Israel’s PR Challenge in the Battle for Public Opinion
Israel is at this moment involved in yet another battle in its century-long war against Arab hatred and aggression. As a result, men I do not know and would not care to know are firing rockets in the hope of killing me, my friends, and my countrymen. The obvious surrealism of such a situation is compounded by the knowledge that, very soon—if they are not already—other people I do not know and would not care to know will be announcing that it is all our fault.
Israel’s PR campaign in this particular battle has been noticeably better than it has in the past. Nonetheless, it is only a matter of time before our enemies fully mobilize. With protests already spreading across the world, it is also only a matter of time before the majority of the establishment media, which silently—and often not so silently—agrees with their demonization of the Jewish state, begins to give them the upper hand in the battle for public opinion.
These particular critics inevitably portray themselves, and the media establishment inevitably concurs, as anti-racist activists fighting a racist regime. Israel, they claim, is an unholy evil akin to apartheid South Africa, and nothing it does short of surrender and suicide can be morally justified. At the same time, nothing Israel’s enemies do, however monstrous, vile, and bloodthirsty, can be morally objectionable. At best, it is simply “an understandable result of” some real or imagined Israeli crime.
It is worth pointing out the implications of this. Many of Israel’s critics are, in fact, making a very simple claim: Arabs have earned the right to murder Jews. It is necessary, unfortunately, to explain precisely what this means: One people (the Arabs) can slaughter another (the Jews) with justice and morality on its side; while any resistance on the part of the latter (the Jews) to the designs of the former (the Arabs) is a monstrous crime. And the distinction, lest we forget, is made on the basis of a single factor: race.
The same holds true with regard to these critics’ stance on Palestinian nationalism. Those who support, at least nominally, a two-state solution, demand a state in which Palestinian Arabs will be the dominating and privileged class; to such an extent that any Jews living on its territory must be expelled to Israel proper.
Those who oppose a two-state solution in favor of a binational state, moreover, not only advocate a state in which the Jews will be an oppressed minority, but hold that there should be no Jewish state at all. In short, Israel’s ostensibly anti-racist critics believe that Palestinians have a right to national self-determination but Jews do not; and this distinction is, once again, made solely on the basis of a single factor: race.
One can only conclude, then, based on their own ideology and their own self-professed morality, that these critics not only fail to be anti-racist, but are, in fact, partisans of the most brutal and inhuman form of racism in the world today. It is a racism that not only supports and advocates ethnic cleansing and genocide, but creates a racial hierarchy in which ethnic cleansing and genocide, if committed by Israel’s enemies, is a moral, just, praiseworthy, even beautiful act.
Against such a monstrous ideology, there is only one possible resistance: to say what it is, and to speak the truth against its lies, as long and as loud as one can, in the face of this world that so earnestly wishes not to hear it.
If I were Cousin Bibi,I wouldn’t give a fat baby’s butt what the so called ‘international community’ thought about Israel’s actions to defend itself…trying to persuade those nations to not encourage Palestinian terrorism against Jews is a battle he can’t ever win anyway.
We do have to worry about the United States.
Rezko Update: Mystery man’s true identity revealed
http://illinoispaytoplay.com/2012/11/18/rezko-update-mystery-mans-true-identity-revealed
After five days of escalating violence we finally hear from Obama, in typical Obama double-speak, that “Israel has every right to defend itself, but if it can do so without invading Gaza, that would be preferable.” Doesn’t sound really committed to taking sides, but if I had to bet on one, I’d say it he will side with his Muslim brothers.
Well, our congress just passed something the other day (making sure to stick it in obama’s face) that said that they stand with Israel no matter what.
Besides, if our commie-in-chief actually orders our military to move against Israel and our military complies (God forbid) than I would hope and pray that God would nuke us with a meteor strike – because we are then a truly evil country. We are already being Judged as it is……
Benjamin, glad you tackled this subject, and it is dear to many hearts.
You will be interested in this too – http://adinakutnicki.com/2012/11/16/with-israel-at-war-israeli-hasbara-informational-campaigns-how-effectivenecessary-are-they-in-general-prof-paul-eidelberg-enlightens-commentary-by-adina-kutnicki/
So glad you tackled it, and that PJM understands its efficacy!
Be still…this American-Israeli”s heart….
Public opinion is not worth winning. Why? Because it is an opinion unconcerned with facts.
What drives public opinion is emotion.
More than anything else public opinion wants to be on the winning side.
Israel’s two greatest ” public opinion ” victories came in ’48 and ’67.
A military victory results in a public opinion victory especially when it is one against many.
We are obligated by Torah Law to battle the enemies at our borders.
The more decisive and complete the victory the better.
I don’t think it’s racism, it’s religious bigotry. Even though much of the Western Left that sides with Islam is superficially secular, deep down, they are post-Christians, their morality is deeply rooted in a Christian ethics which advocates passivity over aggression, even though Christians have never followed this in their own behaviour. Jews, though, are expected to follow this ethical standard. The Muslims get a pass when it comes to Jews (and capitalists, all filthy dealers in money) based on the simple formula: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Apologies for repetition. Comment posting seemed to be failing, no sign it was getting through.
I don’t think it’s racism, it’s religious bigotry. Even though much of the Western Left that sides with Islam is superficially secular, deep down, they are post-Christians, their morality is deeply rooted in a Christian ethics which advocates passivity over aggression, even though Christians have never followed this in their own behaviour. Jews, though, are expected to follow this ethical standard. The Muslims get a pass when it comes to Jews (and capitalists, all filthy dealers in money) based on the simple formula: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
I don’t think it’s racism, it’s religious bigotry. Even though much of the Western Left that sides with Islam is superficially secular, deep down, they are post-Christians, their morality is deeply rooted in a Christian ethics which advocates passivity over aggression, even though Christians have never followed this in their own behaviour. Jews, though, are expected to follow this ethical standard. The Muslims get a pass when it comes to Jews (and capitalists, all filthy dealers in money) based on the simple formula: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
These “journalists” are not journalists, but in fact are terrorists, and should be treated as such.
