Hi Pat, thank you for this essay. I often hear that the 2000 negotiations failed because of Rabin's assassination. I personally detest this argument. It doesn't factor in the reaction of the Israeli public opinion to it, and the fact that there's still squares, roads and schools named after Rabin in Israel, while in West Bank and Gaza there's squares and streets named after actual terrorists, "martyrs" who died while murdering uninvolved, random civilians in Israel or Israeli Jews in WB. Not just while targeting soldiers or police. The glorification of those figures in the Palestinian society is a huge obstacle to peace. A lot more than the settler violence I think, which in Israel gets plenty of condemnation as it's right. Is there a way to articulate these concepts to Israel's haters, in an effective way? What are your thoughts please?
Right way to articulate? Well, I can readily identify three ways.
B1, B2, and B-52’s are three different bomber variants in the US Air Force fleet.
You give everyone in Gaza 48 hours to get out of populated areas. If Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, or any other chickenshit Arab nation wants to resettle refugees, the U.S. will help pay for this, but never, EVER another dime to Hamas. EVER.
On the 49th hour, you remind the world of the warning you gave just before you started turning that shithole haven of Iranian terrorism into a geological pegboard.
AND before the dust has a chance to settle, our bomber fleets will begin orbiting Iran every hour of every day until the end of time until the hardass, turban tough guys are replaced.
And if you don’t think we can do it, you better pray to allah that Trump doesn’t win in November!
1) I think you may want to read a bit more on Bibi and his shenanigans from the last 20 years, especially when it comes to subversion of media, or better even further back when his rhetoric was the one fueling the flames of the anti-Oslo Accords sentiment and encouraged the ones who had already put Rabin into the bull’s eye so to speak.
Otherwise case 1000, 2000, 4000 might be good to read up on. I have never heard the Bibi Escobar bit, nor do I think it’s necessary, but the truth is King Bibi has done everything to subvert the rule of law to his favor always and avoid prosecution. Otherwise, he’d be in jail. He is a criminal, and he knows it.
2) Israel used to - maybe ceased doing so but unsure - put everyone’s ethnicity / religion into their Tehudat Zehut. In short, a code existed to mark Arabs and non-Jews. Treatment from official institutions like police and security and Misrad HaPnim is accordingly for the most part, though certainly not from the average Israeli on the street.
The names Lucy Aharish and Tzahi Levi ring a bell? Why do you think they kept their relationship secret for 4 years? Because the horrendous avalanche of ‘how dare you date an Arab woman’ was inevitable… great modern example where the multi-cultural State of Israel gets fails to live up to its self-proclaimed exceptionalism.
3) Even if you are apolitical, and that’s an achievement in Israel!, you may have engaged with who is running this current Government yes? Smotrich, Ben Gvir? Apolitical is one thing, having blinders on as to what these two pyromaniacs are up to is another thing.
4) Your partner is a Yemenite Jew… right, maybe a bit of history on the Black Panthers might help widen the perspective on Israel.
Israel is in a struggle for its existence and times are the hardest they have been for a long time. Nuanced conversations with many Israelis is not possible, the trauma is too deep. Hence criticism doesn’t sit well, which is understandable in times of such upheaval. But when people consistently fail to see that Israel too has a lot of self-enquiry to do, it gives ammunition to the enemy.
Other than that, living in Israel is an amazing and eye opening experience and wish you both nothing but the best going forward. שיהיה לכם רק טוב!
Pat Johnson wrote: "...I can’t believe we need to say this out loud but … the defeated rarely get to set the terms of the peace...". The truths in this article need to be repeated ad nauseum until they impact the discussion at large. Great article Pat. I believe what you've written here is the core Israeli/Arab issue. When Hashem (G_d) promises Abraham and his ancestors "these lands forever", those words are immutable and cannot be changed by any human agency - ever!
