Column One: The War of Words by Caroline Glick - September 5, 2003

[cherryperry]

In a recent interview with the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat, translated by MEMRI, Syria's Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass made a number of revealing statements. On the military front, he explained that Israel and the US are terrorist states. At the same time, terrorism-supporting countries like Syria and Saudi Arabia are victims, and terrorist organizations like Hizbullah in Syrian-controlled Lebanon and Palestinian terrorist groups operating in Israel and headquartered in Damascus are legitimate resistance movements. On the theological front, Tlass explained that the Jews have no right to object to his book "The Matza of Zion." There he described the 1841 blood libel against the Jews of Damascus, which accused them of killing children to make Pessah matzot, as historical fact. Tlass argued that Jews have no right to object to his writing, because killing children to make matzot is a "Jewish ritual."

<snip>

For Israel, the disintegration of language is even more devastating than it is for the US. Every single term that we need to describe what is happening to us and what we ourselves are doing has been seized by the new Orwellian language police. By distorting the meaning of terrorism and anti-Semitism, our enemies deny us the ability to speak about the crimes being carried out against us. If we are terrorists because we control Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, then we cannot defend ourselves. If the Palestinian Authority, which organizes, incites, and enables Palestinians to murder us at every opportunity, is simply involved in legitimate resistance to our terrorism, then we cannot defend ourselves, either. The fact that the Western media refuse to refer to Palestinians who commit mass murders of Israelis as terrorists, but prefer the term "militants," indicates that from their perspective there is something basically acceptable about these murders. Referring to Palestinian gunmen and suicide bombers in this manner distinguishes them from other people who commit similar crimes against non-Jews. The fact that the Israeli media also use the term "activist" and "terrorist" interchangeably to describe those who murder us shows that we too have lost the power to describe our enemies.

<snip>

For every other group, the status of refugee exists only for those individuals who actually lived in a country and left. But for Palestinians, every relative, child, and grandchild of an Arab who left Israel in 1948 is a refugee. Under international law, it is the responsibility of the countries that take in refugees to provide them with a home. But for Palestinians, the situation is reversed. It is the responsibility of the countries in which these people were born and live never to accept them, and it is Israel's responsibility to allow 4 million hostile Arabs to immigrate and receive citizenship. Because we have accepted this subverted definition of refugee, Israelis engage in vacuous and self-defeating conversations about the so-called right of return of millions of people who have never set foot here and who actively seek the destruction of the state.

<snip>

"Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men," said Orwell, "is the restatement of the obvious." And so, two years after Durban, 10 years after Oslo, three years after the Palestinian terrorist war was launched, and two years after the September 11 attacks, we must take it upon ourselves to do just that. If we allow our enemies to define our world for us, we are destined to lose our place in it.



http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/P/FrontPage/FrontPage&cid=1002116796299

[rini]

1. What

an excellent posting. Our enemies will of course distort and change things around. It is a wonderfully effective tactic. Clarence Darrow used it extensively. And of course, the more something is denied, or true facts presented, the more the lie is imbedded in the public mind.

[Darranar]

2. Anti-semitism, sadly, does exist...

For all you David Dukes out there, i can personally refute the blood libel with what I've witnessed with my own eyes.

[Darranar]

4. I was only commenting, by the way...

on the beginning of the article. Much of the rest is trash about the evil international left that distorts the truth.

[cherryperry]

5. Your clarification is greatly appreciated

by the pro-PLO majority on this forum, I'm sure it has enabled you to stay in their clique...no worries!

[Darranar]

9. Uh.. no...

The majority of this forum is pro-humanitarian, anti-suicide bomber, and pro-Palestinian state.

[Fight_n_back]

10. If that were true

then there would tremendous support for the only multi cultural democracy in the region. The only nation that has free and fair elections, the only nation that has a sizable minority with anything approaching civil rights...buts that not what we see.

What you described are my views on the subject yet you will find few people here willing to say they agree with me on anything.

[Darranar]

11. Look...

Some of Israel's actions are despicable, horrid, and inhumanitarian. Do you agree?

There is much hatred for many of the inhumanitarian Arab states here as well; in my view, Saudi Arabia is worse than Israel when it comes to treating its own people, as is Egypt.

One problem people have here with Israel is that equal immigration is not allowed. Jews are allowed to immigrate as they wish, but others are not.

Another problem is, of course, the inhumanitarian treatment of the Palestinians by the Israelis, but that has been discussed and I know your views on it, which are pretty close to mine. The inability of the Palestinians (and when I say Palestinians I mean only the Arab inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza) to vote in Israeli elections is a part of this problem.

Many here would propose a one-state solution, in which a single state encompassing the entire area would exist, in which equal rights would be guaranteed for everyone. This seems very just at first, but the main problem with that solution is its unlikelyhood.

[rini]

12. Alan Dershowitz

gave a great definition of when disagreement with Israeli policies crosses into anti-semitism it is "when the singling out of Israel for unique criticism is not leveled at other countries with far worse records. This double standard is bad for peace, for the rule of law, and for universal concepts of human rights. The line between acceptable criticism and anti-Semitism is when the Jewish state is subject to unique criticisms not directed to other nations whose records are far worse in every respect."

Just a idea you may want to ponder.

[Darranar]

13. No other nation...

recieves as much US aid as Israel does.

Criticising Israel more than other nations, even if the aid were equal, is still not anti-semitism - more likely it is ignorance.

