Thursday, November 3, 2005
PC(USA) member Will Spotts points to several articles indicating that Presbyterian delegations are touring the Middle East, and points to one article that "describes a meeting with Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, Hezbollah’s commander for the south. This Presbyterian delegation “expressed opposition to the Republican Party in the U.S.,” and promised, “to maintain efforts toward the establishment of peace in the region” says Will.
Spotts has several good questions. Among them: "The question naturally arises, has there been yet another PC(USA) delegation meeting with Hezbollah leaders? Did it consist of national representatives or representatives of a particular presbytery? Who authorized such a meeting?..."
Sigh. Why would anyone be surprised by this? Israel has been completely South Africanized. I'm not sure who's to blame for this, but I think that a large part of the blame lies with those of us here in the West who support Israel. Why? Well, we have let the enemies of Israel completely frame the Israeli-Arab dispute. For example, let's look at the term "Occuppied Territories". It has become part of the mainstream political dialogue. However, has anyone asked "Occuppied by whom?" "Occuppied since when?" It's just so frustrating..........
You said: "Isreal is definitely back on her feet in the fight to frame the debate. No doubt about it, and the ever-ready stable of wishy-washy self-deprecating Jews out there certainly don\'t help."
My response: I agree, and this was my original point. We are frequently, maybe even usually, our own worst enemies, whether it be by allowing the enemies of Israel to frame the language of the debate, or by engaging in self-defeating moral relativism--all deaths are NOT equal; Rachel Corrie's death, which has made her into an international legend, is not the equivalent of that of Rachel Thaler (whose name is unknown to but a few people, unfortunately).