Posted on 07/27/2006 9:51:55 AM PDT by ZeitgeistSurfer
Haifa, Israel — I am writing this in between ducking in and out of a bomb shelter as Haifa is bathed by the Katyusha rockets and other missiles that Ehud Barak has allowed to be fired at the city. Why Ehud Barak? Because, as Israeli prime minister in 2000, he ordered the cowardly unilateral withdrawal of Israeli troops from the security zone in southern Lebanon, which led to the positioning of thousands of Hezbollah rockets on Israel’s northern border.
It occurs to me that now would be as good a time as any to sum up everything that has been learned about the Middle East conflict — that is, everything that the Israeli government and chattering classes have refused to learn for the past two decades.
1. Nice fences do not stop missiles, rockets, and mortars.
2. Complete removal of Israeli forces and Jewish settlers from an area does not achieve anything positive, but merely signals Israeli weakness, inviting escalated terror and aggression from Israel’s enemies.
3. Hezbollah and Hamas cannot be defeated with air strikes. There is no effective alternative to ground invasion and ongoing control of the ground.
4. Unless the Israeli military controls the ground on the other side of fences, those fences achieve nothing.
5. Goodwill gestures by Israel tend to increase terror and invite further demands.
6. Goodwill gestures by Israel never produce moderation of Arab goals and demands, but rather produce the opposite.
7. Terror is not caused by settlements, but rather fueled by the removal of settlements.
8. Terror is not caused by Israeli military occupation, but rather allowed to flourish with the removal of Israeli military occupation.
9. It is impossible for there to be two sovereign entities between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean.
10. No matter how many concessions Israel makes, the world will always justify Arab terrorism, because there is always one more capitulation that Israel has failed to make (e.g., giving up the “Shebaa Farm” on the Golan Heights).
11. No matter how nice Israel is to Israeli Arabs, no matter how many affirmative-action programs it implements, it will always be accused of being an “apartheid regime.”
12. Much of the Israeli far Left is essentially an anti-Semitic movement that seeks Israel’s destruction and automatically endorses the enemies of Israel in all things.
13. The Israeli Labor party and its Kadima cousin may be more effective at fighting terror, once they decide to do so, than Likud. The reason is that if Likud were fighting terror, the Israeli Left would take to the streets in mass demonstrations against Israeli imperialism and aggression, and the leftist Israeli media would declare that 400,000 protesters turned out.
14. The Israeli Left will oppose every conceivable act of Israeli self-defense, other than total capitulation.
15. Jewish far-leftism is a very real enemy of Israel.
16. Some international observers don’t mind seeing Jewish civilians murdered by terrorists, and will applaud and justify all such murders as comeuppances for the Jews’ being so insensitive.
17. Israeli niceness and flexibility often encourage and embolden anti-Semites.
18. Israel-bashing is often driven by anti-Semitism, and many Israel-bashers are increasingly open about their delight at seeing Jewish civilians murdered.
19. Israeli pursuit of the “peace process” has triggered a worldwide storm of anti-Semitism.
20. Terrorists cannot be appeased.
21. Arab terrorists do not morph into statesmen.
22. Looking for Palestinian moderates in politics is a fruitless endeavor.
23. Many Israel-bashers do not care about dead Arab civilians, other than as a useful bludgeon with which to de-legitimize Israel.
24. Much of the Western Left would celebrate the destruction of Israel.
25. The vast majority of Israeli Arabs want to see Israel destroyed and the Jews thrown into the sea.
26. There are hundreds of Jewish professors in Israel who serve as an academic fifth column for terrorism and will do almost anything to collaborate with the enemies of their country.
27. The Arabs will not accept an independent Israel in any set of borders, no matter how small. Thus nothing can be achieved by reducing Israel’s territory, other than signalling weakness and vulnerability.
28. Much of the Western media believes that there are no problems on earth that could not be greatly ameliorated by destroying Israel.
29. Most of the governments of Europe seem not to believe Jews should be allowed to defend themselves from aggression.
30. The only country on earth that is expected to respond to the mass murder of its civilians by turning the other cheek is Israel. The only country on earth that has spent many years trying to defeat terrorism by turning the other cheek is Israel.
31. Whenever Israel responds firmly to aggression and terrorism, it will always be criticized for a “disproportionate” response.
32. Most of those who claim that anti-Zionism is different from anti-Semitism are anti-Semites.
33. The only people on earth whom the Left believes should be denied the right to self-determination and self-defense are the Jews.
34. “Palestinians” are not a people and never were. They are simply Arabs who happened to migrate into historic Western Palestine. They have no right to statehood.
35. The Golan Heights are not “Syrian” and never were.
36. Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein are anti-Semites, and so are many of their supporters.
37. Israeli politicians are among the stupidest on earth.
38. Israeli leftists never learn from the failures of their policies and “ideas.” Every failure is explained away by the fact that their policies were not applied thoroughly enough.
39. The moral and legal responsibility for every single Arab civilian death or injury in the Middle East conflict rests squarely upon the shoulders of the aggressive Arab fascists and terrorists who have provoked Israel.
40. There is no moral or legal reason for Israel to refrain from attacking terrorists and murderers when they hide among civilians.
41. Many of the “anarchists” and others who protest against Israel’s security wall want the wall removed because they want terrorists to murder Jewish civilians.
42. Palestinians are the Sudeten Germans of the Middle East.
43. Israel has no obligation to share its water resources with the “Palestinians” or anyone else.
44. There are no non-military solutions to the problem of terrorism.
45. Talk of “peace” is revealing, because it is only necessary to consider making peace when you are faced with an enemy. Israel is faced with a host of committed enemies, and it is they who will not accept a fair peace settlement.
