Sunday, September 25, 2005

Anti-Bush, Anti-War, Pro-Israel

I was unable to attend the March in Washington this weekend, so I watched a lot of it on CSPAN. I don't know if it was the poor coverage of the event, or what, but I was not happy with the speeches against Israel, and I did not appreciate the organizers letting the anti-Semites into the event.

I never thought I would include anything Dennis Miller said on my blog, but this was brilliant. He recently said the following about the Mid East situation on his show: (He is not Jewish .)

"A brief overview of the situation is always valuable, so as a service to all Americans who still don't get it, I now offer you the story of the Middle East in just a few paragraphs, which is all you really need."

Here we go:

The Palestinians want their own country. There's just one thing about that: there are no Palestinians. It's a made up word. Israel was called Palestine for two thousand years. Like "Wiccan," "Palestinian" sounds ancient but is really a modern invention. Before the Israeli's won the land in the 1967 war, Gaza was owned by Egypt, the West Bank was owned by Jordan, and there were no "Palestinians."

As soon as the Jews took over and started growing oranges as big as basketballs, what do you know, say hello to the "Palestinians," weeping for their deep bond with their lost "land" and "nation."

So for the sake of honesty, let's not use the word "Palestinian" any more to describe these delightful folks, who dance for joy at our deaths until someone points out they're being taped. Instead, let's call them what they are: "Other Arabs Who Can't Accomplish Anything In Life And Would Rather Wrap Themselves In The Seductive Melodrama of Eternal Struggle and Death." I know that's a bit unwieldy to expect to see on CNN.
How about this, then: "Adjacent Jew-Haters."

Okay, so the Adjacent Jew-Haters want their own country. Oops, just one more thing. No, they don't. They could've had their own country any time in the last thirty years, especially two years ago at Camp David. But if you have your own country, you have to have traffic lights and garbage trucks and Chambers of Commerce, and, worse, you actually have to figure out some way to make a living.

That's no fun. No, they want what all the other Jew-Haters in the region want: Israel. They also want a big pile of dead Jews, of course --that's where the real fun is -- but mostly they want Israel.

Why? For one thing, trying to destroy Israel - or "The Zionist Entity" as their textbooks call it - for the last fifty years has allowed the rulers of Arab countries to divert the attention of their own people away from the fact that they're the blue-ribbon most illiterate, poorest, and tribally backward on God's Earth, and if you've ever been around God's Earth, you know that's really saying something.

It makes me roll my eyes every time one of our pundits waxes poetic about the great history and culture of the Muslim Mideast. Unless I'm missing something, the Arabs haven't given anything to the world since Algebra, and, by the way, thanks a hell of a lot for that one.

Chew this around and spit it out: five hundred million Arabs; five Million Jews. Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it. And now these same folks swear that if Israel gives them half of that pack of matches, everyone will be pals.

Really? Wow, what neat news. Hey, but what about the string of wars to obliterate the tiny country and the constant din of rabid blood oaths to drive every Jew into the sea? Oh, that? We were just kidding.

My friend Kevin Rooney made a gorgeous point the other day: Just reverse the numbers. Imagine five hundred million Jews and five million Arabs. I was stunned at the simple brilliance of it. Can anyone picture the Jews strapping belts of razor blades and dynamite to themselves? Of course not.

Or marshaling every fiber and force at their disposal for generations to drive a tiny Arab State into the sea? Nonsense. Or dancing for joy at the murder of innocents? Impossible. Or spreading and believing horrible lies about the Arabs baking their bread with the blood of children?

Disgusting.

No, as you know, left to themselves in a world of peace, the worst Jews would ever do to people is debate them to death.

I understand that with vital operations in Iraq and others, it's in our interest, as Americans, to try to stabilize our Arab allies as much as possible, and, after all, that can't be much harder than stabilizing a roomful of super models who've just had their drugs taken away.

However, in any big-picture strategy, there's always a danger of losing moral weight. We've already lost some. After September 11th, our president told us and the world he was going to root out all terrorists and the countries that supported them. Beautiful. Then the Israelis, after months and months of having the equivalent of an Oklahoma City every week (and then every day) start to do the same thing we did, and we tell them to show restraint.

