Posted on 12/05/2007 4:05:12 PM PST by ventanax5
Having just taught a course on the Cultural Geography of the Middle East at a community college in Florida for “seniors” (over 55 years of age), I again encountered a unanimous belief among my students in what I would call the Most Widely Believed Myth of the political and military conflict between Israel and the Arabs. This universal belief, never challenged by the media, is that the United States was wholly or largely responsible for fully supporting Israel on the ground from the very beginning of its independence in May, 1948.
The world has been inundated with a tsunami of Arab propaganda and crocodile tears shed for the “Palestinians” who have reveled in what they refer to as their Catastrophe or Holocaust (“Nabka” in Arabic). Their plight has been accompanied by unremitting criticism that the United States was the principal architect that stood behind Israel from the very beginning with money, manpower and arms. The fact is that President Truman eventually decided against the pro-Arab “professional opinion” of his Secretary of State, General George Marshall and the Arabists of the State Department. He accorded diplomatic recognition to the new Jewish state but never considered active military aid. His own memoirs recall how he felt betrayed by State Department officials and the American U.N. Ambassador, Warren Austin who pulled the rug out from under him one day after he promised Zionist leader Chaim Weitzman support for partition.
(Excerpt) Read more at newenglishreview.org ...
Thanks. Good read.
*Bump for later*
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1913272/posts
Most of the middle east was under the UK.
One statement on how to fix the Palestine problem
Was to turn it over to the Americans.
After all the USA did such a good job on eastern
Europe and China.
One item was about the Teheran Drinking Bout in 1943,
the first meeting between FDR, Stalin and Churchill.
FDR and his great friend Uncle Joe were drinking Vodka
and Churchill was drinking brandy.
Alger Hiss (jailed for perjury) "communist" spy was sitting
right behind FDR.
I thought the most widely-held political myth of all time is that Reagan emptied all the mental hospitals in California. Shows what I know.
And I thought it was that Republicans wanted to put old people out of their homes by robbing them of their social security.
I've been hearing that since the Eisenhower era.
(Yes, I'm that old.)
He’s right that we forget about Soviet support for Israel in 1947, but a little batty in the conclusions he draws from that.
Hiss arranged and managed the ordeal. The Hiss trial was only one of the symptoms of this disease that has infected America. While the Soviets are gone, the scars and damage that the Commies inflicted are felt on us today. Their primary objectives was to infiltrate the media (of the day), the educational system, politics and the unions. Surprise! Where do we find the lefties of today?
To be fair and historically accurate, one should point out that Truman supported Israel for domestic political reasons. Political adviser and all-round lounge lizard Clark Clifford informed him he would not win New York if he didn’t support statehood. Truman was not a supporter of Israel.
The only significant exception was a shipment of Hawk air-defense missiles in 1964, provided to offset a similar shipment to Jordan. The American M-48 tanks and H-34 helicopters used in the 67 war had been provided by West Germany as part of its reparations package to Israel. Most Israeli aircraft came from France. Others had been acquired on the open market.
The same was true of ground equipment. One consignment of World War 2 Sherman tanks had been purchased illegally from a scrap dealer in the Phillipines. Other Shermans came from a variety fo similar sources. The old vehicles were refurbished and modernized in Israel and performed well against modern Soviet tanks.
Palestinians mark their 1948 displacement (AP pushes the lie)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3156207/posts
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