Nadine, maybe I'll surprise you by agreeing to some of what's in the article you posted, though NOT surprising, I disagree with a lot too:
It's difficult to imagine a people more practically alert to danger or a people more determined to triumph over it than the Israelis. For years, U.S. editorialists and talking heads have been prophesying that Israel would be sundered by pressure from without and differences from within. Instead, the country has never been more united.
So what. The Serbians were remarkably united in opposition to the U.S./NATO, but sadly deluded, and the outcome was predictable. The Germans in WWII were quite remarkably united practically to the very end - didn't help much. When the forces aligned against you are greater than your capacity to resist, you lose - as Carl keeps saying... and Israel has a fundamental problem: the Palestinians have one huge weapon on their side - they're fighting a war of liberation, while Israel is fighting a war of occupation. The trends population-wise, technology-wise (micro bio-WMD etc.) and so forth are all against Israel. The end is inevitable, the timetable unknowable.
And what most galls those critics who ring their hands over Israel's inner soul--but care not a fig for its defense--is that this unity is to a large extent the work of the man they hate most, Ariel Sharon.
So what - Hitler had better ratings and loyalty among the German population than Sharon for the Israelis - didn't help.
The intifada seems to have summoned in him the capacity to govern from Israel's emotional center, which means he is--like the country--fierce when necessary, accommodating when possible, sober always.
As Carl would say: BWAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!! LOL!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Here's a guy who deliberately LIT the fuse under the current intifada - documented, clear, indisputable. A guy who did NOT manage to crush what he started, a guy who did NOT make Israel safer, a guy who has no plan for an endgame, a guy whose every move (like removing Arafat) is such a spectacular miscalculation resulting in the opposite effect, that he should enter into some kind of contest with Saddam Hussein for the stupidest strategic miscalculation.
When he withdrew Israeli troops from a narrow security zone in southern Lebanon 29 months ago, he assumed that Beirut would reassert its sovereignty.
He assumed no such thing - he's not that stupid. He knew perfectly well that "Beirut sovereignty" is a fiction, and the real address is in Damascus. Basically, his deal to Syrians was: "I'll withdraw from Lebanon if you XYZ" to which the Syrians responded "GFY". For they knew he had to withdraw anyhow, and why should they reward Barak for ACTING IN HIS OWN INTERESTS? Of course, that was not generous on the part of Syrians, but you're dealing with a**holes there.
Is there a border anywhere like that between Lebanon and Israel? There is no no-man's-land between the two countries, no protective zone. The children of Misgav Am, Manara, Metzuba, Metullah, and Margalit--legendary kibbutzim and moshavim of the northern Galilee--now face, up close, the barbarous killers of Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards besides.
Well that's what happens when you have a border without a negotiated settlement first. If you settle first, you get the Egyptian border. As happens, Barak had no choice, hence the nasty border. Still, beats having dead Israelis in the numbers that were there before with an even more wonderful border, called the "security zone".
But Hezbollah does not limit itself to one-on-one killing. It now possesses an estimated 10,000 rockets, many long-range--these provided not by Iran via Damascus, as in the past, but by Syria itself.
Yep, that's what happens when you grow a monster like Hezbollah - which Israel did with its insane "INsecurity zone". But now that they've created this monster, they have to deal with it - so how can you complain about something you are responsible for? Regardless, in my book Israel is in the clear wrt. Lebanon, so any attack should be met with utmost force. Blast them away. I'm sure when the time comes, Israel will have no problem with the big bad Hezbollah and their 10,000 rockets - IDF can take on a great deal more than that, LOL! Bottom line, the world, U.N., (myself included) support Israeli right to self-defense in Lebanon 100%.
What the world is experiencing these days may not exactly be a clash of civilizations. But there is no doubt that large segments of the Islamic world are at war with the tolerance and liberalism of the West, with its curiosity and its learning. The warriors aim to demoralize the West and those--including those Muslims--who find Western ways to their liking. But the West still does not grasp the danger. European leaders blithely assume that mass Muslim immigration does not threaten Western values, and those who suggest otherwise--such as Holland's Pim Fortuyn--are derided and shunned.
I agree with some reservations. What this lacks is some perspective, lacks historical context of responsibilities, causes and effects, and is somewhat hysterical. However, I agree with about 85% of this.
suspect they will be much less happy with her latest work. Her controversial new feuilleton is not about Islam and Israel, although Israelis will understand its anger. It is about Islam and the West, Islam and modernity, Islam and joy and joylessness, Islam and curiosity, Islam and women.
Agree 100%. I'm glad I do not live in an Islamic culture. I despise it and everything it stands for - sorry. And btw. I don't regard that as "racist" or "imperial" or "arrogant". Cultures CAN be judged superior and inferior - there are objective criteria - and here's where I think the cultural relativists on the left go wrong. You can f.ex. objectively state: this culture promotes technology better than that one - and be objectively right. I judge Islamic culture a failed civilization that has not properly coped with the changing world - this is an objective fact, measurable in all sorts of ways, not just a value judgment. Were I to express my opinions in an Islamic culture, I'd be dead within 5 minutes - nope, I much prefer living in the Western culture, and want NO part of Islam.
Where I differ from others here is in what to do about it. I don't believe in forcing our culture upon them. Live and let live - because there really is no other way. In time, they'll come around, and if not, well, good luck, you live your Islamic life, and I'll live my Western one. Btw. this is nothing against Arabs as individuals - who can be fine and upstanding people. I just prefer MY culture - and the Arabs who live here who accept MY culture in MY country are A OK with me - just as Israelis are.
And my final point, which I'm afraid will not be understood by many. The biggest tragedy of the ME and Israel IMHO, has nothing to do with terrorism's bloody trail in Israel, horrible as it is. It has to do with what is happening with Israel proper. As a result of being in that neighborhood, they've come to resemble it - like an infection, they've absorbed the mentality. The Israel I treasure is the one where I can listen to Beethoven and Bach. Not one where I see screaming settlers baying for blood - change their clothes and they're no different from the Taliban. This is the point of greatest tragedy. The country which we all felt cultural kinship and affinity for, has become just another nasty, devious, vicious, bloodthristy ME regime. Netanyahu and his ilk have accomplished what the terrorists have not - they've transformed the country's soul. You speculated that the reason why young Europeans in Scandinavia turned against Israel is because of anti-Semitism. What a sad statement - it is so easy to say in order to dismiss the seriousness of those who disagree with you. And it missess an alarm bell - you are in deep trouble. For you are talking about countries where the opposite was true - Denmark, which bravely protected Jews with incredible solidarity during WWII, Sweden where people shared their homes with Jewish refugees. No, they are not anti-Semites, and thus labelling them, you miss what they are trying to tell you. You have changed. You have become a vicious occupying regime, losing its humanity, and your connection to our culture - you've become a victimizer, an indefensible evil. This is the final legacy of the poison of occupation and ill-gotten goods. Many Jewish friends here have agreed with me, and some are even beginning to speak out. Many who cannot take this change of culture move out of Israel. Soon, the only voices left, will be the nasty, hoarse screams of regional hatred. Goodbye, Israel - what a tragedy. |
