commit suicide, and the rest is up to them. We’re at their mercy almost as if we were still living among them, and their mercy is not something we can ever rely on, particularly when they’re having an episode. They lose their mind every once in a while and you know how they get when that happens. I lost hope in changing their minds. It’s too late and we’re too small. The Left has taken over the media and the education system a long time ago and accomplished a hell of a lot while we were sleeping or listening to their rubbish. You don’t have a voice in that mass circulation. So I think that instead of continuing banging our heads against the wall, we should invest our time, effort and emotional energy in finding solutions to the dependence on the West. Find alternatives. I think we should discuss that. There’s no point in wasting your brain on the braindead. Those who are capable of seeing, thinking and learning outside the leftist propaganda machine already opened their eyes. The rest will never listen anyway. They will only learn from their own bitter experience, but that might take decades.
So what can we do now? What we need is to make new friends. What are our options? And what would they want in return? What can we do to advance our relations with the Asian superpowers? We need serious alternatives for trade in case Europe decides to boycott us, and we need alternatives for military technology in case the US will continue the current trend of changing sides like the French before them. What can we do develop other alternatives and make them reality?
When you are willing to negotiate endlessly the enemy will never stop making demands.
When you place higher value on the lives of your enemies than the lives of your countrymen the enemy will never stop fighting.
When you are are willing to abandon territory even when that territory is used for launching missiles at your cities the enemy will never stop demanding territory.
When you are willing to trade 1000 murderers for one kidnapped soldier the enemy will never stop kidnapping soldiers.
When you are willing to dig your own grave the enemy is happy to hand you the shovel.
it is both absurd and obscene to make any concessions to people who want you dead. I gave up years ago on the new york times as well as other delusional media outlets that insist Israel give up additional territory for the peace process to be successful. After reading Ken Levin’s Oslo Syndrome, it has become very clear how easy it is to want to believe that genocidal sociopaths such as hamas and hizbollah can become sensible if they are simply placated yet one more time. Someone wrote that Israel wants peace, but the palestinians want victory. That’s bad enough, but “victory” for the arabs conists of the annhiliation of Israel as a nation and a state.
Pnina @ 29
“The rest will never listen anyway. They will only learn from their own bitter experience, but that might take decades.”
If you mean Israeli leftists and the Israelis who haven’t wised up to them, you’re talking about the most dangerous of Israel’s enemies, the Jewish enemy within. Israel’s many decades of bitter experience, unfortunately, have befallen all Israelis, not just them alone, and if they will never learn, all Israel will always suffer.
In order to do what you rightly say Israel must do now, Israel must first deal effectively with that enemy within. Given the fact that even when landslide elections defeat the left, Israel eventually succumbs to leftist policies anyway, what can Israel do to deal effectively with this problem?
I was talking about the West. The majority of Israelis have already woken up, though if the Arabs will go back to pretending they are ready to make peace in return for land (that doesn’t include the entire Israel) we might revert. But for now the Arabs don’t even bother to pretend (except when talking in foreign languages) because they don’t have to – the West will support them anyway. As for our own leftists – they cause major damage by providing propaganda ammunition to our enemies, but in Israel the majority lost their faith in them. We’ve been hit by reality too much to be able to share their delusional worldview and ignore what’s right in front of us.
Our biggest problem is that the West tries to dictate to us policies that we know will lead to disaster, while at the same time it demands nothing from the Arabs and treats them as if they were our poor innocent victims, and we are the big bad wolf. We can’t just ignore the West because we depend on the US for weapons and Europe is our main export market (though Asia’s share is growing), and they threaten to use it to blackmail us into submission. We also can’t change their minds. They believe what they want to believe and what they think best serves their interests. I think they miscalculate their interests too, but they won’t wake up to it any time soon. In the meantime we need to find alternatives to the West and work on plan B in case the US goes French on us.
Thanks, Pnina, for your thoughtful reply. As you say, it does seem as if Israelis have become fed up with the left, even though it’s still possible they might well revert back to their old habits. I think Israel is walking that very tightrope right this very minute with Netanyahu and Barak in fact, and, the US is on a similar tightrope of its own with Obama, and may well, among other things, go French on Israel if Obama wins reelection.
For the moment, then, Israel is virtually alone at a critical, explosive moment, and, in light of the most recent events, is more divided than ever. You are absolutely correct that Israel must look to make new friends, but that will take time, and Israel needs a steadfast sense of national unity and political purpose to be able to protect herself, by herself, right now. This is not impossible, but the moment of truth is at hand.
I see two ways this could all be settled. The first and easiest would be for Israel to agree to all demands including right to return, renounce their religion, accept Islam and pay the dimmitude for the rest of eternity. Wouldn’t that make everyone happy?
The second is a bit harder and would involve a bit of help from America. Americans would have to tell all the appeasers and Jew haters to just shut up. Then we would have to just say that we agree with anything the Jewish people feel like and will back them with everything we have. Detail a fleet off the Israeli coast with ports available to them for resupply and such, and move say, a division of Marines to a permanent home base in Israel,(maybe Gaza?) much like the First Marine Division in Japan. This would, of course include a Marine Airwing. Make it very clear that we back Israel no matter what. Any attack, be it one rocket or an army, on either Israel or our military bases would be considered an act of war and would be answered swiftly and completely. Make it clear that our forces would follow Israel’s lead but we would be there to back them. Think anyone would test us?
Building a lasting peace has to start with the Government’s cessation of hateful propaganda. That was not part of the Egyptian peace accord. It was not part of the Jordanian accord. The Islamists are spewing hate in the guise of religion. States such as Egypt and Jordan are all to eager to jump on board because they’re frankly fearful of the people they supposedly govern.
