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It is good that Dr. S. Amjad Hussein asked that question, but not for the reasons he may think. Indeed, for all the skewed coverage that Operation Cast Lead has received in the press, it is still shocking to see such a strident defense of Hamas in the newspaper of a large city.
Much of Hussain's argument depends on the claim that Israel fired first. But Hamas and other jihadist groups never stopped firing, either during the "truce" (see the chart below), or since its inception in 1987. Still more of his argument proceeds on the assumption that Hamas is a legitimate regime, and lacking decidedly in "terrorists." But if Hamas fancies itself the ruling power in Gaza, it was either impotent or simply unwilling to control rocket attacks by other jihadist groups like Islamic Jihad, when Hamas itself was not behind the rocket fire.
Moreover, Hamas' conduct on many levels would not be accepted of any other sovereign state, right down to its very reason for existing: the destruction of Israel in favor of a state governed by sharia law.
Then there is the small matter of the rockets, which Hussain appears to believe are justified. They are not justified -- unless targeting civilians is okay some of the time -- and they are bad policy, of which Gaza's residents are victims (along with being used as human shields by their supposed champions). If those who cared enough inside and outside the "occupied" territories had desired, the amount of funding sunken into the cause of "Palestine" could by now have turned those areas into replicas of Dubai, Monaco, or Manhattan. Instead, they chose not only war, but wars repeatedly conceived in suicidal overconfidence and triumphalism, beginning with the initial attack of Arab countries on Israel in 1948.
Nonetheless, Hussain endeavors to explain why it's all Israel's fault in "Why is U.S. foreign policy hostage to Israel?" from the Toledo Blade, January 12 (thanks to Matt):
The ongoing carnage in Gaza raises some disturbing and sobering questions for the people of conscious everywhere, and that includes Toledo. At the time of this writing, close to 700 Palestinian men, women, and children had died and three times as many had been injured.
The pivotal question is why Hamas, the ruling Palestinian faction in Gaza, resumed firing rockets into Israel after six months of relative calm following a cease-fire put in place in June.
Six months? Not really:
A cease-fire requires a lack of hostilities between the parties. On Nov. 4, Israel, in clear violation of the cease-fire, went into Gaza and killed six Palestinians who Israel declared were terrorists. That incident and an ongoing siege and blockade of Gaza were enough reasons for Hamas to resume hostilities against Israel. It was retaliation plain and simple. Israel has been preparing for this onslaught for the last six months and chose this time because George W. Bush is still president.
Hamas has been preparing, too.
Ever since the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the dismantling of illegal Jewish settlements from Gaza in September, 2005, the area has been under siege. A total blockade has turned this narrow coastal strip of land into a virtual prison where 1.5 million inhabitants depended on the trickle of humanitarian aid allowed by Israel. Mary Robinson, the former United Nations high commissioner for human rights, called the ongoing situation in Gaza the destruction of a civilization. Her comments were made during the cease-fire.
Tu quoque:
In January, 2006, Hamas won elections in Gaza in a fair and impartial vote. The United States had, at the behest of Israel, declared Hamas a terrorist organization. As such, they were denied their legitimate right to govern and to have the cooperation of the international community. If fighting for one's dignity, one's land, and one's freedom is terrorism, then most countries that became independent in the post-colonial era got there through terrorism. Even Israel's establishment as a sovereign state was based on many acts of terrorism against the British and the native Palestinian population. There is an extremely thin line between a terrorist and a freedom fighter. All one has to do is to look at the life of Menachem Begin, a terrorist turned prime minister of Israel.
Note the lack of actual examples -- if he offered any, they could be challenged, so it's just better, evidently, to dispense with them. And it is worth repeating the necessity of distinguishing "terrorism" -- a tactic -- from jihadism. Indeed, Hussain casts this conflict in solely nationalistic terms, which Hamas' own language and agenda to impose sharia law contradict. And it raises another question: Where would Hussain stand if this conflict did not involve an Islamic regime against a non-Muslim one? Suppose Lichtenstein were lobbing rockets at its neighbors. Would there be editorials and marches in the streets of capitals worldwide in Lichtenstein's defense?
It is no surprise that most Arab governments have sold their soul at the altar of the United States and Israel. Every time there is an incident like Gaza, and there have been innumerable in the past decades, they get together to make phony noises of solidarity that result in nothing. At a recent press conference at the United Nations, the Arab ambassadors went through the usual hand-wringing and expressions of frustration at their inability to effect change. Missing in the whole macabre spectacle was a conscientious Arab journalist with a sturdy pair of shoes.
Maybe they don't care for Hamas, either.