Love your article as always Pat. Accountability doesn’t seem to exist as a word within Arab states. Mention Intifada II and eyes glaze over. *
Having said that I think the description of Israelis always being the adult in the room ready to negotiate in all fairness and wondrous morality is a bit of a myth too. Whilst that was the case on multiple occasions decades ago, remember that the man shaping Israel’s politics for the last 20 years has never believed in a Two State solution, actively helped incite the murder of Yitzhak Rabin and is by all accounts a power hungry liar, criminal, and overall fraud who brought on a government of pyromaniacs who have nothing more in mind than the eviction of Palestinians from all West Bank areas (and Gaza of course) - in short the dream of resettling those pesky Arabs back into Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt to run a neo-fascist Israeli state. In fact he who shall not be named actively torpedoed the normalization with Saudi on multiple occasions precisely due to the factions in his Gov. * Accountability is a 360 degree job everywhere. Having lived in Israel as a “non-Jewish entity”, I can sing you tunes about institutionalized racism and arrogance versus the goyim and the shikses. I support Israel greatly nonetheless but the picture is slightly more complex and nuanced at times…
I too live in Israel as a non-Jew. My husband is a Yemeni Jew, I'm an agnostic but baptized Christian Catholic, like most Italians. We are both pretty apolitical (I am more apolitical). I was watching the anti-judicial reforms last year and listening to the inflammatory rethoric from the Left, though, and was appalled by the level of demonization of Benjamin Netanyahu. Protesters having the guts to call him Bibi Escobar...ugh. What crimes did he committ exactly? Let's not forget that anything the right wingers say or do will ever be THE CORE ISSUE of this conflict, never its cause. It's not an excuse to discharge those issues (like settler violence) but it's not a valid rebuttal at all, either.
Also, how do you define institutionalized racism? What do you mean exactly by it? Arrogance yes sometimes, I agree, and it goes hand in hand with the fact that Israelis in general tell you everything to your face, the good the bad and the ugly. I'm an introvert so go figure the discomfort. But in 6 years, I've only had amazing or at least positive reactions everytime I answered/said, No, I'm not Olag hadasha, I'm not Jewish so I did the regular immigration process...everyone had been embracing me and even thanking me to choose to live in Israel rather than in Italy. There's many experiences and I'm sorry yours has not been a positive one about that.
It’s all lord of the flies toddler addition isn’t it
The Palestinian National Movement is a murder cult. This is an objective fact. Its horrible. But the truth is always better than illusions.
Very well put. And we can't say it often enough.
Hi Pat, thank you for this essay. I often hear that the 2000 negotiations failed because of Rabin's assassination. I personally detest this argument. It doesn't factor in the reaction of the Israeli public opinion to it, and the fact that there's still squares, roads and schools named after Rabin in Israel, while in West Bank and Gaza there's squares and streets named after actual terrorists, "martyrs" who died while murdering uninvolved, random civilians in Israel or Israeli Jews in WB. Not just while targeting soldiers or police. The glorification of those figures in the Palestinian society is a huge obstacle to peace. A lot more than the settler violence I think, which in Israel gets plenty of condemnation as it's right. Is there a way to articulate these concepts to Israel's haters, in an effective way? What are your thoughts please?
Hi Elana ... I've written about this, to an extent. Is this in line wiht what you are thinking? https://pat604johnson.substack.com/p/october-7-in-context
This is great, thank you. I just subscribed to your Substack yesterday, I need to dig in more in your pieces apparently :). Thank you again.
Right way to articulate? Well, I can readily identify three ways.
B1, B2, and B-52’s are three different bomber variants in the US Air Force fleet.
You give everyone in Gaza 48 hours to get out of populated areas. If Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, or any other chickenshit Arab nation wants to resettle refugees, the U.S. will help pay for this, but never, EVER another dime to Hamas. EVER.
On the 49th hour, you remind the world of the warning you gave just before you started turning that shithole haven of Iranian terrorism into a geological pegboard.
AND before the dust has a chance to settle, our bomber fleets will begin orbiting Iran every hour of every day until the end of time until the hardass, turban tough guys are replaced.
And if you don’t think we can do it, you better pray to allah that Trump doesn’t win in November!
I once came across the "four rules for successful negotiation".
They are:
*Show up
*Pay attention
*Tell the truth
*Don't be attached to the outcome
Negotiators for the Palestinians have consistently failed at every level of every negotiation. That is why there is still no peace in the Middle East.
Hmmm there’s a lot there…
1) I think you may want to read a bit more on Bibi and his shenanigans from the last 20 years, especially when it comes to subversion of media, or better even further back when his rhetoric was the one fueling the flames of the anti-Oslo Accords sentiment and encouraged the ones who had already put Rabin into the bull’s eye so to speak.
