A Quote from George Costanza: “Manure, Don’t You Just Love the Way It Sounds – the Way It Rolls off of the Tongue”
A good friend of mine pointed out an article that has been making its way around the internet.
The article appears on the London Review of Books website.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html
Don’t rush out to buy the book.
The authors of the article theorize that Israel has been a poor ally of the US and that “the Lobby” has prevented any cogent debate on whether the U.S. should support Israel, to the extent that it does, based on its own interests. In addition, the authors advocate a debate, whether it is appropriate to support Israel based on moral grounds.
From my point of view, it’s true. There is an Israeli lobby with AIPAC acting in the forefront. As with any successful lobbyist, the more preparation, effort and ingenuity you put at your disposal, the more successful you’ll be. The same can be said for any enterprise.
Will one have moral questions while lobbying, especially when one is lobbying on behalf of a State that represents a people who have been on the verge of annihilation for the best 2000 years? Will one have moral questions when any move one makes may jeopardize the existence of those people not only in Israel but elsewhere around the world?
One is not a “de-facto agent for a foreign government” when one has these questions. One is just examining themselves in a ”dual containment” capacity by doing their job to the best of their ability and looking into their soul.
The Jewish people have always had a moral code to live by. Many times they fail in pursuing morality either by advocating their own personal notion of it or because as human beings they are only human.
But let’s not manipulate facts to show our own biased sense of history. Let the facts speak for themselves.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the British, with the Balfour Declaration, promised the Jewish people a State of their own. It would be on land that was part of a British Mandate, which had previously been in the hands of the Ottoman Empire, and previously under other governments, as far back as the Roman Empire who usurped the land from the Jewish people.
There were no Palestinians back then and there were none at the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. There were only Arabs who at best were tied together in a tribal manner, who had also been given states throughout Asia and Africa.
But that wasn’t enough. So after Israel declared its independence and the UN recognized Israel as a lawful state, the Arabs attacked en masse. They told other Arabs in the area to leave. They were ready to butcher the severely undermanned and under armed Israelis; to rape and pillage as they had done for a good number of years as is their wont.
They didn’t succeed. So as part of their modus operandi, they accused Israel of massacres that never happened; projection, what a concept.
But today, everything remains the same. The so-called Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world continue to cry about occupation when the rules of engagement of war permit the Israelis to remain where they are until a settlement of some type can be reached. That may never happen if the Israelis constantly face terrorism from their “peace partners.”
Despite living under this constant state of war and terror, Israel has always been a good ally of the US. For many years, it was the combat model for the US. America’s weapons were tested in many wars. Israel developed new and better weapons on that basis, with that technology shared with the US Government.
For many years Israel stood at the forefront of democracy against the former Soviet Union. Today, just as the US has taken the “war against terror” overseas and not had to fight it on US shores, Israel, though it is fighting for its own life on its shores, protects the US by having that war take place overseas.
The authors are also mistaken in comparing the war on America as a war on Israel and vice versa. Al-Qaida’s war has always been on western civilization and on the Arab states who allowed western personnel and morality on to their “holy” soil.
I could go on and on and debate many of the points in an article essentially based on fallacies, but I would be giving it too much credence by dignifying it as one worthy of debate.
Come to think of it, I'd rather not soil myself with any more manure.
A good friend of mine pointed out an article that has been making its way around the internet.
The article appears on the London Review of Books website.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html
Don’t rush out to buy the book.
The authors of the article theorize that Israel has been a poor ally of the US and that “the Lobby” has prevented any cogent debate on whether the U.S. should support Israel, to the extent that it does, based on its own interests. In addition, the authors advocate a debate, whether it is appropriate to support Israel based on moral grounds.
From my point of view, it’s true. There is an Israeli lobby with AIPAC acting in the forefront. As with any successful lobbyist, the more preparation, effort and ingenuity you put at your disposal, the more successful you’ll be. The same can be said for any enterprise.
Will one have moral questions while lobbying, especially when one is lobbying on behalf of a State that represents a people who have been on the verge of annihilation for the best 2000 years? Will one have moral questions when any move one makes may jeopardize the existence of those people not only in Israel but elsewhere around the world?
One is not a “de-facto agent for a foreign government” when one has these questions. One is just examining themselves in a ”dual containment” capacity by doing their job to the best of their ability and looking into their soul.
The Jewish people have always had a moral code to live by. Many times they fail in pursuing morality either by advocating their own personal notion of it or because as human beings they are only human.
But let’s not manipulate facts to show our own biased sense of history. Let the facts speak for themselves.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the British, with the Balfour Declaration, promised the Jewish people a State of their own. It would be on land that was part of a British Mandate, which had previously been in the hands of the Ottoman Empire, and previously under other governments, as far back as the Roman Empire who usurped the land from the Jewish people.
There were no Palestinians back then and there were none at the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. There were only Arabs who at best were tied together in a tribal manner, who had also been given states throughout Asia and Africa.
But that wasn’t enough. So after Israel declared its independence and the UN recognized Israel as a lawful state, the Arabs attacked en masse. They told other Arabs in the area to leave. They were ready to butcher the severely undermanned and under armed Israelis; to rape and pillage as they had done for a good number of years as is their wont.
They didn’t succeed. So as part of their modus operandi, they accused Israel of massacres that never happened; projection, what a concept.
But today, everything remains the same. The so-called Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world continue to cry about occupation when the rules of engagement of war permit the Israelis to remain where they are until a settlement of some type can be reached. That may never happen if the Israelis constantly face terrorism from their “peace partners.”
Despite living under this constant state of war and terror, Israel has always been a good ally of the US. For many years, it was the combat model for the US. America’s weapons were tested in many wars. Israel developed new and better weapons on that basis, with that technology shared with the US Government.
For many years Israel stood at the forefront of democracy against the former Soviet Union. Today, just as the US has taken the “war against terror” overseas and not had to fight it on US shores, Israel, though it is fighting for its own life on its shores, protects the US by having that war take place overseas.
The authors are also mistaken in comparing the war on America as a war on Israel and vice versa. Al-Qaida’s war has always been on western civilization and on the Arab states who allowed western personnel and morality on to their “holy” soil.
I could go on and on and debate many of the points in an article essentially based on fallacies, but I would be giving it too much credence by dignifying it as one worthy of debate.
Come to think of it, I'd rather not soil myself with any more manure.
posted by judah h | 9:39 PM
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