Why is American foreign policy hostage to Israeli whims? It is for historians and writers such as John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, former Congressman Paul Findlay, former President Jimmy Carter, writer Norman Finkelstein, etc., to analyze the phenomenon, which they have done at their peril. The question, however, begs for an answer. Why does an Israeli cause become an American cause? And why does a Congress elected by the people of this country become beholden to the interests of a foreign country?
Israel is the most powerful country in the Middle East. Its survival is not threatened by rag-tag bands of so-called terrorists. At the heart of Israeli actions is the determination to hang on to the occupied lands. All peace initiatives on a two-state solutions are bound to fail because of the dominant role the Israeli right and the militant settlers play in Israeli politics. They are loath to give any land back to the Palestinians.
"At the heart of Israeli actions is the determination to hang on to the occupied lands." What, then, of the disengagement from Gaza, and the West Bank, and the consideration in some circles of the Israeli government of ceding other lands like the Golan Heights and Shebaa Farms? Where does Hussain draw the boundaries for "occupied lands?"
In the end Israel would rather see a fragmentation of Palestinian society reminiscent of apartheid South Africa, and allow them a measure of watered down and wholly dependent self-rule.
Unlike the glorious, independent, and self-reliant paradise of Gaza under Hamas.
Surprisingly, a great majority of the world has endorsed a two-state solution along 1967 borders in the form of U.N. General Assembly resolutions. All Arab countries have endorsed it. Even Hamas has expressed its willingness to accept that broad solution. The only countries voting against the resolution are the United States, Israel, Australia, and an atoll of small island nations in the Pacific.
But Hamas will not recognize Israel's right to exist in any form, within any borders. Does Hussain?
And finally, where are the moderate voices of American Jewry? While there is a vigorous debate inside Israel about occupied lands, there is hardly any dissent in this country. Given the history of last 60 years, there must have been a few occasions when the people of conscience could have spoken out against the policies of Israel. Instead, they always found reasons to blame the victims or remain silent.
Hussain clearly hasn't been reading many newspapers or watching much television -- from the U.S. or the Middle East. And have they been silenced? Not at all. In any event, the preceding paragraph provides another demonstration of how uselessly relative the term "moderate" is.
One of my Jewish readers put it succinctly when he said, in private of course, that if he ever raises a voice against Israel policies he will be crucified.
Ironic, considering that Hamas' efforts to impose sharia could include the real thing. But in summary, Hussain's arguments above depend on the legitimacy of Hamas, which took power in Gaza in a coup, and the illegitimacy of Israel, whose territory was established first by the League of Nations, and then the United Nations (why not declare jihad on the United Nations?). From that perspective, he asked, "Why does an Israeli cause become an American cause?"
Geert Wilders provides the answer:
Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us. If there would have been no Israel, Islamic imperialism would have found other places to release its energy and its desire for conquest. Therefore, the war against Israel is not a war against Israel. It is a war against the West....
And Hamas' and Hizballah's Iranian backers have made their intentions in that regard quite clear.
Posted by Marisol at January 14, 2009 12:04 AM
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"At the heart of Israeli actions is the determination to hang on to the occupied lands."
The good doctor Hussein fails to mention that Israel ceded the entire Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in a naive peace gesture. The Sinai is far larger than Israel, and has oil fields that the Israelis themselves discovered and developed.
Furthermore, our Doctor Hussein has conveniently ignored Ehud Barak's offer to Arafat, made in 2000, of Gaza, more than ninety per cent of the so-called West Bank, and semi-autonomy for East Jerusalem. Arafat, of course, essentially spat in Barak's face. So much for Israel's land-grabbing.
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at January 14, 2009 12:39 AM
One other point: Years before Israel's 2005 disengagement from Gaza and its transfer of administrative responsibility of much of the so-called West Bank to the Palestinian Authority, Israel offered to cede Gaza to Egypt along with the Sinai. Egypt wanted no part of Gaza. Israel was stuck with it, and continued to provide it with food, water, fuel, electricity, and medical supplies.
Posted by: commonsense at January 14, 2009 1:00 AM
Geert Wilder's answer couldn't be anymore precise.
If Israel were to cease to exist, and slaves of allah (the imaginary) managed to conquer Kashmir, we all know what would be next... The Balkans, most of the Iberian Peninsula and India's nearly entire territory.
And, once their "reconquest efforts" were over (well, we know that reconquest is an appropriate term only to describe infidels taking land back from mohammedans, but the latter don't bother with such details), they'd focus their efforts to expand Dar al-Islam on other parts of the globe.
Posted by: Proud_Kafir7908 at January 14, 2009 1:06 AM
Regarding the cease-fire:
I'm not sure what those 215 rockets were, but I was in Shderot in late summer (so the ceasefire had been going on for a while), and everyone I talked to there said they were satisfied with it--as in, they hadn't heard one "Color Red" alert since it began. According to the people who matter most, the ceasefire was working.
