Thursday, January 4, 2007
A very good piece at Canada's Globe and Mail: Anti-Zionists and the impossible peace
The never-ending anti-Zionist attacks on Israel have produced more than their fair share of deluded hope. The only real path to peace between Israel and its neighbours is a two- state solution, acceptance of the existence of Israel and creation of a separate Palestinian state beside Israel. But it is a solution that anti-Zionists constantly spurn. They want the destruction of Israel and its absorption into a larger Arab Muslim state, what is euphemistically called the one-state solution.
Anti-Zionists promote their cause by propagating phony charges against Israel to discredit and delegitimize the Jewish state. Wishful thinkers ignore the anti-Semitism at the core of anti-Zionist criticism and fantasize that, if only Israel avoided this or that behaviour that anti-Zionists decry, the two-state solution would be at hand.
This fantasy world has many imaginary constructions. One of these is that Palestinians who support anti-Zionists do not want to destroy Israel. Mary Corkery of KAIROS and Etienne De Jonghe of Pax Christi International asserted this remarkable proposition in a letter to the editor published in The Globe and Mail on Dec. 22. They wrote that Palestinians who voted for the anti-Zionist terrorist organization Hamas in last January's Palestinian election "did not vote to destroy Israel, nor do they want this." The authors do not explain how they know that Palestinians wanted something different from the platform of the party for which they voted...
The rest. Want to lose your mood, and your lunch? Delve into the comments left by Globe and Mail readers. Be sure to have a bucket handy.
[h/t: Meryl Yourish]
One of the few bright spots is a pro-Israel comment (no. 8) left by one Casmir Tuchos (!) of Toronto.
I especially winced at comment #4, left by one Todd K, where he said: "The establishment of Isreal (sic) following WWII was a humane way of removing the Jewish survivors from Europe...If only they had simply returned to their homes throughout Europe,imagine the state of the middle east today."
As it happens, many of the Jews who did return to their "homes" throughout Europe found that their houses had been taken over by Poles, Ukrainians, etc. And many of these Jews were killed in anti-Semitic riots--and this was AFTER the war was over!
Also, so what is the state of the Middle East and North Africa where the Jews aren't living? So much better?
Another thing: I wish these Canadians would learn how to spell Antisemitism. I got tired of seeing "Anti-Semetism" over and over again! I didn't know that I was a Semete.
I really don't think many people, besides about %99 of the Arab/Ismaic world, actually believe that "it's all about Israel."
When Western pacifists insinuate otherwise, they are not really saying, "Israel is the reason the ME is so screwed up." With my powers of mind-reading, I can actually hear them saying, "If we stop supporting Israel, or even openly oppose the only country in the Middle East that offers its people the freedoms we take for granted, WE WILL BE SAFER."
Peace? I don't see how anyone can believe that if Israel returned to its 1967 borders, or completely disappeared for that matter, peace would blossom in the Middle East. However, with Israel out of the picture, it would be so much easier to ignore the slaughter, like we did with Rwanda.
Then, many years down the road, we can apologize for not having done enough to stop it.
Wow! What a veritable dungmine that comments section is. So far all the arguments I see there look rehashed, things I already addressed before, but maybe they'll surprise me.
But it's time for me to close shop now.
Shabbat Shalom, Solomon.
I just realized that I spelled Antisemitic two different ways in my own comment. Oh well. At least I didn't write "semetic."
I had no idea that there are so many smart Canadians.If only Americans were so well educated about Israel.They probably don't have so many pro-Israel groups in Canada threatening them whenever they criticize Israel.