And yes, that means targeting and killing them.
I would even advocate that Israeli commandos be sent to Europe to attack and kill these terrorists in their lairs (e.g. – BBC headquarters, France24 headquarters, etc.). Since the Europeans already hate us enough to want to exterminate us Jews, it cannot make us hate them more.
Mr Kerstein has nailed this double standard and bigotry like no one ever before:
One people (the Arabs) can slaughter another (the Jews) with justice and morality on its side; while any resistance on the part of the latter (the Jews) to the designs of the former (the Arabs) is a monstrous crime.
This is THE narrative amongst the left.
Read the book of Esther and see how the story ends. This has been going on for a long time and it always ends the same way.
Mohammedan morals consist in prostrate like bowing 5 times a day in the general direction of some black stone in Mecca that is suppose to have fallen down from their moon-god, Allah, and attending mosque regularly at the appointed weekly time, and in breaking the ten commandments all the balance of the week. It comes natural to them to lie and cheat and kill and enslave in the first place, and then they go on and improve on that nature until they arrive at perfection. I never did dislike anyone as much as those Muslims and especially the Arabs, and most especially the so called “Palestinians”, and when Israel is pushed to war with them again, I hope America and England and France and Russia will not find it good breeding nor good judgment to interfere.
They weren’t born to walk on water
They weren’t born to sack and slaughter
But on their soul, they weren’t born
To stoop and knuckle under
They can again learn to steal some thunder
They can again learn to work some wonder
And when the gauntlet’s down,
It’s time to rise and climb the sky
And soon the moon will smoulder
And the winds will drive
Yes, Israel grows older but it’s soul remains alive
All those tremulous stars still glitter
They will survive
Let their hearts grow colder and as bitter as a falcon in the dive
There was a dream, a dying ember
There was a dream, they may not yet remember
But they will resurrect that dream
Though rivers stream and hills grow steeper
For in the Middle East where life gets cheaper
Oh, here in this Hell the blood runs deeper
And when the final duel is near
They will lift their spear and fly
Piercing into the sky and higher
And the strong will thrive
Yes, the weak will cower while the fittest will survive
If they wait for the darkest hour
Till they spring alive
Then with claws of molten fire, they will devour like a falcon in the dive!
It’s jealousy and anti-Semitism. It has to be. There is no other explanation for the incredible hypocrisy of the left’s support for Palestinians. The left purports to be for peace, for equality, for negotiation, for tolerance. Palestinian behavior is literally the opposite of all those things. The argument that they were forced to be this way by their circumstances- well that’s like saying they have no choice but to be evil and that doesn’t give them much credit does it. It’s like that Islam video- in an attempt to placate the situation (supposedly) they blame the video, but what that does that say?- It’s the videos fault because OF COURSE the muslims will go on a violent rampage. Seems like no one on the left takes this to the logical conclusion- hmmm if we have to tip toe around the muslims or else they’ll go all violent (something we don’t have to do with any other religion) maybe the problem is THEM- their religion, their culture, their leadership. The left acts like everyone else is responsible for Muslim behavior. Why? I live in Spain where there is a big movement against gender violence. It’s a big cause here (I don’t know if it is because it is worse here than other places or it’s just the issue of the day anyway..) Many here are extremely anti-Israel also. I wonder if they consider how Hamas, Hezbollah, MB, etc regard women. Is their treatment of women Israel’s fault too? And that’s just one issue. The Spanish left has NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING in common with Islam. It can only be that they hate Jews for whatever reason- jealousy, ignorant conspiracy theories, or just lazy thinking…It’s frankly embarrassing. You just want to go, “LOOK LOOK look at what these people teach their kids, look at the violent rhetoric that spews from their ‘holy’ people, look at how they treat women, look at their obsession with destruction. Look dammit” And I say all this as a non-Jew who has no real connection with Israel. We exist, we support you, and we can’t believe more people don’t.
Lets put the record of terminology straight: Jews (as I am) and Arabs are the same race: Semites. The difference is religion and all the rest…
The article stands as correct reasoning, though please Mr. Kernstein, you should get the terminology right in the first place!
“Semite” refers to a language group, not a race. It only took on connotations of race when it was partially adapted into “Antisemitism,” which, of course, is a racist ideology.
Benjamin is exactly correct. Semites are not a race, whatever that is, it is a language group containing Habrew, Aramaic, and Arabic (others?). The related Hamitic group contains Ancient Egyptian and Coptic. I believe “antisemitism”, with its racial connotations, as opposed to anti Jewish beliefs originates with 19th century German “philosophers”.
Mr. Kernstein, we certainly don’t want to argue about. Semites, (as from Biblical Shem) refers to a race, and later to language groups, which is correct. Today the Semites are Jews, Arabs and many others, some now extinct. I was referring to your text, that should be read the differences between Jews and Arabs are not of race, but religion, and so many other historic differences.
I know the term Semite today isn’t referring to a separate race, only to languages. If this is the case, are we Jews a part of the Caucasian race? And if so, what about the many Jews who lived millennia in Arab countries?
In any case I did appreciate your article as said.
…which begs the question of exactly why and how, then, you distinguish Jews and Muslims as different races? They are obviously different religions, first and last. Your answer is pedantic and hardly fits the common (even if “wrong”) usage of “Semite” precisely as a “race” (or would you tell me that, in your long education, you have never encountered, time and time again, the phrase “the semitic race”? — As a scientist and scholar myself, a life-long learner, I have.