Kol Tuv,
Shlomo
Posted by: Shlomo_Michael at January 14, 2009 2:00 AM
"The ongoing carnage in Gaza raises some disturbing and sobering questions for the people of conscious (sic) everywhere...."
"The only countries voting against the resolution are the United States, Israel, Australia, and an atoll of small island nations (sic) in the Pacific."
Pretty poor proof-reading on the part of the Blade. "People of conscious"! And those island nations must be small indeed if there are several of them on one atoll! In fact, there is no such atoll, at all.
at January 14, 2009 2:09 AM
"Why does an Israeli cause become an American cause?"
Human decency, idiot. Also, Israel is one of a seemingly dwindling number of nations which holds regular, free elections and upholds the UDHR to the letter.
This article was a case study in Mohammedan logic. No doubt Mariastan will be taking notes on the author's ability to argue his points without once referring to facts, using logic, or offering so much as a glimmer of ethicality.
at January 14, 2009 2:22 AM
Slippery when wet:
more of the same here, but so slick and sly it makes your head spin: these people are good! Cunning is too weak a word to describe the sinister, vile lies and distortions by these people. If it wasn't for the useful idiots one would give them a shoe in the ass, but Australia's AGE always has a boner for these creatures:
Boycotts may achieve what bombs and guns can't
Randa Abdel-Fattah
January 13, 2009
As the occupying power, Israel must be the one to make concessions.
AS THE Israeli offensive in Gaza enters its third week, people around the world feel a growing desperation at the failure of the UN and of Western and Middle Eastern governments to secure an end to the violence and slaughter.
When the international system fails, what can be done? The global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is rapidly garnering support for Palestinian rights from academic institutions, church groups and other grassroots bodies worldwide. Such sanctions were a vital tool in the struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa and rehabilitate that state as part of the family of nations.
The furore provoked by a 2007 proposal that Britain's University and Colleges Union should discuss a boycott of Israeli academic institutions demonstrated the immense store Israel sets by its access to civil society around the world. Recently, British telecommunications company FreedomCall terminated its co-operation with Israel's MobileMax in response to the Gaza offensive. And in 2004, the Presbyterian Church (US) voted to divest from companies operating in Israel.
In light of the European Union's moves to upgrade existing trade arrangements with Israel, pressure is being applied on the EU to revoke such ties until Israel honours an "essential element" of the earlier agreement, requiring that state to respect human rights and democratic principles.
As the EU is the largest importer of Israeli goods and the second-largest exporter to Israel, the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement would send a clear message that reflected public feeling.
Boycott and divestment are powerful forms of non-violent resistance to violence and occupation, mobilising people around the world in solidarity with Palestinians and the brave Israelis who work for peace with them. Yet without US support, the movement can only go so far. It remains to be seen whether Barack Obama's election really means a change from the failed policies of the past.
Without effective sanctions, the main value of the boycott movement is to remind Israel that its actions bring it into global disrepute. This is worthwhile as sanctions are not an end in themselves but a means to the end of Palestinian self-determination.
We often hear politicians and commentators proclaim the complexity of this conflict and ask why Palestinians and Israelis can't just get along. The problems of an illegal occupation, the Palestinian refugees and the ever-shrinking territory on which Palestinians are expected to build their state are swept under the carpet. Illegal settlements continue to be built and the ubiquitous "security barrier" snakes its way through the towns and villages of the occupied West Bank, making a contiguous Palestinian state impossible.
Either Israel and the international community act to make an independent Palestinian state a possibility or they accept a solution in which the Jewish and Arab inhabitants of the land live side by side as equal citizens. If Israel insists on being a Jewish state, it cannot also continue to obstruct the birth of a sovereign Palestine with the collusion of its allies and the supine Arab dictatorships.
One tires of hearing this debate framed in terms of two equal parties stubbornly refusing to compromise, as though occupier and occupied are equally culpable. The Israeli PR machine has told us that peace is unattainable because of Hamas. Yet when Hamas accepted a ceasefire, Israel maintained its blockade of the Gaza Strip. Was this not a clear violation of its responsibilities under the agreement and an act of collective punishment?
Before the rockets were launched into Israel, there was an illegal and brutal occupation. Before Hamas existed, that occupation existed. Hamas' charter and its philosophy may well trouble us, but the right of every people to take up arms against occupation is enshrined in international law. Israel seeks to force regime change in Gaza, claiming Hamas cannot be negotiated with. Yet in March 2007, Hamas and Fatah formed a national unity government and stated their readiness to negotiate a long-term ceasefire with Israel. It was Israel that refused to negotiate with a government that included Hamas because the latter refused to recognise Israel's "right to exist".