You can’t negotiate or even maintain a peace with a government that does not represent their people. That is why Lebanon and Syria aren’t at peace. That is why the treaties with Egypt and Jordan are looking very precarious.
I do not share the optimism that a war can be “won” by anyone in the region. Most countries are content to keep the status quo. Most will not abide by Israel actually winning anything.
Anyone here remember what happened in the Yom Kippur war, when Egyptian forces had the Israeli military surrounded –from the inside? Were it not for a phone call from Henry Kissinger to the Israeli Prime Minister, the people in Egypt might very well be speaking Hebrew.
Nobody will let Israel do what they must. This is death by a thousand rocket attacks. God Help the Arabs if they actually get what they seek.
The exchange of one Israeli for 1,000 Arabs from Palestine seems a very fair deal for both sides. After all there are some 15 million Jews in the world compared to one and a half billion muslims and every time the muslims have gone up against Israel the have had the very sh*t kicked out of them. By the same token, every time Gaza attacks Israel and Israel retaliates, a kill ratio of 1000:1 should be expected.
We know we have enemies – we have also friends – but we must remember that we have learned to trust more the threats of the enemy than the promises of the friends.
—Elie Wiesel
Dear Dr Rubin:
I feel your “laughter.” I too don’t know whether to laugh or cry 24/7. Those of us who have refused to wear blinders and listen to the “experts” who only think about their bank accounts as they swiftly sell their children –and their country–into slavery… to an ideology and its ideologues. I –alas–know all too well having been forced to drink deep at the well at school but went back home to a saner environment to mentally cleanse myself. Long, buried, story.
Back to the insane present. Israel is the only light in the region. Home of the Hebrews. The hypocricy of the “arabs” and “palestinians” is intolerable, yet tolerated for one reason alone: that stinkin oil those Western geologists discovered.
Forgive me for what might be maudlin…I truly believe Israel has to “damn the torpedoes” of world opinion, which mostly —for reasons I still can’t quite (or perhaps want to) fathom–it will have to take a tough stance and forget the facade of “peace” offered by its enemies and so called “allies.” Any more concessions at this stage is merely slow suicide.
the situation Barry describes has given me heartache for so long…time for a laugh yes!
A Jewish man was sitting in Starbucks reading an Arab newspaper. A friend of his, who happened to come in the same store, noticed this strange phenomenon.
Very upset, he approached him and said: “Moshe, have you lost your mind? Why are you reading an Arab newspaper?”
Moshe replied, “I used to read the Jewish newspapers, but what did I find? Jews being persecuted, Israel being attacked, Jews disappearing through assimilation and intermarriage, Jews living in poverty.
So I switched to the Arab newspaper. Now what do I find? Jews own all the banks, Jews control the media, Jews are all rich and powerful, Jews rule the world.
The news is so much better!”
……………………..
“We have met the enemy and he is us”. – POGO
I enjoyed this article – as I do all the articles about Israel and the Jews. I have been following what is going on with Israel since Bush became President and although I voted for him, I have disagreed on all the decisions he made when it came to Israel. Things have progressed to the point now that I can see why Jews laugh and also why God laughs. It’s ridiculous what they think they have the power to do and how they have to twist their minds to such an extent in order to manipulate the results they want to have. What is even more amazing is the powers-that-be take their twisted thoughts seriously and twist their minds to match. None of them are sensible. How can you make sense out of lies? It’s not possible. The only way you can do it is to ignore what is true and accept deceit as the truth. Well, as the Scripture says, God is laughing along with us because He knows it’s a bunch of nonsense, it will just lead to trouble, and then He will have to step in and resolve it all – HIS WAY. And His way will certainly not be like they want it to be! We have God’s Word and we know how it all ends.
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
Niccolo Machiavelli (1490)
Now that Gilad Shalit is home it is my sincere hope that the government of Israel will announce a new policy to deter such a thing from ever happening again.
Netanyahu should go on TV and announce the following:
“We have paid a dear price for the return of our soldier. This will never happen again. We have given you 1,200 terrorists for one of our own sons. That is the exchange rate.
I have here a list of 1,200 leaders and operatives of Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups. If you capture one of our soldiers or citizens we will hunt these individuls down and kill them. No more arrests for you to bargain with. We will not hesitate if they try to hide among civilians. We will not stop until he is returned.
If he is harmed we will continue hunting these people until they are all dead no matter how long it takes. They will never again see the light of day or live without fear.”
no doubt about it, but too easy. From now on prisoners will serve out their full terms in prison, and the amenities they enjoy at present — school, TV, etc. — are hereby revoked. Also, all henceforth tried and found guilty of murder will be executed, without exception. Finally, retaliation for incidents of terror will be swift and deadly.
Appeasement has never worked, at least not between nations. Nazism and fascism were defeated thanks to the willingness of the democratic powers to eliminate the deadly threat to humanity. Communism was defeated in a cold war. Japan and Germany were bombed so heavily, that the above statement by Machiavelli came true to an extreme. Today, the two countries are the most peaceloving nations in the world. The Arab world needs a blast so severe, that they would not even think of retaliation.
Centuries of persecution has done its odd work upon us. We want to be liked of the nations. But as more Israel tries to share the masquerade of the one or the other peaceprocess, the more neclect and scorn upon the Jewish State. Come over it!
Fortunately due to public pressure, Obama has had to pull back from overt hostility towards Israel. Now Obama Administration policy towards Israel consists of covert hostility. You do not have a friend in America, Mr. Rubin. Not until 2012. Keep your guard up and hang in there for another eighteen months.
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