If America were being attacked with an Oklahoma City every day, we would all very shortly be screaming for the administration to just be done with it and kill everything south of the Mediterranean and east of the Jordan.

Please feel free to pass this along to your friends. Walk in peace! Be Happy! Have a wonderful life!

15 comments:

M said...

Thank you, Lizzy. He said it so well.

Sheryl said...

Excuse me, but opposing Israeli policy is not the same as being an anti-Semite. I'm an agnostic/atheist, which means I don't give a toss what religion or Gods people chose to follow, but the fact of the matter is that the Israeli government and their nation's economy is a giant military industrial complex, and I can show you Israeli government links to prove it if you have doubts.

Do you know what percentage of the Israeli economy goes into selling weapons systems, not just nationally, but internationally?

Frankly, I find it offensive when people suggest that to oppose Israeli policy automatically means you are anti-semitic.

Do you know how many nations get money from America's Foreign Military Financing Program versus what percentage goes to Israel?

Israeli weapons manufacturer's not only regularly lobby the US government, but are listed on our stock exchange.

I also recall an Israeli government report last year about how the government had swindled property from Palestinians. This was not the "palestinians" saying this. It was the Israeli government itself.

To suggest that saying something anti-Israeli is anti-semitic is the same as Bush suggesting that you are only patriotic if you blindly support his policies. In both cases it emotional hardball. And frankly when such tactics are used, you can be sure it's covering up an ugly reality.

M said...

It's such an emotional thing for me, as I think it is for many other Jews. Yes, I don't dispute the things you've said - I'm sure they're true (and I'm sure that every major country on earth is involved in shenanigans related to weapons sales), but the fact of the matter for me is that there are millions and millions of Arab folks on this earth, and a very small number of Jews. We've been shoved around for thousands of years and murdered and expelled from everywhere, starting back in the stories of the Old Testament. We finally return to our homeland after 6 million of us were exterminated from Europe, hoping that this small piece of land where we began can be a home. I'm no expert on Israeli policy. I don't like it when I hear of Arab folks getting killed by Israeli police or military. But I believe that there are millions of acres of land in the Middle East where non-Jewish folks can live. Unfortunately, a lot of the world will not rest until we're all gone. Why? Why is it that every year when I was growing up there would be an armed policeman at my synagogue when I went to services during the High Holy Days? Why did I go to work one day at a public high school and find tiny swastikas littering the parking lot? Why is there so much hatred for us - a small minority in the grand scheme of things?

Jim Marquis said...

I have to go with Lizzy and Motomama on this one. The amount of land the Jews have claimed is tiny and they've done great things with it. If they're selling weapons it's only so they can make enough money to help them survive the constant threats from the Arab world.

I don't see Arab rulers offering to take in the Palestinians. One main reason is they need the Israeli-Palestinian conflict...it keeps the hatred of their people focused on the Jews instead of them.

Lizzy said...

You are right, Sheryl. It was unfair of me to call the speakers "anti-Semites." However, as a Jew that has lost relatives in WWII, I will always support Israel - flawed policies and all.

Thanks Moto & J.

1138 said...

I'm sorry but I have to stand against Zionism.
The policy that no person of arab heritage can every be a citizen, even if they become jewish.
I oppose religionism, and racism.
If that means opposing 'Israel' than so be it, because until they become a democracy the do not deserve my dollars.
The statements by Miller are false on so many counts that I really do not want to go into it, but I'll take one for now.
Palastinians - yes the name is 'made up' in the sense that the people using it today are not the same people that have that name today.
BUT the residents of an area named palestine will be called something, savages if you want - palastinians is more descriptive.
Should we apply the same rule to a bunch of folks who use the made up name 'Americans'?
How about that johny come lately bunch of 'Baptists'.
Oh, and news ... Most Jewish residents of 'Israel' can't trace any DNA to the Jews of ancient Palistine.

I had a chance to attend the rally this last weekend, I turned my ticket back in last monday because I felt that the message had become too diluted.
Out of Iraq was something I was willing to get behind, supporting Marxism in Puerto Rico wasn't.

1138 said...