You screwed up, referring to “race” and “racism”, and it detracts from your arguments. Jossi is right, Jews and Arabic Muslims are the same race, and they are also both Semites. Thus the common man (and many a scholar) uses “Semites” as a handy racial term, and you should think twice and again before asserting they have all been wrong to do so.
Sorry Jossi and Harry, but it is you, not Benjamin who are in error. Start with this question. What IS a race ?
Even if you can answer that in any meaningful way, Jews and Arabs have just as much likelyhood of belonging
to the same “race” as Jews and Hittites, Babylonians, Moabites, Ancient Egyptians, or anyone else with an origin in
the ancient Middle East. The unarguable fact, Josse, that many Jews have lived amongst Arabs since the 7th or 8th
century or so is irrelevant. So is the “common” usage, especially if it has its origins in anti-Jewish “philosophy” and
long-discredited ‘science”. Perhaps we need a different term than “racist”, and to *** with the common usage.
I believe that if one were so inclined to read the findings of the “human Genome Project”, one would learn that there is only 1 race of human beings.
“It is only a matter of time before my countrymen’s enemies fully mobilize, with the help of the establishment media.”
Where have you been? That’s been the last 40 years at least!
How can you fight a War if you are not allowed to name your enemy. How can such a war be prosecuted and how and by what indicators would you know if you are winning or losing. Such is the corner that Politically Correct left Wing moonbats the world over have painted themselves in to.
They dare not explore Islam nor read the Koran nor examine what is preached every Friday at every Mosque because their heads are so far up their own rectums that daylight never prevails.
For the moonbats who just might possibly read this blog here is what your Political leaders and the Lame Stream EneMedia will not tell you.
Islam believes it is destined to rule the world and everything it does is towards that ultimate aim no matter how long it takes.
Islam believes that its Koran is the ‘actual and unalterable’ word of its moon God allah
Islam therefore believes all the Arab supremacism , bigotry, anti semitism,
misogyny, lies, self contradiction and nonsense that the Koran contains is Gods own TRUTH.
Islam is perfectly happy, in fact it recommends Muslims to lie to promote or defend Islam
Islam does not have truces it has huddnahs (but Taqqiyya Islamic sanctioned LIES will allow them to call it a truce) which are made when Muslims feel weak but can be broken unilaterally by Muslims when they feel strong again.
Islam will not stop trying until all Jews are dead and all Kaffirs are either tribute paying dhimmies or have converted to Islam
Precisely. And for those of you who may be interested in a little more Sunday morning reading on the subject, see here: http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Quran/023-violence.htm
Yep! I remember a reporter actually asked one of these “pals” if they would be done with violence if they actually succeeded in destroying Israel and killing all the Jews there. Would that finish it? The guy said, No! Because there are still Jews in the world, aren’t there?
I understand all of this and know it to be true – these are facts that anyone can check up when they are researching what Islam is and isn’t…for the lamestream media not to also know this is an IMPOSSIBILITY, therefore it must be jew-hating bigotry yet again.
Oh and BTW, I have shamelessly copied, pasted and posted your very concise summation as it is one of the best I’ve ever seen.
Wake up call. With just a few keystrokes you might want to know that Hillary Clinton was a favorite of Arafat and his wife obviously a terrorist. Right? Well now her chief of Staff Huma is none other than a trojan horse for the Muslime Brotherhood. Yes no hiding in plain site here. Any reason that might actually be a problem. Also meanwhile back at the Federal Santa Clause line we have Egypt starting to aid Hamas in this war while we give them billions in aid each year. Also we reinstated the aid to the “poor abused Palistinians including Hamas” so tthey can wage war on Israel too. Hamas of course in a show of concern for their own children put their rocket sites right next to schools nurseries and mosques to maximize the dead and wounded when retaliation ultimately comes so the CNN crews can get their stories. If this administration is not the “key stone cops” of foreign policy I don’t know who is. They are the dumbest, most inept, incompetent jerks in history but hey they won the election. We just need to stop hurting their feelings. Obama gets a free pass and it’s back to the golf course. One cheer for the laziest idiot SOB president iin history.
As a result, men I do not know and would not care to know are firing rockets in the hope of killing me, my friends, and my countrymen. The obvious surrealism of such a situation is compounded by the knowledge that, very soon—if they are not already—other people I do not know and would not care to know will be announcing that it is all our fault.
Well, that’s how it usually is in war: people you don’t know try to kill you, your friends, and your countrymen. Israel is not special in this respect.
There is a wrinkle here. In modern times only one people have suffered a war of total extermination.
There is a difference. Hamas explicitly wants to destroy every ‘Zionist’ meaning all Israeli Jews. All Israel wants to do is stop the rockets.
Benjamin is a direct target simply because he is a Jew living in Israel. The converse is not true. Israel goes out of its way to avoid killing civilians.
Israel is different that every other country at war before. No country has consistantly had to deal with world opinion for defending itself. In all fairness Gaza should never have been given back (that’s another thing – when in history has a country ever been forced to give back territory they won in a war?) and in a “fair” world all the pals would be scooped up and deported to Egypt and Jordan – which is where they are from in the first place. When are squatters given legistimacy? That also means those in Judah and Samaria need to be deported also.
A very simple scripture in the Bible says a whole lot and many, if not most seem to get it no regard what so ever. However, the last time I checked, GOD IS NOT A LIAR!! The scripture?
Zec 14:11 And Jerusalem will be filled, safe at last, never again to be cursed and destroyed.
What more needs to be said???