Which Israel is Hamas supposed to recognise? The state has no declared borders and its settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem continues unabated. Do we really expect an indigenous population to simply accept dispossession and exile?
Once upon a time, the PLO was the enemy that could not be talked to. Now it is Hamas' turn, because the alternative is to engage with its proposal for a long-term ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal to its borders before the Six-Day War of 1967, subject to a democratic referendum of the Palestinian people.
In Australia, the major political parties seem content to mouth formulas about the right of Israel to self-defence. No one asks who will defend the stateless Palestinians.
For many years, Indonesia's occupation of East Timor enjoyed similar bipartisan support. Who knows how many lives might have been saved had Australia dared to stand up sooner for a people struggling to be free?
For 20 years you never heard any Muslim complain about the oppression and devastation the Muslims were causing to the occupied Christians of East Timor. Along comes this twat and tells us it was all out fault. Quite a piece of work, this Randa Abdel-Fatah...
Randa Abdel-Fattah is an Australian lawyer and novelist of Palestinian and Egyptian parentage. Her latest book is Where the Streets Had a Name.
at January 14, 2009 2:23 AM
This just in a while ago:"Fighting rages in Gaza as toll nears 1,000"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090114/ts_afp/mideastconflictgaza
Where Hilary Clinton is mentioned:
"Hilary Clinton, due to become US secretary of state in a week's time, said Barack Obama's administration would make "every effort" to forge peace but ruled out talks with Hamas until it recognised Israel's right to exist.
"You cannot negotiate with Hamas until it renounces violence, recognises Israel and agrees to abide by past agreements," she told a Senate confirmation hearing. "That is just for me an absolute."
Posted by: lorfalcon at January 14, 2009 2:38 AM
The paper and the author of this one sided, racist
article most definately needs more than a shoe up his ass. Poorly researched
and full of deceptive
coments and lies. Israel need not concede one more inch of terriory that was won in, how many wars that they DID NOT start. The islamofacists, and arabs were offered almost everything at Camp David. Yasser Arafat declined the offer and here we are, again. Not that Camp david would have made any difference. The arabs would not have been satisfied back then nor will they ever be UNLESS Israel is wiped off the map, every Jew is dead and they can claim the land THAT WAS NEVER THEIRS. Israel owes nothing to these cowards. In fact Israel should cut off ALL aid, fuel, tax monies and let hamas and the other arab states absorb and take their pawns back home.
How about that "fair and balanced" media coverage?
What an idiot to even bring that up. More lies and deceptive videos. How many of the causualties have been caused by hamas on their fatah rivals, hiding behind women's habibs, not mention children. Bombs, booby trapped dolls, zoos, schools. Yeah, those are true warriors. Sorry, they are murdering islamofacist killers. About as low as you can find.
This Israeli cause becomes an American cause
becuase Israel represents freedom, progress, and a country trying to be the only democracy in a cesspool of ignorant, barbaric, savagely run islamofacist states. The Dr. fails to grasp these concepts because he is blinded by the hatred that is inbred throughout islam against the Jews and Israel. Israel neeeds to do everything it can to wipe out hamas and take it to the reactors of Iran. The Israeli's gave the islamofacists in gazastan a workable infastructure that would have provided the start of viable economy. Instead the arabs tore and burned it all down. Just because it was built and resided in by the Jews. Israel does not need to live by a sharia run, terrorist
occupied,backward territoy. Israel's cause is a global cause, and the good Dr. will never see or admit to any of that. Another pathetic fool published in a pathetic paper.
at January 14, 2009 2:54 AM
PatriotUSA ....well said...if only the "powers that be" would hear then...sigh! wishful thinking.
Posted by: oppressiondetester at January 14, 2009 4:48 AM
This is very depressing. This kind of highly selective, 'blinkers on for hamas' journalism is ubiquitous here in Europe, what with the ever false and sloppy writings of Mr robert fisk claiming that Israel was conducting "toddler culls" in gaza taking top billing in national newspapers.
But when these types of articles appear more frequently in the American press its concerning because the US is the last bastion of western and reasoned thinking, a thinking that advocates the continuation of enlightenment values and democracy, and not pernicious relativism.
at January 14, 2009 6:06 AM
I wrote the bozo an email and let him know what a bunch of horseshit it is that he wrote. Here is is email:
aghaji@buckeye-express.com
Feel free to drop our peace-loving muslim friend a line or two or 5000.
Posted by: bonncaruso at January 14, 2009 7:18 AM
"Why does an Israeli cause become an American cause?" -- Dr. S. Amjad Hussein
This bozo's very name gives us a heads up about what the spin on the story is likely to be. And sure enough, he comes through.