46. There are no significant differences between the agenda of the PLO and the agenda of Hamas and Hezbollah.
47. The Middle East conflict is not a marital spat. Going through the pretense of holding hands and holding talks does not calm tensions and achieves nothing.
48. One cannot make peace by pretending that war does not exist.
49. One cannot buy off anti-Semites and Islamofascists with trade concessions and subsidies.
50. The only way to stop terrorism is to kill terrorists.
—Steven Plaut is a professor at the University of Haifa.
He's spot on # 50.
Good luck and G-d be with you
Actually, I meant Dr. Plaut, he's on the ground in Haifa.
For those advocating a policy of cut and run from Iraq such as Fat Murtha, they need only look to what Israel is experiencing now to see the folly in such a policy. Israel is now in a far more deadlier fight against a far more deadly enemy precisely because Ehud Barak allowed himself to be browbeaten by short-sighted Israeli public opinion and the Clinton administration into fleeing Lebanon before the job was done.
Israel now forced to return to unfinished business in Lebanon demonstrates an early exit from Iraq will put us back fighting a far deadlier war against a stronger, better armed and more entrenched enemy in the same place in a few years as the Israelis are finding.
America retreating from Iraq will not produce peace and pacify Al Qaeda any more than Israel's retreat from Lebanon mollified Hezbollah.
>>Generally good points. A few quibbles.
3. Hezbollah and Hamas cannot be defeated with air strikes. There is no effective alternative to ground invasion and ongoing control of the ground.
>>If you remember the occupation of Lebanon a few years back, this didn't seem to defeat them either. As these groups get longer range missiles, you will have to control more and more ground to prevent them from attacking. At some point this becomes beyond Israel's capability.
9. It is impossible for there to be two sovereign entities between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean.
>>Not necessarily. However, it is impossible for there to be two of them if one if determined to destroy the other.
34. “Palestinians” are not a people and never were. They are simply Arabs who happened to migrate into historic Western Palestine. They have no right to statehood.
>>They didn't use to be. They are now. Get over it. Lots of other nations have come into existence that have no long history behind them, notably the US.
44. There are no non-military solutions to the problem of terrorism.
>>There also do not appear to be any military solutions short of killing all Palestinians, or possibly all Arabs or Muslims. I believe this is generally referred to as a "Final Solution."
46. There are no significant differences between the agenda of the PLO and the agenda of Hamas and Hezbollah.
>>Not as far as relationships with Israel.
50. The only way to stop terrorism is to kill terrorists.
>>This will only work if you can kill them all, which is highly unlikely, as new ones are coming online all the time.
Whack a Mole in the desert, won't cut it, huh? LOL
A friend sent this to me via email and I think the freepers should pass this around
PLEASE LISTEN TO THIS NOW..... VERY POWERFUL
Here is a powerful and amazing statement on Al Jazeera television. The woman is Wafa Sultan, an Arab-American psychologist from Los Angeles. I would suggest watching it ASAP because I don't know how long the link will be active.
http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ai=214&ar=1050wmv&ak=null
That wasn't really the case at all. Israel withdrew from Lebanon because the cost of occupying the place was enormous -- and "short-sighted Israeli public opinion" was largely driven by the recognition that Israel would eventually bankrupt itself trying to wage a permanent military campaign in Lebanon.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
So what was untrue about what I said?? You basically reiterated my point. And what you cite as the reasons behind Barak eventually pulling out from Southern Lebanon are the same pressures working against our efforts in Iraq now. But it is true Clinton worked tirelessly to get Barak out of Lebanon and Barak going along with that and Israeli public opinion finally gave in. The result is what we see now, a far costlier war.
High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. also
2006israelwar or WOT
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It is not inappropriate to use the term "Final Solution" when discussing that a truly effective military solution might involve the killing of 300 million Arabs or 1B+ Muslims. What term would you use?
The major difference between such a "solution" and that of the Nazis is that the Arabs and Muslims really are, as you say, an existential threat to Israel, and the Jews being a threat to Germany was a delusion.
Those who argue the ineffectiveness of non-military solutions may be entirely correct, but the military solutions that we're willing to accept may be no more effective.
3. Hezbollah and Hamas cannot be defeated with air strikes. There is no effective alternative to ground invasion and ongoing control of the ground.
While this is true, the air strikes would be far, far more effective if the Israelis would bomb the terrorists where they find them...Even if so-called civilians are providing cover for them...(see #40)
"Sure would like to be wrong about Israel and watch Iran and Syria get what they richly deserve, but I think it may have to wait for Another who promised He would come to do it for us."
Revelations says that Israel is spared from the the great eagle who fly's her to saftey for a time. I assume this means the USA's support of Israel which we have done by arming them and pitching their case at the UN time and time again.
Then Revelations says that those faithful to Christ will also partake in the final battle of those who ruin the earth. It means us on earth doing the fighting, not just a spiritual being on a white horse firing magic missles. Direct divine intervention on Israel's behalf in regards to military battles happened at times, but it was not the norm. I expect something similar when Christ returns.
"Here is a powerful and amazing statement on Al Jazeera television. The woman is Wafa Sultan, an Arab-American psychologist from Los Angeles. I would suggest watching it ASAP because I don't know how long the link will be active."
WOW! This is the type of thing we need more of. Arab Americans talking about freedom vs. slavery, respect for human rights vs. barbaric treatment, contributions to the human race instead of evil violence in the name of a religion. I loved her perfect example of how Muhammed sent mixed messages about the Jews, calling them the people of the book in places and pigs and swine in others. Thank you for posting this, it gives me hope that not all Arab professors are not anti-American terrorist supporters. I will pray for this women, she will likely not live long for her precise analysis. The muslim savages will kill her for being a 'heretic'.
Great post.
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