[bemildred]

14. I blow hot and cold on this.

I very much approve of the "same rules for everybody" attitude.

OTOH, the notion that Israel is or is not "singled-out" is just
one blowhards opinion about some other blowhard, for the most part,
usually based on his being offended by what the other guy had to
say. If you are mad you are not thinking very well, so it doesn't
mean much.

It is certainly true that Israel is not at the level of Liberia
or Rwanda-Burundi or Chechnya, and for instance Chechnya gets a
lot less attention, but this is faint praise, and it must be said
that the imbalance is on both the positive and negative side, there
is just a lot more stuff about the Middle East in general and Israel
in particular than about some of these other worse places. A lot of
that is because there are a lot more people who give a shit one way
or another who are in the global information network. I think the
comparison with the USA is in some ways apt, there are good and bad
things to be said.

Finally, Alan is not in a position to lecture anyone on what they
must talk about and in what order, or about morality for that
matter.

Just some ideas.

[Fight_n_back]

15. If Dershowitz

is not to be listened to then why are you?

[bemildred]

16. You are more than welcome to ignore me.

I certainly ignore you.

[Fight_n_back]

17. And yet

you don't

[rini]

18. you

missed te point, please reread

[Darranar]

19. I reread it...

I still don't see the point I missed.

Our nation has endorsed many oppressive regimes in the past, causing millions misery, but Israel is the only one where it is done in the open.

[rini]

25. The point

is your are holding Israel and also the US to a higher standard than you do other countries. That sir is anti-semitism and anti-Americanism. I don't know if you are a Jew or not, but sad to say there are many anti-semitic Jews. There are also anti-American Americans. When you ignore Arab abuses, and refuse to defend justified self-defense, well...

Mind you, I can be very vocal in objecting to American policy, in this country, not to outsiders. I don't take family feuds outside CONCUS. I also know that I dislike certain Israeli policies, but it's not my country and I know the difference bewteen self-defense and lying down to be annialated.

[Darranar]

26. No, I'm not...

I criticize the US heavily because I live here. Additionally, the US government's policies have likely killed more innocent people then the policies of ANY OTHER GOVERNMENT IN THE WORLD in the last third of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, and that includes Israel.

As for Israel, that's another story. I criticize Saudi arabia too, but not as vocally since it isn't needed as much - less people wholeheartedly back Saudi Arabia then Israel. The same thing applies to the Arab states.

[tinnypriv]

20. "Look over there!"

:thumbsup:

[cherryperry]

21. To quote one of your candidate's cutest last words @ the 2nd debate:

"Helo-oo"!

Do you have any idea why a Jewish state was created? Do the words: dispersed, expelled or pogram or Shoah ring any bells. As Pogrebin has said: In a perfect world, Israel would not exist; in this one, Israel MUST exist...or, in the words of Bob Dylan:

Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man,
His enemies say he's on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
He's the neighborhood bully.


The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He's criticized and condemned for being alive.
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin,
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He's the neighborhood bully.


The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He's wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
He's always on trial for just being born.
He's the neighborhood bully.


Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad.
He's the neighborhood bully.


Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him,
Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac.
He's the neighborhood bully.


He got no allies to really speak of.
What he gets he must pay for, he don't get it out of love.
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
He's the neighborhood bully.


Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace,
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease.
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly. To hurt one they would weep.
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep.
He's the neighborhood bully.


Every empire that's enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon.
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with nobody, under no one's command.
He's the neighborhood bully.


Now his holiest books have been trampled upon,
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on.
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth,
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health.
He's the neighborhood bully.


What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin', they say. He just likes to cause war.
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed,
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed.
He's the neighborhood bully.


What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers?
Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill,
Running out the clock, time standing still,
Neighborhood bully.

[Darranar]

24. Okay...

Do you have any idea why a Jewish state was created? Do the words: dispersed, expelled or pogram or Shoah ring any bells. As Pogrebin has said: In a perfect world, Israel would not exist; in this one, Israel MUST exist...or, in the words of Bob Dylan:

I have a very clear idea of why the jewish state should exist. The question is whether it should have seperation of church and state, and to what extent.

As for the song, Bob Dylan is completely wrong. Brutalizaing the Iraqis wasn't a fight for survival, neither is brutalizing the Palestinians.

[rini]

27. Israel #1

does have a separation of church and state. England does not. Besides, it's not my country, if it should choose to be a theocracy, again it's not my business.

[Darranar]

28. Actually, it doesn't...

immigration is restricted according to religion, and chief rabbis have some political power. England most certainly does have seperation of church and state.

It's your business as long as your government sends money to it. Additionally, aren't governments that disregard human rights the world's, and therefore your, business?

[bemildred]

3. "new Orwellian language police"

Pot, meet kettle. Kettle, meet pot.

As Humpty Dumpty declared: "A word means what I say it means".

[cherryperry]

6. I see in your profile that

you live in L.A.

Have you been to the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance?

I sincerely recommend a trip!



(edited for grammar, not for content)

[bemildred]

7. I really love people that talk to me in a condescending way.

Thank you so much.

[drdon326]

8. I noticed that.

lol

[cherryperry]

23. Now you, I LOVE! n/t

[cherryperry]

22. Yeah, I understand, I really "love" that, too,

but I presumed after reading some of your posts on I/P you wouldn't like me much anyway.