J. Marquis,

You need to check and see how many Palastinians Jordan has taken in.
The problem is not one of not enough land for Israel (proof by the land ceeded to Egypt and the latest change).
The problem is a lack of willingness by both sides to share.
The Arab issue is a seperate issue from the palastinian issue and the Moslem issue is seperate yet again.
There are groups that try and link them for opportunistic purposeses but they really can only be handled if they are taken as seperate issues.

Jim Marquis said...

1138- I will admit Jordan has done more than their fair share to help the Palestinians.

We both know why Israel can't become a complete democracy...the Arabs are reproducing at a much higher rate than the Jews. Eventually the Jews would be outvoted in their own country.

1138 said...

"...the Arabs are reproducing at a much higher rate"

JM,

That's not an argument to support genocide.
Mennonites reproduce at a greater rate than Presbyterians.
Eventually Presbyterians wouldn't have any influence in America at all so the Presbyterians decide that all Mennonites should be driven from the country or at the least be denied citizenship.

See the logic?

Israel faces provable demostrable threat from it's Arab neighbors but subjugation of the 'native' population is not the method that will produce an equitable solution protecting the Jews.
I really don't believe that a seperate 'Palastinian homeland' will accomplish the goal either.
A seperate palastinian state will merely provide a base of anger over what has been refused.

Damien said...

Kind of hoping at this moment that at least Hamas makes good on it's recent non-violence commitment (well at least for the next month).
As far as American military support for Isreal is concerned recently its Isreal that has been supplying the US large amounts small calibre ammunition to make up for US inventory short falls.

(Anyway Lizzy should have your pics finished by next Monday EST)

Jim Marquis said...

1138- Genocide is one of those words that gets thrown around way too easily anymore. Not having a vote is not genocide.

So, what is your solution? Apparently the Palestinians won't settle for anything less than the whole pie. Are you saying the Jews should just give up everything they've built and leave?

1138 said...

JM,

No not having a vote is not Genocide - bulldozing the homes of the relatives of criminals goes a long way towords it though as does refusal of basic services because they can't be citizens.

Genocide does not have to be mass execution, your interpretation of the term is too narrow.

"Apparently the Palestinians won't settle for anything less than the whole pie."

Have they been offered equal inclusion?
No.
Why? Numbers?
"Eventually the Jews would be outvoted in their own country."
That's no excuse.
America is a diverse religious community but we still afford rights and citizenship (and outright inclusion) of non majority populations.
Rights based on ethnicity and religion is racism.
I'm not asking the state of Israel for anything more than what I demanded of South Africa and this country.

For Israel to survive it must incorperate diversity into the sham of democracy it practices now.

Jim Marquis said...

1138- I didn't give you a narrow interpretation of the term "genocide". I just said not having a vote is not genocide.

Religion, ethnicity and oil are pretty much all that matter in the Middle East. Are you going to demand that the Saudis or Iranians allow Jews to immigrate and have a political voice in their countries?

Another factor is the physical size of the country. One reason we can tolerate each other here is because the country is big enough so you can move away from ethnic groups and religions you don't care for.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this subject. I'm not that obsessed with it, I'd much rather spend my energy fighting Bush and company.

1138 said...

"Are you going to demand that the Saudis or Iranians allow Jews to immigrate and have a political voice in their countries?"

Yes

If its good enough for America it's good enough for them.

I think the ethnic diversity of New York City kinda knocks out the size issue.

I'm willing to agree to disagree, but I'm not willing to stoop and pretend it isn't important - it's the cause of a lot of death around the world.

Miss S. said...

I'm sorry, but Israel is not America. True, it does operate on a democratic model - but Israel has religion/culture/politics all intertwined. Also America came into being in a completely different way then how Israel came to being - and over a much longer time period. In addition to that, in the Revolutionary war (where America was fighting for it's freedom) the enemy's home base was thousands of miles away; lessening the change that they would come back after defeat.

Also, the Jewish religion (although the majority of Israelis are non-religious) intergrates the land of Israel into the life of a Jew. Rather or not you think that is proper - it is what it is. On the other hand, Israel is not dealing with the Arabs how the Torah instructs Jews to deal with non-Jews in their mist; which in my opinion is the source of the current strife.