I like verse 12 too
And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will smite all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh shall rot while they are still on their feet, their eyes shall rot in their sockets, and their tongues shall rot in their mouths.
I’m not sure I agree 100% with the term Arab enemy. I would write Muslim, or those who follow Muhammad are the enemy of Israel. I enjoy the term moon god worshiping POS, but I lack compassion for the enemy.
The world system hates Jews, and Christians. That is how you know you are doing something right.
The leftist lemmings of the world from the big rats like Obama and Hillary down to the stupid, boring college students march in lock step idiocy: “Joos bad, Akmal good! Us hate evil Joos! Us cry for poor l’il goat rapists”
Incompetent knuckleheads like Obama win elections because the populace is dumb as dirt.
My advice on how to deal with the world’s anti-Semitic rants is to do what people of commonsense and decency have been forced to do in the US: many millions of us ignore the liberal-left press. I don’t believe they have caught onto it and when they do they’ll probably call it an intellectual apartheid—we already call it preserving ourselves from tedious nonsense. The bottom line is that the human race is a little nuts–some a lot more than others–so don’t take it too seriously.
Yes you should always try to counter the PR war, however the most important job government has is to protect its people. The leaders of Israel have always said “Never Again”, and I believe them. I might add with the invention of the internet, the truth can be found, if you seek the truth.
Mobilizing public opinion for what exactly? Even if Israel wins it will only keep the status quo in place which bleeds both Jewish and Arab lives. There is no choice but expulsion and there is no better or moral time than now.
Egypt and Jordan will be Islamicist countries which means they will have no excuse not give the so-called Palestinians full rights and most likely they will actively want to give them full rights.
Once there is no longer a so-called Palestinian people the rest of the world will stop caring. They don’t want to feed and clothe the Arabs (costs money) they just want a dagger at the Jews.
‘Israel’s PR campaign in this particular battle has been noticeably better than it has in the past. Nonetheless, it is only a matter of time before our enemies fully mobilize’
Why does Israel need a PR campaign if their action’s are totally justified? Why the need to spin if they are acting within international law?
It’s only a matter of time that any criticism of Israel’s action’s is called antisemitism and then evoke the Holocaust
As a representative of ‘other countries’,just because there is disagreements with Israel’s actions,that does not mean that people agree with Hamas’s action’s.
This might not be as vocal but that is because it’s bleeding obvious.
Because lemmings like you BUY the propaganda the arabs are peddling.
Only and INSANE person would have “disagreements” with Israeli policy in defending itself after being barraged by thousands of rocket attacks. Only the truly DERANGED would fail to fault a people that launched those missiles from civilian centers (i.e. schools, hospitals, apartment buildings).
So excuse me if I don’t find it “bleeding” obvious at all. Only a MORON could come to these conclusions and NOT blame who is at fault – the ones firing the missiles and refusing ANY offers of peace.
But you accept the Israeli PR machine?
To use the concept of ‘self defense’ in any law it has to be proportionate .Of course they shouldn’t be launching rockets at Israel,but that doesn’t justify using weapons of the modern battlefield on the most densely populated area with 50% being children.
It’s not defense if the ratio of death is 100/1. In this article what is not mentioned is the lead up to this and the tit for tat killings,including assassination’s.Both sides have broken ceasefires.
Only a moron would claim it’s unfair that only Israel’s atrocities are condemned ,they are still atrocities.
Lolly ,both can be wrong.Only a deranged person would fail to fault a country that bombards an urban area by air,land and sea probably soon including civilian infrastructure. Use illegal weapons including white phosphorous and inert carcinogenic metals. You seem to believe there is such things as ‘precision’ bombing that just get evil doers,i am in the U.K they have just bombed the building were Sky News were.
Again they shouldn’t be sending rockets into Israel,but in any crime you look for motive but that doesn’t mean you agree with it.
Question ,if the aim is to stop rockets being launched into Israel do you think this will work?
A question in response to your question. What exactly is the correct way to confront an intractable enemy? It seems pressure from the international community on Hamas has worked so well so far.
I’ll you what i wouldn’t do,i wouldn’t do something that i know isn’t going to work
just because i can’t think of what to do.
You have bought into every single propagandist bilge-drek the arab political machine has spewed out. There is no (read: NONE/NADA/ZIP) evidence that Israel EVER used phosphorous on arabs. But there is PLENTY of evidence that the arabs DID used it on the Israelis.
The bombs are dropping into civilian centers (which you conveniently REFUSED to acknowledge nor address) because that is where they are being fired from. Blame the people who put them there (I won’t hold my breath)….
And what in the world is PROPORTIONAL to you? That is the STUPIDEST thing I’ve ever heard anyone say. If you want bombs to stop dropping on your head you blow up the people launching them.
Also, the arabs weapons are pretty darned modern. They are receiving them from you and from Russia and from Iran and from France. I daresay, they are also receiving them from us since we have an administration that is pumping billions into their country. They ain’t buying food and medical supplies with that money!
And finally, as a Christian it is simply my duty to choose God’s Chosen people over demon worshipping murderous heathens. Period!
1. “the most densely populated area with 50% being children”
Wacky stuff. Gaza is not, no way, the ‘most densely populated place’. Please note: in 2008 the Palestinian arabs complained of israel damaging 1,000′s of farms in Gaza.
50% children ? Think about it. Is this possible? Chck the UN Gaza census for a more realistic idea of the % of children (less than 1/2 of your nonsense.)
2. “the concept of ‘self defense’ in any law it has to be proportionate”. only in the civil law, not in international law and definitely not in a war. Your statement about war is factually inaccurate and only comes up in the context of Israel.
Deterrance is an accepted policy in international law.