Otherwise case 1000, 2000, 4000 might be good to read up on. I have never heard the Bibi Escobar bit, nor do I think it’s necessary, but the truth is King Bibi has done everything to subvert the rule of law to his favor always and avoid prosecution. Otherwise, he’d be in jail. He is a criminal, and he knows it.
2) Israel used to - maybe ceased doing so but unsure - put everyone’s ethnicity / religion into their Tehudat Zehut. In short, a code existed to mark Arabs and non-Jews. Treatment from official institutions like police and security and Misrad HaPnim is accordingly for the most part, though certainly not from the average Israeli on the street.
The names Lucy Aharish and Tzahi Levi ring a bell? Why do you think they kept their relationship secret for 4 years? Because the horrendous avalanche of ‘how dare you date an Arab woman’ was inevitable… great modern example where the multi-cultural State of Israel gets fails to live up to its self-proclaimed exceptionalism.
3) Even if you are apolitical, and that’s an achievement in Israel!, you may have engaged with who is running this current Government yes? Smotrich, Ben Gvir? Apolitical is one thing, having blinders on as to what these two pyromaniacs are up to is another thing.
4) Your partner is a Yemenite Jew… right, maybe a bit of history on the Black Panthers might help widen the perspective on Israel.
Israel is in a struggle for its existence and times are the hardest they have been for a long time. Nuanced conversations with many Israelis is not possible, the trauma is too deep. Hence criticism doesn’t sit well, which is understandable in times of such upheaval. But when people consistently fail to see that Israel too has a lot of self-enquiry to do, it gives ammunition to the enemy.
Other than that, living in Israel is an amazing and eye opening experience and wish you both nothing but the best going forward. שיהיה לכם רק טוב!
Excellent article. Thank you!
Pat Johnson wrote: "...I can’t believe we need to say this out loud but … the defeated rarely get to set the terms of the peace...". The truths in this article need to be repeated ad nauseum until they impact the discussion at large. Great article Pat. I believe what you've written here is the core Israeli/Arab issue. When Hashem (G_d) promises Abraham and his ancestors "these lands forever", those words are immutable and cannot be changed by any human agency - ever!
Love your article as always Pat. Accountability doesn’t seem to exist as a word within Arab states. Mention Intifada II and eyes glaze over. *
Having said that I think the description of Israelis always being the adult in the room ready to negotiate in all fairness and wondrous morality is a bit of a myth too. Whilst that was the case on multiple occasions decades ago, remember that the man shaping Israel’s politics for the last 20 years has never believed in a Two State solution, actively helped incite the murder of Yitzhak Rabin and is by all accounts a power hungry liar, criminal, and overall fraud who brought on a government of pyromaniacs who have nothing more in mind than the eviction of Palestinians from all West Bank areas (and Gaza of course) - in short the dream of resettling those pesky Arabs back into Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt to run a neo-fascist Israeli state. In fact he who shall not be named actively torpedoed the normalization with Saudi on multiple occasions precisely due to the factions in his Gov. * Accountability is a 360 degree job everywhere. Having lived in Israel as a “non-Jewish entity”, I can sing you tunes about institutionalized racism and arrogance versus the goyim and the shikses. I support Israel greatly nonetheless but the picture is slightly more complex and nuanced at times…
I too live in Israel as a non-Jew. My husband is a Yemeni Jew, I'm an agnostic but baptized Christian Catholic, like most Italians. We are both pretty apolitical (I am more apolitical). I was watching the anti-judicial reforms last year and listening to the inflammatory rethoric from the Left, though, and was appalled by the level of demonization of Benjamin Netanyahu. Protesters having the guts to call him Bibi Escobar...ugh. What crimes did he committ exactly? Let's not forget that anything the right wingers say or do will ever be THE CORE ISSUE of this conflict, never its cause. It's not an excuse to discharge those issues (like settler violence) but it's not a valid rebuttal at all, either.
Also, how do you define institutionalized racism? What do you mean exactly by it? Arrogance yes sometimes, I agree, and it goes hand in hand with the fact that Israelis in general tell you everything to your face, the good the bad and the ugly. I'm an introvert so go figure the discomfort. But in 6 years, I've only had amazing or at least positive reactions everytime I answered/said, No, I'm not Olag hadasha, I'm not Jewish so I did the regular immigration process...everyone had been embracing me and even thanking me to choose to live in Israel rather than in Italy. There's many experiences and I'm sorry yours has not been a positive one about that.