Posted by: Eastview at January 14, 2009 7:29 AM
The good doctor demonstrates his confusion/deception in many of his other Blade posts.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=COLUMNIST12
This, as one example:
Book reveals the faces behind the terror masks at Guantanamo
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080630/COLUMNIST12/806300320
"is well known that many prisoners were chained in their cages and subjected to the usual tactics of sleep deprivation, rough handling, and sensory overload. At Gitmo, the abuse went further: insulting their religion, desecrating the holy book, urinating on them, and sexually degrading them by parading them naked. In one case, a naked female soldier standing astride a naked prisoner let her menstrual blood drip on the prisoner and then smeared his face with the blood. Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad was, in many ways, the extension of Guantanamo Bay."
I'm sure he believes the filthy kuffar was just doing as she was told.
Posted by: PRCS at January 14, 2009 8:43 AM
From article: Israel is the most powerful country in the Middle East. Its survival is not threatened by rag-tag bands of so-called terrorists.
This guy is obviously infected by the malevolent spirit of Allah, which among other things causes people to talk with their heads up...'there where the sun don't shine'. If he's not a Mahoundian, he should be...
And this from post: In one case, a naked female soldier standing astride a naked prisoner let her menstrual blood drip on the prisoner and then smeared his face with the blood.
I believe that about as much as I believe Allah is God, and Mahound his Prophet...
Posted by: duh_swami at January 14, 2009 9:12 AM
Occupying Power?
That's rich. At one point, all Islam occupied was the cave that the Mohammed "prayed" in.
Ever since then, it's been Jihad, Jihad, Jihad. The "religion" of Islam was spread through bloody conquest after conquest. That continues to be the method of compelling Islam on infidels. It has not changed.
As to why is an Israeli issue is an American issue - birds of a feather, flock together. We share the same values as the nation of Israel. In 50 years, the nation of Israel was become a modern state. In 200+ years, America has gone from England's colony to the richest and most powerful country in the world.
The biggest thing that Islam has done in its 1400 year history - kill millions and millions of infidels.
So you can see why any civilized nation would support another civilized nation.
Posted by: tanstaafl at January 14, 2009 9:26 AM
According to the people who matter most, the ceasefire was working.
Kol Tuv,
Shlomo
Well it looks like they were wrong...
Just how many rockets into Israel should be tolerated...Is there some minimum or maximum number?
Posted by: duh_swami at January 14, 2009 9:36 AM
The dhimmis' of the world are but "useful idiots" for the determinations of Islamic domination.
Dhimmis' go about their daily lives never taking the time to really question why Muslims behave the way they do. They buy into the myths that are perpetuated by Islam http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/Myths-of-Islam.htm. Our constant struggle is to try and educate those that don't understand what Islam is all about and how there is no role in its ideology for the non Muslim,the infidel, the kuffar, and the apostate as well.
American values are rooted in Judao Christian values, this is why you see these two religion names together in many discussions, this is why most Bibles have both the Old Testament, and the New Testament of Jesus Christ in them. Israel is the land of Abraham,Isaac, and Ishmael, It is the land of Moses and of Jesus Christ. The New Testament was written by Jews and Jesus was a Jew.
Tiny Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East and yet this little country is a big threat to Islam ----note the Islamic countries in green in comparison to Israel in red. http://www.masada2000.org/geography.html .
Why is Israel a threat to Islam? It is because Islam wants to dominate the world and Israel sits right in the middle of their world, and in fact they tell us that every single day and still the dhimmi behaves like a deer staring into the headlights of an on coming car.
Yes ignorance is bliss until one day we wake up to the reality that is Islam. And these comments where of course just a little start to Islam 101---
Posted by: Mackie at January 14, 2009 10:28 AM
"Note the lack of actual examples -- if he offered any, they could be challenged..." -Spencer
I'm not sure, but I think you are referring to this statement: "Even Israel's establishment as a sovereign state was based on many acts of terrorism against the British and the native Palestinian population."
If so, I gave examples a couple days ago:
“The Etzel’s terrorist campaign against the Arab population lasted until the end of the ‘Arab Uprising’ in 1939 and included more than 60 attacks…” including “…shooting at Arabs in the downtown Haifa area in June 1938, and a month later at Arabs walking near the Sheari Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem…shooting at a bus with Arab passengers in July 1938, throwing explosives at another bus in September 1937, shooting at a truck with an Arab driver in November 1937…using a semi-machine gun and throwing a grenade at an Arab coffee shop in Jerusalem in November 1937, throwing explosives at another coffee shop in Haifa in April 1937, and the use of a semi-automatic machine gun to shoot at an Arab group in Haifa in May of 1939…the most dramatic act…was planting of a mine in the Arab market in Haifa in July 1938, an attack which resulted in the death of more than 70 Arabs…the concealment of explosives in a suitcase at the British embassy in Rome, which destroyed the entire embassy.”
