That was brilliant! I agree with every word and loved your witty writing style too.
I also love your optimism. I am a G-d fearing Jewish activist. As such I see the world's antisemitism spreading like a virus. Sad to say I've never seen it so bad in my entire life time. Yet I also believe that we live in a perfect world (that's my Jewish background speaking).
In any case, you nailed it Pat. The cause of the turmoil in the Middle East is their hatred of Jews. The Hamas charter states clearly their desire for the elimination of not just Israelis but Jews all over the world. Those woke, leftist Israelis who befriended 'nice' Arabs from Gaza and who prioritized the welfare of Palestinians over Israelis suffered a rude awakening. Sad to say but I think they get it now. Like the photo you posted, these are not the type of people that you should attempt to negotiate peace with unless you want your head blown off .
Thank you Pat for your moral clarity and your courage to speak out on behalf of a small group of peace loving people (us Jews)!
A brilliantly written article. I’m so habituated to ask myself the following question any time I read an article that speaks about the possibility that Israel is not entirely in the wrong – “what will the friends I have that have been persuaded that Israel is entirely in the wrong say when they read this article”. Invariably I will find a dozen components that allude to either revisionism, colonial thinking, or Israeli/Jewish propaganda. I think this piece does not invite any of those usual distractions and is great food for thought to those persuaded that Israel is the little Satan.
The Nazis were an idea too, but we defeated them. How? The Allied Powers worked to deprogram the German people before we let them back to the table of nations. The same thing must happen in Gaza.
There will never be a Palestinian state west of the Jordan river. That's what the Palestinians will have to come to digest. And if they do not, they will continue to live in misery until they disappear from history. That is what all supporters of Israel as the Jewish state also have to come to digest. There is no basis for the hope you hold out at the end of your essay. Te other situations you cite were completely different. Both Germany and Japan had 100 years of modernization prior to WW2 with which the Allies could work. The Arab Muslim world is still stuck in a tribal society with an overlay of modern authoritarianism whose techniques were learned in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Not to mention the pan-Arab delusions of the PLO which the colonialist designed states of the region utterly reject.
You may be correct. And of course those situations were different. But the larger point is that people and societies CAN change and HAVE changed. But at some point an individual, movement or other force has to emerge to drive change. That hasn't happened in Palestine and, until it does, you are correct. That may not happen. I guess my theory is, if decent people urge Palestinians to advance progress, instead of rewarding their intransigent, grievance-driven maximalism, we would at least be moving in a better direction.
Any solution needs to start with an acceptance by the Palestinian cause that Israel has won. And one of the consequences of that is nothing is going to happen without the support of the Israeli electorate. In short, the Palestinian cause needs Jewish votes, & lots of them. Whether that will ever be possible or not doesn't make it any less necessary for any solution to work.
That & an admission of where a lot of Arab & Muslim antisemitism came from:
That was brilliant! I agree with every word and loved your witty writing style too.
I also love your optimism. I am a G-d fearing Jewish activist. As such I see the world's antisemitism spreading like a virus. Sad to say I've never seen it so bad in my entire life time. Yet I also believe that we live in a perfect world (that's my Jewish background speaking).
In any case, you nailed it Pat. The cause of the turmoil in the Middle East is their hatred of Jews. The Hamas charter states clearly their desire for the elimination of not just Israelis but Jews all over the world. Those woke, leftist Israelis who befriended 'nice' Arabs from Gaza and who prioritized the welfare of Palestinians over Israelis suffered a rude awakening. Sad to say but I think they get it now. Like the photo you posted, these are not the type of people that you should attempt to negotiate peace with unless you want your head blown off .
Thank you Pat for your moral clarity and your courage to speak out on behalf of a small group of peace loving people (us Jews)!
Thanks Leon!
A brilliantly written article. I’m so habituated to ask myself the following question any time I read an article that speaks about the possibility that Israel is not entirely in the wrong – “what will the friends I have that have been persuaded that Israel is entirely in the wrong say when they read this article”. Invariably I will find a dozen components that allude to either revisionism, colonial thinking, or Israeli/Jewish propaganda. I think this piece does not invite any of those usual distractions and is great food for thought to those persuaded that Israel is the little Satan.
The Nazis were an idea too, but we defeated them. How? The Allied Powers worked to deprogram the German people before we let them back to the table of nations. The same thing must happen in Gaza.
There will never be a Palestinian state west of the Jordan river. That's what the Palestinians will have to come to digest. And if they do not, they will continue to live in misery until they disappear from history. That is what all supporters of Israel as the Jewish state also have to come to digest. There is no basis for the hope you hold out at the end of your essay. Te other situations you cite were completely different. Both Germany and Japan had 100 years of modernization prior to WW2 with which the Allies could work. The Arab Muslim world is still stuck in a tribal society with an overlay of modern authoritarianism whose techniques were learned in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Not to mention the pan-Arab delusions of the PLO which the colonialist designed states of the region utterly reject.
You may be correct. And of course those situations were different. But the larger point is that people and societies CAN change and HAVE changed. But at some point an individual, movement or other force has to emerge to drive change. That hasn't happened in Palestine and, until it does, you are correct. That may not happen. I guess my theory is, if decent people urge Palestinians to advance progress, instead of rewarding their intransigent, grievance-driven maximalism, we would at least be moving in a better direction.
Any solution needs to start with an acceptance by the Palestinian cause that Israel has won. And one of the consequences of that is nothing is going to happen without the support of the Israeli electorate. In short, the Palestinian cause needs Jewish votes, & lots of them. Whether that will ever be possible or not doesn't make it any less necessary for any solution to work.
That & an admission of where a lot of Arab & Muslim antisemitism came from:
https://fathomjournal.org/the-1948-arab-war-against-israel-an-aftershock-of-world-war-ii/