What most Jews don't want to verbalize is that they know, deep down, this is never going to stop’

Jewish World Review ^ | June 4, 2003 | Joel Mowbray

[SJackson]

JERUSALEM Although it isn't instantly apparent, most Israelis seem to be keenly aware that the struggle Americans view as an Israeli-Palestinian issue is, in fact, much larger — which President Bush acknowledged by visiting Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau before the latest "peace summit."

Talking with a wide range of Israelis in the week immediately preceding Bush's Middle East visit has proven revealing about the perceived prospects for peace. Israelis with whom I spoke in both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv the past few days realize that they are wanted dead by a massive portion of the world —almost all of which surrounds their tiny country. President Bush's journey to the region has done little to inject ordinary Israelis with a sense of optimism.

Walking down the residential streets of Jerusalem Thursday afternoon and through the business district of Tel Aviv the night before, the atmosphere is one that could be found in Los Angeles or New York. Sitting outside restaurants and nightclubs, people are walking, flirting, laughing. Most of the Tel Aviv delis (or convenience stores, as some Americans would call them) have no fourth wall, conveying an openness that belies the residual anxiety many Israelis feel.

One Israeli, a light, olive-skinned woman in her mid-20's whose family emigrated here from Yemen, told me that if you are here long enough, you see that not everything is actually copasetic. "Israelis are nervous, but we are allowed to be," she explains. "I used to live right over there (pointing to an apartment building near the U.S. Embassy, about two blocks in from the Mediterranean Sea). There were three bombings right nearby in the year I lived there." Just one block from where that conversation occurred is Mike's Place, the site of a suicide bombing just a month earlier that killed four.

Walking past Mike's Place now, an observer would see no signs that an attack had taken place —except for the small, makeshift memorial about 15 feet from the entrance. Photos of the victims adorn a small sign that stands about four feet tall. The bar, which is a popular hangout for U.S. Embassy staff (who work next week), was re-built within one week of the April 30 attack. That is common here in Israel. More than anything else, it is a statement of perseverance, a determination that Israel will stand strong in the face of evil.

To an American on his first visit here, Israelis can seem unflappable. But talk to anyone long enough, and emotions ranging from apprehension to angst come to the fore. "What most Jews don't want to verbalize," notes an Israeli man who emigrated from the U.S. over twenty years ago, "is that they know, deep down, this is never going to stop." The high-ranking official in the Jerusalem police force continued, "This has been going on for thousands of years." At a jazz nightclub in Tel Aviv Thursday night, an American Jew on his fourth visit here said, "The Holocaust was not of a different kind, but of a different degree." The two Israelis at the table with us nodded solemnly in agreement.

Continued...

[eddiespaghetti]

Why do liberals bend over backwards (and forwards) to apologize for and defend the Muslims and their "Religion of Peace"?

LIBERALS (AT LEAST THOSE WHOM WE CALL "LIBERALS" IN THE U.S.) CAN NOT COMPREHEND THE NOTION OF -- FOR LACK OF A BETTER WORD -- EVIL.

WHEN VARIOUS PEOPLE/REGIMES PERPETRATE HORRIFIC ACTS OF CRUELTY AGAINST OTHERS, THERE IS ALWAYS AN EXPLANATION PROVIDED WHICH BLAMES OTHERS (ESP. THE U.S., SURPRISE, SURPRISE). FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN THE KHMER ROUGE TOOK POWER IN CAMBODIA IN 1975 AND STARTED BUTCHERING PEOPLE EN MASSE, A NY TIMES' REPORTER (SIDNEY SHANBERG, IINM) ATTRIBUTED IT TO THE FACT THAT AMERICAN MILITARY INTERFERENCE IN THAT COUNTRY DROVE THE COMMUNISTS TO COMMIT MASS MURDER.

ACCORDINGLY, THE US CAN'T FIGHT AL-QAEDA, BECAUSE WE GAVE THEM AID DURING THE SOVIET OCCUPATION OF AFGHANISTAN. (I AGREE THAT THE LOGIC IS STRAINED HERE).

TO THOSE WHO CANNOT COMPREHEND THAT EVIL EXISTS (YES! I LISTEN TO DENNIS PRAGER. I ACKNOWLEDGE MY INTELLECTUAL DEBTS TO HIM!), SADDAM HUSSEIN OR OSAMA BIN LADEN OR THE MULLAHS IN IRAN REPRESENT PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN MERELY MISUNDERSTOOD, OR HAVE BEEN "OFFENDED" OR "WRONGED" BY THE US OR THE WEST GENERALLY.

{CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG HERE, PEOPLE, BUT IT SEEMS TO ME THAT} THE VISIBLE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE DENOMINATIONS IN THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES -- AS WELL AS THOSE OF REFORM JUDAISM -- HAVE FALLEN INTO THIS COGNITIVE TRAP. "EVIL" DOES NOT EXIST FOR THEM. IT IS THE WEST, ESP. THE U.S., THAT HAS DONE WRONG IN THE WORLD, AND WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO CORRECT THE WRONGS IN THE WORLD, ESPECIALLY SINCE, THEY BELIEVE, WE CREATED MOST OF THEM.