3. Illegal weapons ? white phosferous is legal when used as the israelis use it – for night illumination. “inert carcinogenic materials” – this is gibberish.
The Israelis have been accused of causing radiation deaths to Palestinian Arabs through the use of ‘depleted uranium’. “Depleted uranium” is no longer physically capable of causing radiation damage. It is used for distance shooting against snipers. The Arabs regularly use snipers to shoot Israeli civilians.
The accusations of using poison gas fail for the same reasons as the other ‘illegal weapons’ claims. There are NEVER any evidence to support the claims. there are never any people damaged by poison gas. No death or illness caused by the depleted uranium. No burns from phosferous.
Where there is smoke there is fire. here there arte no people injured by these tools. They would be the ‘smoke’ and they are not present.
Admit it Milly, your only regret about the Shoah is that Hitler did not enter your beloved England and exterminate your country’s Jews.
You have to excuse Milly’s ignorant stupidity she is a Citizen of a country and the product of an Academic system thoroughly infiltrated by the left and which which for DECADES now has been spewing out brainwashed left wing moonbats. Brits of 35 years and older have had to endure left wing propaganda pounded in to them continuously all their lives , they know nothing different. This same phenomena has now occurred in the USA how else could its populace be so moronic as to re-elected the USURPER.
Must be nice to be a Jew-hating nazi, Milly. Wear that swastika/hammer&sickle with pride.
I advocate a one state solution.
Pitch the Arabs out of Gaza and the West Bank, back into Egypt and Jordan respectively (where they came from), with no return on pain of death. Annex Gaza, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. Populate and improve the newly acquired lands.
Ready the nukes, and DARE anyone to do something about it.
Please take such comments elsewhere.
Sorry, buddy. I’m with Harry!
Stop the namby-pamby and TAKE what already belongs to you!
Mr. Kerstein,
The only thing wrong about Harry is that he does not go far enough. Make it clear to Morsi that if Egyptian forces attempt to help Hamas, they too will be nuked, and that any threat by Egypt to attack Israel will be met with the obliteration of Aswan, Cairo, Alexandria, and the end of Egypt, as 30 million would be killed almost instantly, and the most of the remaining 50 million would not survive the flooding, radiation, starvation and disease.
Then tell the Lebanese that if Hezbollah attacks, everything south of the Litani River will be turned to glass. Throw in Damascus while they are at it.
It seems to me that the attacks and terrorism will continue until a sizable group is flattened out of existence. Some people only understand the logic of obliterating force.
Harry might be expressing himself undiplomatically but is it so very very far from the truth? It has been plausibly suggested that, during the Yom Kippur War, Israel got the Western help it needed by threatening to “go nuclear”. It’s quite likely that Netanyahu would be using a similar tactic to keep the US and the EU in line.
Sorry if the truth is so offensive.
The Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank have made it perfectly clear that there will never be peace while both they and Israel exist. Any “negotiation” is a sham, designed to let them gather forces unimpeded, or to attack Israel without retaliation.
So what solution do you propose?
Please take yourself to Gaza so the IDF can shoot you.
You know you want to hang out with other Jew-haters like yourself anyway, and when you die your family can pretend you are a martyr.
The (white, wealthy) left’s take is really quite simple, ‘brown people good, white men bad’, inverse racism, guilt and self hatred. Jews are considered white. It’s an entirely ridiculous and racist position.
“White” is not the color of one’s skin. In apartheid South Africa, Asians were considered “white”. In affirmative action America, Asians are deliberately excluded from affirmative actions. Apparently successful Asians pose competitive threats to the lily whites, but not the “colored” who won’t amount to much without help. Helping the colored is like helping a dog, it’ll support you and bark for you, but will pose no real threats to you.
Israelis are the Asians to be kept down by the white Western elites.
Ridiculous and hysterical, based largely on caricatures, with inept and incoherent logic.
Take this sentence, for example:
“Those who support, at least nominally, a two-state solution, demand a state in which Palestinian Arabs will be the dominating and privileged class; to such an extent that any Jews living on its territory must be expelled to Israel proper.”
No-one demands a state in which the Palestinians will be the “dominating and privileged class” – they demand a sovereign Palestinian state, as is their right, alongside a sovereign / secure Jewish state, to be implemented bilaterally following negotiations or unilaterally by Israel (if necessary). There is broad agreement that the presence of the deeper-lying settlements would render any such state unstable and un-viable, either retained as part of “Palestine” or incorporated into Israel. Nevertheless, it is inconceivable that any Jews will be “expelled” insofar as this implies ad-hoc ethnic cleansing carried out by Palestinians – removals / dismantlements of settlements would be undertaken by the Israeli state prior to a putative Palestinian independence (and if there was an unlikely agreement for a number of settlements to remain in a Palestinian state, Israel would surely guarantee their protection).
Also the logic – how can Palestinians be the dominating class AND the Jewish settlers be expelled? If by expelled he means “driven out”, that’s dishonest, as noted, no Israeli government would let that happen, and if he means forcibly removed by the IDF than that would take place in time for the Palestinian Arabs to be the only nationality or indeed ethnic group within the territory that would become Palestine: there would be no-one to dominate!
Almost every sentence could be parsed in this way. And Israel doesn’t need a “PR strategy” (leaving aside the fact that talk of a PR strategy is the worst PR strategy). It needs to pursue negotiations, accept Palestinian statehood in the West Bank / Gaza (with minor adjustments) and defend its legitimate borders, as is its right. Fanatics who still wish its total destruction will then have no-one to court.
You know, it’s people like you that drive me crazy! The arabs would AB-SO-LUTE-LY expel any Jews within their territory. They do so now. And don’t think mentioning Christian Pals will help your cause. Where do you think those rocket launchers are placed next to? It’s no coincidence that the Christian population has demonstrably shrunk in the last few years.
