The Return of a 47-Year-Old Headline

I was thumbing through an old magazine over the weekend. It was 47 years old to be exact, and I came across a surprisingly prescient piece entitled wittily, "The Arab, the Jew, and the Pickle." What particularly caught my eye was that the piece was written by me in what is now called The American Spectator. Imagine that. In it, I argued that Israel had no other choice but to resist its enemies. They were all around little Israel and they were hostile to the utmost. Any sign of weakness would put the state of Israel in mortal danger.

That piece got me to thinking. Have I not made this point for years? I did a search and found that I made almost exactly the same point November of 1976 in the pages of Harper's. The piece was entitled -- rather unimaginatively -- "Chimera in the Middle East." Then, as I Googled, I found what I already knew. I have been making it in other places for years, for instance, in The American Spectator, the Good Times (also known as the Washington Times) and other places along the way. Israel has no alternative but to resist its enemies, and, incidentally, its enemies now seem fewer, at least fewer in the Middle East. Perhaps what enemies the Israelis still have in the Middle East are dreadfully dangerous but they are not so numerous as they were in the past. Such countries as Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states now feel they have other fish to fry than Israel. They have actually been supportive of Israel recently, for instance, on the nuclear agreement between the United States and Iran.

Yet Europe has for the most part been held aloof from Israel -- until Nov. 13. With the massacres in Paris, the French government also sees itself as up against implacable foes in the cowardly and quite mad terrorists who come from the fever swamps of Islamist fundamentalism. Soon I should hope other European countries will join in the fight. ISIS and all the other terrorist groups have got to be extinguished. These terrorists do not employ diplomats. They only employ suicide bombers and fighters who hide behind women and children. They offer no negotiating principles. They only want to kill and to be killed. Extinguishing their madness is going to take a long time.

Whatever possessed Europeans to think they could live peacefully with such savages prowling the globe? When ISIS sent out its first pictures of mass beheadings, all civilized people should have known these animals had to be hunted down and killed. Whatever possesses the Prophet Obama to talk of "containing" ISIS? Whatever was he thinking when he fatuously said: "I don't think they're gaining strength." He said that on the morning of Nov. 13. I wonder what he was blubbering that evening.

In the case of Europe's insouciance, the Europeans have been kidding themselves for years. In the case of Obama's fatuousness, I lay the blame to his own fantasizing. He really thinks he has contained ISIS, and that these monsters will go away.

There is one striking difference between early magazine piece and the present. In 1968, the terrorists pretty much contained their barbarism to one nation -- Israel. Now they have become more barbaric and they have increased their range to include Europeans, Russians, and Americans. That inspires a thought. ISIS is bringing old rivals together.

Our president, the most insipid in American history, says he will continue his listless "strategy" despite the recent massacres in France and Mali. The French president, Francois Hollande, is travelling the world to unite it against the terror that struck his country on November 13. I for one am pulling for Hollande. An army of Europeans and Russians can finish the terrorists off pretty quickly, and Obama's army will continue to lead from behind.

For some reason, I am thinking of a phrase that my French “brother” said when I lived with a French family as an exchange student in the 1970s.

“La seule chose que je dÃ©teste plus que le racisme, c’est les Arabes.”

I don’t recall why he said that, but I do recall that France had a policy of allowing almost unrestricted immigration from Algeria since the early 1960s, when France pulled out of Algeria and letting Algerians migrate to France unfettered was part of the post-colonialism agreement.

BTW, almost all Arabs are white. Or, more correctly, Caucasian, since Caucasians come in all colors from very pale to very dark.

Note: sorry about the glitch, I do not know how to make the French letter appear correctly.

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In 1968, the terrorists pretty much contained their barbarism to one nation -- Israel. Now they have become more barbaric and they have increased their range to include Europeans, Russians, and Americans

Sure, in 1968 infiltrating or attacking Europe or the US was a pipe dream. Now it's an accomplishment. Times change. Dare I mention the Iranian presence in South and Central America, or that the largest terror attack pre 9/11 in the hemisphere was carried out by Iran/Hizbollah in Argentina, an attack on the AsociaciÃ³n Mutual Israelita Argentina, killing just under a hundred and wounding hundreds more. Ignored by the west.

Any sign of weakness would put the state of Israel in mortal danger... Perhaps what enemies the Israelis still have in the Middle East are dreadfully dangerous but they are not so numerous as they were in the past. Such countries as Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states now feel they have other fish to fry than Israel. They have actually been supportive of Israel recently, for instance, on the nuclear agreement between the United States and Iran.

Zero kissed their asses in 2009, and has been slipping it to those very same asses ever since. Iran has missiles and other offensive capabilities overlooking the shipping lanes for much of the world's petroleum production (Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea), and has been unfettered in its pursuit of nuclear weapons and geographical dominion.

With the massacres in Paris, the French government also sees itself as up against implacable foes in the cowardly and quite mad terrorists who come from the fever swamps of Islamist fundamentalism. Soon I should hope other European countries will join in the fight. ISIS and all the other terrorist groups have got to be extinguished. These terrorists do not employ diplomats. They only employ suicide bombers and fighters who hide behind women and children. They offer no negotiating principles. They only want to kill and to be killed. Extinguishing their madness is going to take a long time... Whatever possessed Europeans to think they could live peacefully with such savages prowling the globe? When ISIS sent out its first pictures of mass beheadings, all civilized people should have known these animals had to be hunted down and killed.

Unless that list includes Iran, which is the number one sponsor of worldwide jihad, it isn't going to work. Iran should be job one, all the other problems would become immediately easier to handle piecemeal. Until we have a President, we won't so much as lift a finger to annihilate Boko Haram, for instance. So, where does Nigeria sell its petroleum?

Whatever possesses the Prophet Obama to talk of "containing" ISIS? Whatever was he thinking when he fatuously said: "I don't think they're gaining strength." He said that on the morning of Nov. 13. I wonder what he was blubbering that evening.

He was clinking glasses with one of his co-conspirators and having a good laugh, then having another about the near-total lack of scrutiny by the 'adversarial' fourth estate.

In the case of Europe's insouciance, the Europeans have been kidding themselves for years.

They've been scapegoating Israel and other victims of jihad.

In the case of Obama's fatuousness, I lay the blame to his own fantasizing. He really thinks he has contained ISIS, and that these monsters will go away.

No he doesn't. He's lying, and he knows he's lying. Obama is a Kenyan-born muzzie, and that's just a fact.

There is one striking difference between early magazine piece and the present. In 1968, the terrorists pretty much contained their barbarism to one nation -- Israel. Now they have become more barbaric and they have increased their range to include Europeans, Russians, and Americans. That inspires a thought. ISIS is bringing old rivals together.

That sounds an awful lot like the thoughtless quote from France, "it's not just Jews they're attacking, it's everyone."

The French president, Francois Hollande, is travelling the world to unite it against the terror that struck his country on November 13. I for one am pulling for Hollande. An army of Europeans and Russians can finish the terrorists off pretty quickly, and Obama's army will continue to lead from behind.

The Europeans need to apply the post-war anti-Nazi laws to Islam, and eliminate Islam from their polities. Period. Nothing else is going to work.

The same goes for us.

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