If Israel would stop fighting like pussies and instead treat their enemies like the Allies treated theirs during WWII there would be peace in the Middle East today.

Marc — anything short of full sovereignty will be likened by the world to the black tribal “nations” that existed within South Africa.

Better idea is the status quo for now, with a possibility for future full sovereignty later.
Mar 2, 2009 – 11:31 am”

Really? Like the Arabs treatment of the Kurds among others? Kuwait and Saudi Arabia expelled over three hundred thousand Palestinians in 1992. If it is good enough for the Arabs to expel the Palestinians, the Israeli’s should do no less. Markus you have a problem with Israeli’s treating Arabs like Arabs treat Arabs? The world will do exactly what? There 21 Arab countries and over 50 Muslim States. There is no compelling need for another one of either.

I do not agree most Jews are libertarian. A true libertarain would NOT be attracted to the Democratic party where liberal dogma rules. Where is the tolerance, for example, if you want to be relgious or a gun owner?

You are missing the obvious; American Jews worship at the alter of liberal SECULARISM and they are doctrinaire, some would say fascist, even, in their lack of tolerance for opposing views.

I cannot agree Jews are not aware of Israel’s geography. I know people who send their children to Israel summers, have children in the IDF, who voted Obama because they have convinced themselves he will be good for Israel. To believe otherwise topples their universe because after worshipping secularism, their next belief is HATING REPUBLICANS. I have relatives, I don’t say this proudly, who would cut off an arm before pulling a lever for a Republican. It is entirely irrational.

These are people with law and other professional degrees. They are willfully blind.

Period.

Well stated, bear repeating.
Carter, Clinton, Bush and now Obama will be crushed on the rocks of the Roadmap to Peace.

Denial is not the only reason. Look at Rush – some of his very strong views are anathema to folks who perceive him to be dogmatically opposed to libertarian personal freedoms and liberal-minded social concerns about the less-fortunate. These values resonate with Jews, even if they are not personally gay, poor, sending their kids to public school or lining up at the local abortion clinic.

Look at the Osbourne case that has just been heard this week by the Supreme Court – a prisoner convicted of rape/murder in Alaska in 1993 has requested that he be entitled to test the DNA sample almost 15 years post-conviction. Unlike in 1993, DNA testing today is a “truth test” – in 1993, it was slightly more precise than blood-type testing; today it is definitive. The arguments against re-testing (even while the prisoner remains in jail) are coming from conservative quarters and a Republican State of Alaska. Libertarians, however, would think it crazy to keep a man (even an otherwise bad man) in prison for a crime that can be proved, without a doubt, that he did not commit). Conservatives see a slippery slope here of letting everyone free; of convicts gaming the system. It is this type of conservatism, hostile to certain fundamental fairness, that is the face of the Republican Party to many, otherwise rational, moderates. Rush alienates and resonates stronger than the need for Israel to have the best advocate in the Presidency.

And it is also ignorance, not denial, that plays a part in many Jews not understanding what the situation is in Israel vis a vis Gaza. They see Gazans portrayed as the underdog and don’t understand why Israel needs to rule over this land. Maybe they are in denial when they forget that Israel left Gaza years ago and that missiles have been the reward of withdrawal, but fundamentally, they don’t understand the geography that makes it impossible to live safely with hostile forces on either side of a narrow strip of Israeli land. They are ignorant of the pervasive scope of anti-Jewish racism in even “moderate” Palestinian kindergartens or they assume that is “root-caused” by the Israeli “oppression”. If you listen to NPR on a regular basis as your primary source of news, how could you think otherwise?

Does Obama “get it”. I don’t think so. I don’t think he is hostile to Israel or wants it to fail, but I think he believes that you can make peace with people who hate you and don’t have any geopolitical reason not to continue the hatred and the murder. The lessons of the Gaza withdrawal and the Sderot missile attacks are clear – these he doesn’t understand. Nor does he understand the Iranian threat. He’s like Roger Cohen of the Times who finds that submissive Jews are tolerated in Iran and, ergo, Iran is not such a bad place after all.

McCain got it. But he was excoriated for the most part by the more conservative wing of the Republican Party because of a perceived lack of true conservative values, bowed to this pressure and put up someone with as much “experience” as Obama for his VP instead of Romney, and, even with this handicap, could have taken it but for the economy. Romney gets it and is supported at CPAC. But will the conservative wing of the Republican Party support a Mormon? They didn’t in 2008. They will go for Palin and Obama will win again if they do.