PERHAPS A PARALLEL TO THIS IS THAT THE NOTION OF "SIN" HAS DISAPPEARED FROM THE TEACHINGS OF MANY OF THE ABOVE GROUPS AS WELL.

YA' KNOW, EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE, RIGHT?

(SORRY FOR THE LENGTH OF THIS).

E.spaghetti

[Tamar1973]

And the "perception" that democrats and the left in general will support and defend them(Jews).

The only problem with that is that the demoRATS see the palestinians as the underdogs, not Israel.

[AmishDude]

The problem occurs whenever you expect others to defend your interests for you.

Quite true.

But I don't know the details or causes - probably the eastern Europeans were anti-Semitic no matter what their politics.

No doubt. But, of course, communism was supposed to subsume that.

[Valin]

Very well put!
And NO we all just can't get along.

[Courier]

Deep philosophical debate here and no one mentions the elephant in the room.

While it is true that Republicans are much more supportive of Israel then Democrats, that was not true in the past.

As a group, Democrat Presidents have been more supportive of Israel then Republicans.

Up to one month ago I believed that this President had the opportunity to change the political landscape forever by moving Jews to the Republican side.

Today, I would be surprised if a single right leaning Jew who is concerned with Israel votes for him.

No Democrat President ever forced the creation of a Palestinian State. It took a Republican and you can't get more pro-Palestinian then that.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Which leads to the next $64 question. Why do liberals bend over backwards (and forwards) to apologize for and defend the Muslims and their "Religion of Peace"?

Lots of reasons. Here are a few:

1) The so-called palis are poor, have no skills, no hope, no usefulness -- and therefore fall neatly into the category of "poor, downtrodden" whom they live to patronize, lavish money and attention on them, and then try to turn then into lifelong dependents and supplicants.

2)They resent the fact that Israel has been able to prosper and flourish while the arabs around them can't even get out of their own way. Therefore, according to leftist doctrine, Israel has an obligation to "help" them -- or at least give them hand-outs and feel guilty over their superiority in life.

3) Lots of Jew-hating on the left.

[stuartcr]

Judging by the way Afghanistan and Iraq look, it seems they have been receiving a lot these last couple of years.

[Arpege92]

I would like to think that black Americans are now beginning to see the BS coming from the Democrats. It's a slow process for a couple of reasons. Blacks who are Republicans tend to be outcasted by other blacks. Uncle Tom's, sell outs and every other nasty name in between is what is thrown at them.

I believe that black republicans are the only ones who can reach other blacks.

[playball0]

So long as the world needs Arab oil, Israel will be treated as it has been as an international criminal. If the oil ran out, the Arabs would be treated like the international thugs they are. However, Israel would still not be treated favorably.

[Valin]

If the oil ran out, the Arabs would be treated like the international thugs they are

Oh I don't know they do after all have the sand market cornered.

[tictoc]

In my personal worst-case scenario, in the YEAR 2035 there comes a tipping point when the cost of extracting the REMAINING OIL from Arab sands becomes too high to justify.

At the same time in 2035, the U.S. has just achieved a scientific/engineering breakthrough, thanks to a sustained $ 1.5 trillion research effort. NUCLEAR FUSION in the U.S. will soon become commercially viable.

Because the Euros dropped out of the international fusion project in 2010, preferring to pay for their out-of-control WELFARE STATES instead, the U.S. understandably is in no mood to share the technology with the Euros for free.

Oil too expensive, U.S. nuclear fusion licenses too expensive, what are the Euros gonna do? COAL is too dirty, nuclear FISSION politically impossible. WIND and WATER power can only make up a small percentage of the total.

The answer? SOLAR ENERGY IN NORTH AFRICA AND ARABIA. Thousands and thousands of square miles of empty desert are tiled with solar cells, and the electricity used for electrolysis, with the hydrogen pumped to Europe to keep their wheels turning.

The Arabs still have the Euros over a barrel, only now it's filled with hydrogen instead of oil. And they keep up breeding like rabbits, and they keep up arming themselves.

Now tell me why my nightmare scenario won't become realistic.

[Taiwan Bocks]

Apparently Republicans are also pro-Palestinians.

Your point?

[Arpege92]

"Apparently Republicans are also pro-Palestinians."


I wouldn't call Republicans pro-Palestinian because of this road map to peace. I call it a smart move for Republicans and the Jews in Israel. All eyes are on Israel right now, waiting to see if peace can really be accomplished. They are seeing the Jews in Israel extend a HUGE olive branch to the palestinians and holding their breaths to see if the terrorist actions will stop. The Jews are seen as people who are trying to get along with the palestinians and if the palestinians can't control the terrorism heaped on the Jews, then I suspect they will lose support....and the palestinians can't afford to lose support!

[playball0]

Actually, as it turn out, the US sells Saudia Arabia processed sand for sand blasting and for silicon wafers. Who'd a thunk it?

[Valin]

LOL unreal.