[antimedia] antimedia: What American needs....

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Posted by antimedia:
What American needs....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1156303928.shtml


   ....is [1]a barrage of Katyushas, or so it would seem.

     A while back I wrote about a group of Israeli peace activists whom
     the recent war in Lebanon has changed into hardliners convinced
     that Israel is now in an existential war against an implacable
     enemy dedicated to its destruction.
     Well, it's not just an isolated peace activist here and there; it
     seems to be a trend. Allison Kaplan Sommer offers a piece that
     appeared in the British Daily Express by Michael Diamond, telling
     of the shift to the right on the part of a great many Israelis who
     had previously considered themselves members of the "sane left."
     Diamond speaks for many who once considered the Palestinian
     position to be a case of a reasonable grievance against an
     injustice. Believing that "with reasonable men I shall reason,"
     these Israelis therefore advocated the return of the territories
     and the 2000 pullback from southern Lebanon, strategies they
     predicted would be met with a softening on the part of Israel's
     enemies.
     But it didn't work out that way, although it seemed to the left as
     though it should have. Instead, the pullout from Lebanon six years
     ago, and the more recent withdrawal from Gaza, led to a moment of
     clarity that crystallized as the Katushas rained down on Israel and
     the press of the world mourned the plight of the Lebanese and
     ignored the context of what was actually happening there.
     The intent of the enemy was exposed, and it turns out it was not
     the end of the "occupation;" it was the end of Israel. The
     two-state solution that had been pursued so vigorously was a sham,
     because the "reasonable men" were not in charge on the other side.

   The sooner Americans get that through their thick skulls the better.
   Reasoning and negotiation never works with tyrants, as neo-neocon
   points out and as history has repeatedly taught us. It's well past
   time for the idiots on the left to realize that truth and stop living
   in a 9/10 fantasy land.
   What boggles my mind is that we fought a worldwide war that cost
   millions of lives yet we still wink our eyes at anti-semitism, as if
   it isn't really all that bad.
   A wize man wrote, some 38 years ago.

     ISRAEL'S PECULIAR POSITION by Eric Hoffer (LA Times 5/26/68)
     The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations
     are forbidden to the Jews.
     Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and
     there is no refugee problem. Russia did it, Poland and
     Czechoslovakia did it, Turkey threw out a million Greeks, and
     Algeria a million Frenchman. Indonesia threw out heaven knows how
     many Chinese - and no one says a word about refugees. But in the
     case of Israel the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees.
     Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single Arab.
     Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity
     greater than any committed by the Nazis. Other nations when
     victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when
     Israelis victorious it must sue for peace.
     Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this
     world.
     Other nations when they are defeated survive and recover but should
     Israel be defeated it would be destroyed. Had Nasser triumphed last
     June [1967] he would have wiped Israel off the map, and no one
     would have lifted a finger to save the Jews. No commitment to the
     Jews by any government, including our own, is worth the paper it is
     written on. There is a cry of outrage all over the world when
     people die in Vietnam or when two Blacks are executed in Rhodesia.
     But when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him. The
     Swedes, who are ready to break off diplomatic relations with
     America because of what we do in Vietnam, did not let out a peep
     when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron
     ore, and ball bearings, and serviced his troop trains to Norway.
     The Jews are alone in the world. If Israel survives, it will be
     solely because of Jewish efforts. And Jewish resources. Yet at this
     moment Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally. We can
     rely more on Israel than Israel can rely on us. And one has only to
     imagine what would have happened last summer [1967] had the Arabs
     and their Russian backers won the war to realize how vital the
     survival of Israelis to America and the West in general.
     I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel
     so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish the holocaust
     will be upon us.

   The hard part is figuring out what to do.

     ...people continue to talk about "We have to win this war" without
     really explaining HOW. Ok, so appeasement doesn't work. Let's
     concede that point. Now what? Nuke the crap out of the arab and
     muslim worlds? All 2 billion of them? Will that solve the problem?
     (I'm thinking not) I think it's hard time to stop pointing out the
     obvious, and start offering some realistic, pragmatic and
     constructive solutions.

   Certainly the solution isn't to kill all Muslims. But, just as the
   Germans under Hitler, Muslims everywhere are headed down a path of
   tremendous suffering if they do not soon wake up and clean up the evil
   in their midst. Because if we can't negotiate with them, we can
   certainly destroy their countries and their will to fight.
   When the choice is to destroy your enemy or not survive, even the
   fools on the left can finally figure it out. (Except for the Cindy
   Sheehans, of course.)

References

   1. http://neo-neocon.blogspot.com/2006/08/israeli-left-takes-hard-right.html