Second – and should be FIRST – the so-called two-state solution was the very CREATION of Israel and Jordan (Called Trans-Jordan). The arabs there immediately refused and invaded the Israeli lands – where you have your squatters to this very day.
Know this also, Churchill stole half of the mandate designated for the creation of Israel and GAVE it to the arabs. So, the arabs STARTED OUT with 3/4 of the mandate and Israel 1/3. And the arabs have been chipping away at the remaining land every since. We’re talking about a landmass that about the size of Delaware here.
The pals need to go back to their homes in Egypt (gazans) and Jordan (west bankers) where they are from. And they must clear out of Jerusalem! That is the Jews Holy City. Nowhere in muslim writings is Jerusalem even mentioned.
And it’s people like you who drive ME crazy, incapable as you are of responding to a single point I actually made, instead prefering to do battle with a set of arguments voiced by the two-dimensional stereotype in your head.
Read what I wrote for a second time. Nowhere do I comment on the likelihood, or not, of Palestinians expelling Jews from territory they might control in the future. The point I make, not the imaginary person you are engaging with, is that such a scenario (expulsion) is impossible to envisage, not because the Palestinians would not be capable of it but because Israel will not allow settlers to be placed in such a position. The settlements within the territory to become Palestine would either be forcibly removed by the IDF prior to statehood and their occupants rehoused in Israel proper, or – in the incredibly unlikely event that some became part of a nascent Palestinian state – Israel would underwrite their continued security and intervene immediately in the event of significant aggression.
The Palestinians are not going anywhere, and all your frothing at the mouth and “creative” history will not alter that fact. You are the mirror image of those you despise on the left. Israel has to decide whether it wants to be a democracy within secure boundaries, or continue to deprive millions of people of political and civil rights.
Sorry, ‘Palestinians’ don’t have rights. Last time I checked Israel was being rather nice in not killing them all.
Since you are an idiot, I’ll re-explain.
The ‘Palestinians’ are not interested in peace. Period.
Given the opportunity they would set up death camps and gas every Jew in the world.
They have actually admitted this in public.
They brainwash their children to hate Jews (and Americans).
They are, literally, Nazi scum.
So, moron, do you get it now?
Now go die in a fire.
I’m going to assume you are actually capible of looking this stuff up yourself.
If not…….
If Israel accepts Palestinian statehood in the West Bank like you suggest, the result will be end of Israel in very short time after . Fanatics will be more encouraged to gain more and more territories . It is difficult to negotiate when establishment media supports one side : compromising can suggest that Palestinians were right all the time . And then even destruction of Israel can be easily justified by the same media.
Rubbish. Palestinian statehood may not end the violence, but to talk about the end of Israel is laugable. Israel is perfectly capable of defending itself, should it find the will to confront its own extremists and withdraw from the territories. If it is then attacked it will be entitled to defend itself, and it will be able to command the support of the United States and virtually the entire international community. There will be no possibility of using the occupation to chip away at Israel’s legitimacy. The alternative is depriving a whole people of their rightful liberty into perpetuity, and no-one will be subjugated forever.
Sorry, fascist, the ‘Palestinians’ don’t have any ‘rightful liberty’.
Now go drink some bleach and make the world a better place.
It doesn’t matter. Israel will never get a good press from entrenched media no matter what it does or does not do. The media will lie for Israel’s enemies.
It will be a replay of Romney vs Obama. Obama lied thru his teeth, Obama got obvious assist from the so-called debate monitors/referees. As Romney said, it’s his job to lay out a plan, it’s the media’s job to make sure it’ll not see the light of day.
Israel is Romney, the other side is the side of the MSM.
The best advice for Israel, do whatever needs to be done, “fast and furious”, then repair the damages when victory is won. Strong horse, weak horse. If Israel can’t stay the strong horse, it will be a dead horse soon. There will be no help from the Great Satan. Don’t forget most Jews voted for Obama. It was Romney who showed staunch support for Israel.
I wish that the United States cared as much about a Mexico losing its war with drug dealers as it does about an Israel that is definitely not losing its war with terrorism.
I believe most Americans do care John.
The problem is the CFR American government. It does not fit the agenda to defeat the Cartels. One has to get to a North American Union somehow. A lot of poor illegal aliens coming across the border, and getting on the voter rolls fits the Marxist agenda.
OK?
Israel doesn’t need a PR strategy. They need a more economical means to defend themselves.
Iran provides rockets to shoot into Israel. Israel spends millions to root out the assassins. Generations of Arabs that no doubt contains many a frustrated Steve Jobs or Bill Gates continue in this.
Whats cheaper and more permanent? Extermination, or a long term occupation. How to occupy so many is the question. The US found its hands full with Iraq and Afghanistan and we have vastly more resources and are out of the range of Irans missiles.
Perhaps the CIA’s answer was a democratic egypt would find it owned the palestinian problem.
That’s the irony.
I believe Steve Jobs is of Arab descent (the biological father is arab).
Correct discription of the dinamics of Arabs` propaganda action on the World community opinion towards Israel that is always hostile.The receipt of Israel`s action in this condition is wrong:the counter-propaganda that demand the time instead of the fast action.These sudden attacks where always successful for Israel. The victory reconcile even the country`s oppositioners,but propaganda just irritates.
Don’t even respond to the RAAAAAACIST!!!!!!11!! talk.
Instead, bring up what the Palestinians hate with a red hot passion. As in, no way are you ever gonna see a gay pride parade in Ramallah. Tel Aviv? Yep, sure. But in Gaza and the West Bank, they kill gays/lesbians/transphibians/whatever is the newest flavor of the month.