This is from an article by Leonard Weinberg, who is currently a visiting fellow at the University of Haifa’s National Securities Studies Center.
He, along with Arie Perliger, wrote the article titled “Jewish Self-Defense and Terrorist Groups Prior to the Establishment of the State of Israel: Roots and Traditions” in Totalitarian Movements and Political Traditions, Vol. 4 (3), 2003, p.91-118. Quotes passage is on page 100-101.
at January 14, 2009 1:17 PM
"Note the lack of actual examples -- if he offered any, they could be challenged..." -Spencer
I'm not sure, but I think you are referring to this statement: "Even Israel's establishment as a sovereign state was based on many acts of terrorism against the British and the native Palestinian population."
If so, I gave examples a couple days ago:
“The Etzel’s terrorist campaign against the Arab population lasted until the end of the ‘Arab Uprising’ in 1939 and included more than 60 attacks…” including “…shooting at Arabs in the downtown Haifa area in June 1938, and a month later at Arabs walking near the Sheari Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem…shooting at a bus with Arab passengers in July 1938, throwing explosives at another bus in September 1937, shooting at a truck with an Arab driver in November 1937…using a semi-machine gun and throwing a grenade at an Arab coffee shop in Jerusalem in November 1937, throwing explosives at another coffee shop in Haifa in April 1937, and the use of a semi-automatic machine gun to shoot at an Arab group in Haifa in May of 1939…the most dramatic act…was planting of a mine in the Arab market in Haifa in July 1938, an attack which resulted in the death of more than 70 Arabs…the concealment of explosives in a suitcase at the British embassy in Rome, which destroyed the entire embassy.”
This is from an article by Leonard Weinberg, who is currently a visiting fellow at the University of Haifa’s National Securities Studies Center.
He, along with Arie Perliger, wrote the article titled “Jewish Self-Defense and Terrorist Groups Prior to the Establishment of the State of Israel: Roots and Traditions” in Totalitarian Movements and Political Traditions, Vol. 4 (3), 2003, p.91-118. Quotes passage is on page 100-101.
at January 14, 2009 1:17 PM
"Note the lack of actual examples -- if he offered any, they could be challenged..." -Spencer
I'm not sure, but I think you are referring to this statement: "Even Israel's establishment as a sovereign state was based on many acts of terrorism against the British and the native Palestinian population."
If so, I gave examples a couple days ago:
“The Etzel’s terrorist campaign against the Arab population lasted until the end of the ‘Arab Uprising’ in 1939 and included more than 60 attacks…” including “…shooting at Arabs in the downtown Haifa area in June 1938, and a month later at Arabs walking near the Sheari Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem…shooting at a bus with Arab passengers in July 1938, throwing explosives at another bus in September 1937, shooting at a truck with an Arab driver in November 1937…using a semi-machine gun and throwing a grenade at an Arab coffee shop in Jerusalem in November 1937, throwing explosives at another coffee shop in Haifa in April 1937, and the use of a semi-automatic machine gun to shoot at an Arab group in Haifa in May of 1939…the most dramatic act…was planting of a mine in the Arab market in Haifa in July 1938, an attack which resulted in the death of more than 70 Arabs…the concealment of explosives in a suitcase at the British embassy in Rome, which destroyed the entire embassy.”
This is from an article by Leonard Weinberg, who is currently a visiting fellow at the University of Haifa’s National Securities Studies Center.
He, along with Arie Perliger, wrote the article titled “Jewish Self-Defense and Terrorist Groups Prior to the Establishment of the State of Israel: Roots and Traditions” in Totalitarian Movements and Political Traditions, Vol. 4 (3), 2003, p.91-118. Quotes passage is on page 100-101.
at January 14, 2009 1:21 PM
Mackie:
"Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East"
ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3654866,00.html
Posted by: dave742 at January 14, 2009 1:22 PM
Mackie:
"Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East"
ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3654866,00.html
Posted by: dave742 at January 14, 2009 1:26 PM
Mackie:
"Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East"
ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3654866,00.html
Posted by: dave742 at January 14, 2009 1:38 PM
The existence of Israel goes against everything that the Islamists stand for. They are terrified of this tiny country. The miracle of Israel is that it is a beacon of freedom and sucess in an Islamic sea of darkness, oppression, and ignorance.
Muslims know that if Israel can survive, the world can survive without Islamic domination. The conflict is not about Palestinians, for the world only pays attention when they interact with Israelis. It is not about land, for the area has very few natural rescources or space. It is about Islam's desire to control everything.
