Dear Barry,
I have to keep it short this time since I’m in a plane on my way to you, but I immediately need to make clear to you that your speech is, to be blunt, sheer stupid.
You want us to withdraw to the 1967 borders. As you know, the pre-1967 borders were an open invitation to violence and terrorist attacks. If you want a repetition of the Gaza disaster, force us to withdraw to those lines and create an independent Palestine. Our national airport will be right on those lines. The heart of our country will be open for rockets.
But I will not be just a nuisance to you. I will do what you want us to do if you think it is reasonable. And with that I mean: if you think that withdrawing to the pre-1967 lines is reasonable, I ask you to act within the same vein. Don’t just talk, but do the walk.
We have only 7 million inhabitants. When one dies, it is as bad as when 43 people in your country die. So if you want us to do what you think is reasonable, if you want us to take risks that you think aren’t risks but safe and sound historical decisions, let’s make a deal: when we have withdrawn to the pre-1967 lines and an Israeli citizen dies because of terrorist rocket fire, you fire rockets in your population areas until you have 43 of your citizens dead. If 10 of our people die, you make sure 430 of your citizens die. This is reasonable if you really think that your proposal is not an act of suicide for Israel.
I’m sure you are not asking your friends to take risks you are not willing to take yourself – that’s friendship, isn’t it? You don’t want our commercial airliners to be exposed to gunfire, do you? You are totally convinced that the Palestinians will live peacefully at our side and that’s why you are telling us to withdraw, it’s as simple as that, isn’t it? You are so sure there will be peace that you can easily agree to my proposal: they kill one Israeli, you kill 43 Americans.
This is the Shakespearian (or maybe: biblical?) deal I want to discuss with you tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it!
See you soon,
Your friend Bibi
I defend Israel against her genocidal Muslim enemies, but when the nauseating trope that “When one (Israeli Jew) dies, it is as bad as when 43 (Americans) in your country die” I see RED. Sorry, but an Israeli Jew is not worth 43 Americans… One free person dying at the hands of our genocidal Muslim enemies is a loss to all free people.
Proportionally-speaking, of course.
Anyway, Obama is doing exactly that here. Is the border with Mexico secure? Do they not have a travel advisory out for I-10? 3% of the population are these illegal immigrants, and they account for 20% of the crime, and the most violent sort. This does not include the spillover from the cartels south of the border.
Yes, Americans are being killed. Obama fiddles (golfs, actually) while the USA burns.
He just might take you up on that. As long as those killed are just untermenschen, and not special people. And especially if they’re all white and southern.
You were aiming at something like Swift’s A Modest Proposal? Not even close.
This is one of the stupidest, moronic and ultimately counterproductive piece of tripe that I’ve read in a long time. It does not help our/Israeli side to write such buffoonery and makes Bibi seem like a dolt. Why did you write it?
Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?
Actually the secret letter contained only two words – and they weren’t “happy birthday”!
Yup! And that was after the mushroom cloud over Bibi’s head cleared. I would have liked to have been the fly on the wall when Bibi reacted to the O’s speech…duck and cover! All humor aside, this speech was another appalling move from Obama.
The title of this piece should be “An Open Letter from Leon de Winter to President Obama.” Netanyahu would never ask for what de Winter is suggesting, and Israel does not want Americans to die on her behalf, much less for Obama’s blunderings.
Obama’s hate for America is another story, however. It is as intense as his hate for Israel.
de Winter, this is silly.
“When one dies, it is as bad as when 43 people in your country die. ”
Jewish wisdom teaches that every person is made in the Creator’s image, and that saving one person is like saving the whole world. We see the spark of divinity and unlimited potential in every human being.
What I think you were trying to say is that when one Israeli is murdered, it has an impact on Israel similar to the impact the murder of 43 Americans would have on America. Israel is a very small and tight knit society, so when there is a terror attack everyone knows one of the victims. To contrast, when one person is murdered in America, outside of their friends and family no one is affected. That is the difference.
I think Netanyahu’s main point in his reaction is that the US government promised Israel that the 1949 cease fire lines would not be the basis of a peace plan. This was a quid pro quo for the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.
Israelis gave up their homes and gave the terrorists a base to launch missiles, and in exchange got a letter saying they would not have to do that again.
Obama’s speech tears up that letter. Obama just proved that US allies cannot trust promises from the US government.
The U.S. Government never agreed that in exchange for a pullout of Gaza we would never have to do that again. What really happened is that such a “trauma” was created during the pullout, with full media exposure of the “victims” being evicted from their homes, and full media coverage of the “protestors” in Gaza, most of whom had been bussed into Gaza by the government; that Ariel Sharon could always point to this episode of an emotionally wrenching national “trauma” to prevent his people from ever having to go through this again. Never mind that the “trauma” was all manufactured with the skill of a top Hollywood producer. (Not a single “protestor” was hurt — not even by so much as a mosquito bite. Can you imagine Palestinian protestors being so tenderly handled by the IDF during one of their protests?)
The Gaza Strip is the largest “prison” on the planet. Perhaps if Israel hadn’t stripped the area of much of it’s vegetation and restricted it’s ability to conduct commerce with the world outside the Gaza Strip, the population wouldn’t feel so desperate that they need to resort to violence and warfare.
It’s easy to point to the violence and animosity of a people whose property has been “appropriated,” persons been oppressed, economic and educational activities been extinguished, resources been exploited and lives been taken; while conveniently ignoring the activities of the occupying power that has been largely responsible for creating the situation in the first place.
As a zionist, Israeli Jew, I cannot ignore the reality of the situation just to justify the ill conceived policies of the governments that purport to represent my interests. The fact is, most Israelis (of all nationalities) and most Palestinians want peace and the economic opportunities peace can provide. It is only the extremists, and the politicians who pander to them, who prevent a workable two state solution from bring prosperity to both our peoples.
Unfortunately, the divisive politics of both Israel and Palestine, combined with the high levels of propaganda and historical mythology that both sides propagate in their education systems and media, have the effect of entrenching extremist viewpoints as centrist, silencing the voice of reasons and moderation. (Referring to someone as a “self hating Jew” is a prime example of this.)