And atheists get the same treatment. Death.
So, when I get accused of supporting RAAAAAACISTS!, I turn it back on them and ask them precisely why they are supporting religious nutjob homophobes.
They haven’t figured out the official “talking points” for that, so it usually shuts ‘em up quick, especially if they themselves have, um, “alternative lifestyles”.
You get a cookie.
Also ask them why they are supporting swastika-wearing Nazi scumbags that want to murder Jews.
That shuts them up even faster.
The Two – State Solution is 87 Years Old
By Victor Sharpe
In 1920, Great Britain was given the responsibility by the League of Nations to oversee the Mandate over the geographical territory known as Palestine with the express intention of reconstituting within its territory a Jewish National Home.
The territory in question stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the eastern boundary of Mandatory Palestine, which was a border that would separate it from what was to become the future state of Iraq.
The League of Nations created a number of articles, which were in line with the original intent of the Balfour Declaration of November 29th, 1917. At the last minute, however, a new article was introduced by the British Colonial Office: article number 25.
At first the sudden addition of this article was not a cause for alarm but gradually it became apparent that its inclusion directly enabled Great Britain in 1921 to tear away all the territory of geographical Palestine, east of the River Jordan, and give it to the Arab Hashemite family; the territory to become Trans-Jordan and led by the emir Abdullah.
Britain presented this gift to Abdullah, the son of the Sherif of Mecca, as a consolation prize for its awarding of the Hedjaz territory and Arabia, which included Mecca, to the rival Saud family: That vast territory is now Saudi Arabia.
British officials also claimed that the gift of Mandatory Palestine east of the Jordan River was in gratitude to the Hashemites for their contribution in helping defeat the Turks. However, even T.S. Lawrence later described in derisory terms the Hashemite role as “a side show of a side show.”
This was the first partition of Palestine and created a brand new entity 87 years ago covering some 35,000 square miles or nearly four-fifths of the geographical territory of Palestine. Immediately Jewish residence in the territory was forbidden and it became in effect judenrein – the German term for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from a territory.
This betrayal by none other than Winston Churchill, the Colonial Secretary at the time, was a devastating blow to the Jewish and Zionist leadership, which now saw the promised Jewish homeland reduced to the remaining narrow territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan – an area barely 50 miles at its widest.
Shortly after, in 1923, the British and French colonial powers also divided up the northern part of the Palestine Mandate. Britain stripped away the Golan Heights (ancient biblical Bashan) and gave it to French occupied Syria.
The Balfour Declaration issued by Lord Balfour, British Foreign Secretary, never envisaged that the Jordan River would be the eastern boundary of the reconstituted Jewish homeland. Indeed, the Zionist leadership had put forward in February 1919 its first submission that the eastern boundary would run well east of the Hedjaz railway. The incorporation of the railway would be an economically essential requirement for the Jewish community living east of the River Jordan as well as providing it with vital security.
The squabbling by the French and British colonial powers over the final frontiers of the Palestine Mandate had earlier led the London Times to urge Paris to accept sensible and rational frontiers in both the north and east of Jewish Palestine. As early as September 19th, 1919 it had thundered in an editorial:
“The Jordan will not do as the eastern frontier of Palestine … Palestine must have a good military frontier east of Jordan … Our duty as Mandatory is to make Jewish Palestine not a struggling state but one that is capable of vigorous and independent life … ”
But Jewish aspirations inevitably were dashed as a new British Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon, took the place of Lord Balfour. This new British official within weeks of succeeding Balfour made it clear that Britain was intent upon separating Transjordan from Palestine: the first two-state solution.
The succeeding history of the remaining one fifth of the original territory promised to the Jewish people by Lord Balfour and the British government was one of continuing British betrayal as each successive Mandatory administration displayed pro-Arab and anti-Jewish policies.
During its administration up until 1947, Britain severely restricted Jewish immigration and purchases of land while turning a blind eye to massive illegal Arab immigration into the territory from neighboring Arab states.
Britain’s sorry record of appeasement of the Arabs, at the expense of Jewish destiny in the remaining territory, culminated in the infamous 1939 White Paper, which limited Jewish immigration to just 75,000 souls for the next five years. This onerous and draconian policy, coming as it did on the eve of the outbreak of World War 2, was a death blow to millions of Jews attempting to flee extermination by Nazi Germany.
Britain’s mismanagement of the Mandate finally led to the United Nation’s Partition Plan of 1947. The Jewish Agency reluctantly accepted this additional dismemberment of what was left in Mandatory Palestine of the promised Jewish National Home.
They did this in order to provide a refuge for the surviving Jewish remnants of the Holocaust and for the growing numbers of Jewish refugees being driven out of their homes throughout the Arab world. In contrast, the Arab regimes rejected the Partition Plan. Then, as now, they worked against the existence of an independent Jewish state.
Israel was officially re-born as a sovereign nation in 1948 and its 600,000 Jews fought to survive the massive Arab onslaught, which was intended to wipe out the Jewish state.
In 1948, Trans-Jordan, renamed the Kingdom of Jordan since 1946, had joined the other Arab nations in invading the Jewish state, illegally annexing the Biblical and ancestral Jewish heartland of Judea and Samaria and renaming it the West Bank. Only Britain and Pakistan recognized the annexation.
The war ended in tortuous armistice lines resulting in an Israeli border a mere nine miles wide at the most densely populated area, which stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordanian occupied West Bank. Israel’s late Foreign Minister, Abba Eban, described these dangerously vulnerable armistice lines as the Auschwitz borders.