They can't stand the fact of Jews standing up for themselves and refusing to submit to dhimmi status. Jews are supposed to be weak and cowardly and Israel stands in the way of that stereotype. Therefore, Israel is America and vice versa. If Israel can survive, freedom, and democracy can survive. That is why the Muslims fear this tiny country so much. It is a sign of their insecurity.
Posted by: bigbadsnortinhippo at January 14, 2009 1:49 PM
The existence of Israel goes against everything that the Islamists stand for. They are terrified of this tiny country. The miracle of Israel is that it is a beacon of freedom and sucess in an Islamic sea of darkness, oppression, and ignorance.
Muslims know that if Israel can survive, the world can survive without Islamic domination. The conflict is not about Palestinians, for the world only pays attention when they interact with Israelis. It is not about land, for the area has very few natural rescources or space. It is about Islam's desire to control everything.
They can't stand the fact of Jews standing up for themselves and refusing to submit to dhimmi status. Jews are supposed to be weak and cowardly and Israel stands in the way of that stereotype. Therefore, Israel is America and vice versa. If Israel can survive, freedom, and democracy can survive. That is why the Muslims fear this tiny country so much. It is a sign of their insecurity.
Posted by: bigbadsnortinhippo at January 14, 2009 1:50 PM
"Why does an Israeli cause become an American cause?"
"Why does a Palestinian cause become a Iranian/Iraqi/Afghan/Pakistani/Malaysian/Indonesian/Sudanese/Somali/etc. cause?"
Posted by: yadayada at January 14, 2009 2:00 PM
"Why does an Israeli cause become an American cause?"
"Why does a Palestinian cause become a Iranian/Iraqi/Afghan/Pakistani/Malaysian/Indonesian/Sudanese/Somali/etc. cause?"
Posted by: yadayada at January 14, 2009 2:01 PM
"Why does an Israeli cause become an American cause?"
"Why does a Palestinian cause become a Iranian-Iraqi-Afghan-Pakistani-Malaysian-Indonesian-Sudanese-Somali-etc. cause?"
Posted by: yadayada at January 14, 2009 2:02 PM
According to the logic of the author. As my neighbor, I should be able to do just about anything to him with no expectation of him ever doing anything in return.
Like break his windows, steal his paper, cut down his trees, knock down his fence, remove his hubcaps, slash his tires, Tunnel into his basement, play the radio really loud late at night. Not to mention his need to pay my utility bills, rent, and Insurance while, never being late serving me my lunch and dinner everyday on his own dime.
I'll leave out all the verbal abuse he would recieve for decorums sake.
Someday these big thinkers will view these issues on a more personal level. They may actually realize how increadibly stupid they are.
Posted by: flowerknife_us at January 14, 2009 2:02 PM
I'm not sure what those 215 rockets were, but I was in Shderot in late summer (so the ceasefire had been going on for a while), and everyone I talked to there said they were satisfied with it--as in, they hadn't heard one "Color Red" alert since it began. According to the people who matter most, the ceasefire was working.The folks of Sderot, and indeed the whole of Israel, ought to know by now that a ceasefire only works until the terrorists have replaced their losses and replenished their stocks of weapons. Once this has happened, and the terrorists feel strong enough to attack Israel again, they'll do it. Hizbollah has restocked its arsenal and replaced those terrorists who were killed almost three years ago, and as sure as eggs are eggs, Northern Israeli cities like Haifa will get shelled again in the near future, and we all know the rest of the script.
at January 14, 2009 2:53 PM
I'm not sure what those 215 rockets were, but I was in Shderot in late summer (so the ceasefire had been going on for a while), and everyone I talked to there said they were satisfied with it--as in, they hadn't heard one "Color Red" alert since it began. According to the people who matter most, the ceasefire was working.
The folks of Sderot, and indeed the whole of Israel, ought to know by now that a ceasefire only works until the terrorists have replaced their losses and replenished their stocks of weapons. Once this has happened, and the terrorists feel strong enough to attack Israel again, they'll do it. Hizbollah has restocked its arsenal and replaced those terrorists who were killed almost three years ago, and as sure as eggs are eggs, Northern Israeli cities like Haifa will get shelled again in the near future, and we all know the rest of the script.
at January 14, 2009 2:53 PM
I'm not sure what those 215 rockets were, but I was in Shderot in late summer (so the ceasefire had been going on for a while), and everyone I talked to there said they were satisfied with it--as in, they hadn't heard one "Color Red" alert since it began. According to the people who matter most, the ceasefire was working.
The folks of Sderot, and indeed the whole of Israel, ought to know by now that a ceasefire only works until the terrorists have replaced their losses and replenished their stocks of weapons. Once this has happened, and the terrorists feel strong enough to attack Israel again, they'll do it. Hizbollah has restocked its arsenal and replaced those terrorists who were killed almost three years ago, and as sure as eggs are eggs, Northern Israeli cities like Haifa will get shelled again in the near future, and we all know the rest of the script.
