Re: You are definitely on the right track with this theory. That is one reason Israel has been plotting Lebanon's demise for 4 decades - Lebanon was the incumbant "Monaco" of the area and had to be knocked off.
Don't get me wrong though.... I don't think there's a consensus in Israel to turn the country into a Middle Eastern Las Vegas of sorts... The Orthodox fringe would strongly oppose it --after all, casinos are not allowed in Israel (see Jericho). The Likud and the arch-Zionists share a common Spartan vision of Israel. Theirs is a country proudly safeguarded by farmer-soldiers (PM Sharon is Israel's biggest cattle breeder).
Besides, Israel as a gambling resort, an Eastern counterpart of Monaco, would bring about upsetting afterthoughts... Indeed, Israel as an unyielding garrison state, somehow, spearheads the crusade mentality of the West, and calls for "respectable" activities such as military manufacturing, high-tech, finance, and leading-edge farming technologies.
Contrariwise, a recreational Israel would trap the Jews back in the stereotypes that proved so harmful: shady activities like gambling, health resorts, and shopping malls where the Jews, once again, thrive as caterers of the rich (just as the Jewish bankers of yore catered for European rulers). Such an "ominous" prospect would spoil the very notion of the "post-Holocaust Jew"....
More tomorrow,
Gus |