Nineteen years later the Arab states declared again their imminent intention to destroy Israel. In the June 1967 Six Day War Israel liberated Judea and Samaria from Jordan in a defensive war. Israel offered to give away the newly liberated West Bank to the Hashemite regime in Jordan and the Gaza Strip to its erstwhile Egyptian occupiers in return for a full and lasting peace. But the Arab League, meeting in Khartoum in August, 1967, delivered the infamous three No’s: No peace with Israel, no negotiations with Israel, no recognition of Israel.
[b]It is within the narrow territory remaining for the Jewish state, if one includes Judea and Samaria, that the world now demands the establishment of yet another Arab state. Hamas controlled Gaza would be included in this future state to be called Palestine; a state which has never existed before by that name in all of recorded history – certainly not as an independent Arab state.
Gaza has already been given to the Arabs and they have turned it into a terror base from which they have launched a lethal missile blitz against Israel numbering to date over 10,000 rockets.
Israeli leaders should never have accepted even one missile fired from Gaza at its citizens in southern Israel. To let thousands fall with relative impunity for so many years led the world to believe that it was acceptable. After all, if Israel wasn’t interested in safeguarding its own civilians, why then should the world be. It was accepted as business as usual.
[/b]
The Gaza War thus came as a surprise to the world community and, just as the Second Lebanon War, it was launched by Israeli leaders too late and ended too soon, leaving both Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon free to wreak future havoc upon the Jewish state.
The disputed West Bank, which is the ancient biblical heartland of Israel, is now the territory U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is pressuring Israel to give away to the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians. This is the present day so-called two – state solution and will dismember what is left of Israel and drive some 250,000 Jewish residents from their homes and farms. Why? Because just as in Jordan, Jews will not be permitted to live within Arab territory, while Arabs can remain free to live within Israel.
It is instructive to remember that upon the granting of the Palestine Mandate to Great Britain, an eminent British celebrity and supporter of Zionism, Josiah Wedgwood, addressed a Jewish crowd of thousands at the Royal Albert Hall in London in which he urged the audience to stand up for Jewish rights in its homeland.
According to the late Shmuel Katz in his groundbreaking biography of the great Zionist leader, Vladimir Ze’ev Jabotinsky, titled The Lone Wolf, Wedgwood said:
“… This lesson I want the new Jewish nation to learn and to get by heart: Stand up for your rights. Let us have more of the spirit in the Jewish movement of my good and gallant friend Jabotinsky.”
Sadly, Israeli governments have become notoriously fearful of rejecting outright the deadly trap inherent in the so called two-state solution. Their muted responses have merely encouraged world leaders to repeatedly breathe new life into the discredited plan. The searing tragedy is that the two-state solution may presage for the Jewish people another Final Solution.
Perhaps the Secretary of State prefers to remain oblivious to the stark fact that the Arabs, whom she embraces and who today call themselves Palestinians, are as committed as their parents and grandparents before them to destroy the Jewish state; whatever size or shape its borders. The fact is that this is not a dispute over borders; this is a religious war and the Arabs, so long as the overwhelming majority remain Muslim, will never accept the existence of a non-Muslim state in territory previously conquered in the name of Allah -whatever the size or shape of its borders.
Only just recently, Muhammad Dahlan, speaking on behalf of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority, declared on PA TV that the PA will not recognize Israel — one of the primary demands made upon the Palestinian Arabs in the Oslo Peace Accords. Indeed, Dahlan admitted that the only reason they meet with Israelis at all is in order to continue receiving the immense flow of international funds.
Is Ms. Clinton aware of this Arab charade? Or does she dismiss it and care not for the absence of a sincere and honest Palestinian Arab peace partner and the inevitable plight of the quarter of a million plus Jewish residents who will become displaced refugees by enacting the next two-state solution. Perhaps she cares little for the resulting takeover of Judea and Samaria by Hamas and the inevitable missile blitz that will be launched by the Palestinian Arabs upon the rest of Israel.
Incidentally, what irony when the homes of Peace Now members living in Tel Aviv become daily targets of missiles launched from the very areas they campaign for their fellow Jews to be expelled from.
One wonders if Secretary Clinton knows that eighty seven years ago an original two-state solution was enacted in infamy. If she does, it is unlikely that she cares – anymore than the rest of the Obama Administration or State Department cares.
And what of those Jewish Americans who serve the Secretary and sadly will be in the forefront of destroying Jewish patrimony in the Land of Israel. Will they have a conscience or feel shame for the calamity they create? I think not.
Victor Sharpe is a freelance writer and author of Politicide: The attempted murder of the Jewish State.
I hope that English twit, Milly, read every word. Quite a bit more of a betrayal than I thought.
I’m so ashamed of the english blood I carry.
I would curse england – but they already are……
‘as a Christian it is simply my duty to choose God’s Chosen people ‘
Posted to early,i actually gave up trying to have any type of discussion on this issue due to the immaturity and name calling.
So you have just reinforced this.
Also your comment showed the futility of debating this,
‘as a Christian it is simply my duty to choose God’s Chosen people ‘
You sound the same as the Islamic extremists,but i don’t think you actual realize this.
I will send your regards and your curse to the other ‘English Twit’s’ who have lost family by standing shoulder to shoulder with the U.S in Iraq and still do in Afghanistan for events that happened decades ago.
Venenous anti-Israeli opinion seems to stem from a mixture of 2 somewhat conflicting philosophies. The first is based on centuries-old, deep-seated dislike and downright hatred of Jews. The seond, a bit more complex,is nonetheless volitile. It evolves from the Left’s vision of a secular, borderless, and post-modern one-world utopia that views as anathema, the state of Israel as a Jewish nation with secure borders and determined to protect itself against it’s enemies. These two opposing views combine their efforts to produce a poisonous PR campaign that Israel for some reason, has never really tried to combat.