Posted by: Spirit Of 1683 at January 14, 2009 2:53 PM
I'm not sure what those 215 rockets were, but I was in Shderot in late summer (so the ceasefire had been going on for a while), and everyone I talked to there said they were satisfied with it--as in, they hadn't heard one "Color Red" alert since it began. According to the people who matter most, the ceasefire was working.
The folks of Sderot, and indeed the whole of Israel, ought to know by now that a ceasefire only works until the terrorists have replaced their losses and replenished their stocks of weapons. Once this has happened, and the terrorists feel strong enough to attack Israel again, they'll do it. Hizbollah has restocked its arsenal and replaced those terrorists who were killed almost three years ago, and as sure as eggs are eggs, Northern Israeli cities like Haifa will get shelled again in the near future, and we all know the rest of the script.
Posted by: Spirit Of 1683 at January 14, 2009 2:54 PM
I'm not sure what those 215 rockets were, but I was in Shderot in late summer (so the ceasefire had been going on for a while), and everyone I talked to there said they were satisfied with it--as in, they hadn't heard one "Color Red" alert since it began. According to the people who matter most, the ceasefire was working.
The folks of Sderot, and indeed the whole of Israel, ought to know by now that a ceasefire only works until the terrorists have replaced their losses and replenished their stocks of weapons. Once this has happened, and the terrorists feel strong enough to attack Israel again, they'll do it. Hizbollah has restocked its arsenal and replaced those terrorists who were killed almost three years ago, and as sure as eggs are eggs, Northern Israeli cities like Haifa will get shelled again in the near future, and we all know the rest of the script.
Posted by: Spirit Of 1683 at January 14, 2009 2:55 PM
I'm not sure what those 215 rockets were, but I was in Shderot in late summer (so the ceasefire had been going on for a while), and everyone I talked to there said they were satisfied with it--as in, they hadn't heard one "Color Red" alert since it began. According to the people who matter most, the ceasefire was working.
The folks of Sderot, and indeed the whole of Israel, ought to know by now that a ceasefire only works until the terrorists have replaced their losses and replenished their stocks of weapons. Once this has happened, and the terrorists feel strong enough to attack Israel again, they'll do it. Hizbollah has restocked its arsenal and replaced those terrorists who were killed almost three years ago, and as sure as eggs are eggs, Northern Israeli cities like Haifa will get shelled again in the near future, and we all know the rest of the script.
Posted by: Spirit Of 1683 at January 14, 2009 2:56 PM
I'm not sure what those 215 rockets were, but I was in Shderot in late summer (so the ceasefire had been going on for a while), and everyone I talked to there said they were satisfied with it--as in, they hadn't heard one "Color Red" alert since it began. According to the people who matter most, the ceasefire was working.The folks of Sderot, and indeed the whole of Israel, ought to know by now that a ceasefire only works until the terrorists have replaced their losses and replenished their stocks of weapons. Once this has happened, and the terrorists feel strong enough to attack Israel again, they'll do it. Hizbollah has restocked its arsenal and replaced those terrorists who were killed almost three years ago, and as sure as eggs are eggs, Northern Israeli cities like Haifa will get shelled again in the near future, and we all know the rest of the script. Posted by: Spirit Of 1683
at January 14, 2009 2:56 PM
"Why does an Israeli cause become an American cause?"
"Why does a Palestinian cause become an Iranian-Pakistani-Bangladeshi-Malaysian-Afghan-Indonesian-Sudanese-Saudi-Somail-etc. cause?"
"Heck, why does a Palestinian cause become a Bolivian-Venezuelan cause?"
at January 14, 2009 3:10 PM
"Why does an Israeli cause become an American cause?"
"Why does a Palestinian cause become an Iranian-Pakistani-Bangladeshi-Malaysian-Afghan-Indonesian-Sudanese-Saudi-Somali-Libyan-etc. cause?"
"Heck, why does a Palestinian cause become a Bolivian-Venezuelan cause?"
at January 14, 2009 3:12 PM
Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us. If there would have been no Israel, Islamic imperialism would have found other places to release its energy and its desire for conquest. Therefore, the war against Israel is not a war against Israel. It is a war against the West....
God bless Geert Wilders.
It never ceases to fascinate me how much impact is achieved by clear, direct statements like Wilders' answer, above.
Dr. Hussein's intricate but evasive choreography of sentences can't compare with Wilders' simple statement in its power to ring true.
IMO all of Hussein's efforts here are directed at fanning Islamic flames, anyway, along with those of a few ultra-liberal politically-correct dreamers.
Posted by: corax at January 15, 2009 12:52 PM
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