"As they passed the rows of houses they saw through the open doors that men were sweeping and dusting and washing dishes, while the women sat around in groups, gossiping and laughing.
"What has happened?" the Scarecrow asked a sad-looking man with a bushy beard, who wore an apron and was wheeling a baby-carriage along the sidewalk.
"Why, we've had a revolution, your Majesty -- as you ought to know very well," replied the man; "and since you went away the women have been running things to suit themselves. I'm glad you have decided to come back and restore order, for doing housework and minding the children is wearing out the strength of every man in the Emerald City."
"Hm!" said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully. "If it is such hard work as you say, how did the women manage it so easily?"
"I really do not know," replied the man, with a deep sigh. "Perhaps the women are made of cast-iron.""
- L. Frank Baum, "The Land of Oz"
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Charles Krauthammer sees things pretty clearly:
Without forward or active defense, Israel is left with but the most passive and benign of all defenses -- a blockade to simply prevent enemy rearmament. Yet, as we speak, this too is headed for international de-legitimation. Even the United States is now moving toward having it abolished.[H/T Instapundit]
But, if none of these is permissible, what's left?
Ah, but that's the point. It's the point understood by the blockade-busting flotilla of useful idiots and terror sympathizers, by the Turkish front organization that funded it, by the automatic anti-Israel Third World chorus at the United Nations, and by the supine Europeans who've had quite enough of the Jewish problem.
What's left? Nothing. The whole point of this relentless international campaign is to deprive Israel of any legitimate form of self-defense.
. . .
The world is tired of these troublesome Jews, 6 million -- that number again -- hard by the Mediterranean, refusing every invitation to national suicide. For which they are relentlessly demonized, ghettoized and constrained from defending themselves, even as the more committed anti-Zionists -- Iranian in particular -- openly prepare a more final solution.
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Comments on "Krauthammer on Israel":
2. Andrew
- 06/05/2010 11:40 am CDT
I think anti-semitism is a high charge to make, especially given the number of Jews in Washington.
I don't know how Israel should have handled the flotilla incident. My gut feeling is that killing 9 civilians (including one American citizen) in international waters was unnecessary.
It's impossible to talk about Israel without charges of anti-semite or radical Zionist being thrown out. My opinion on it is that Israel must comply with International law, and while being diligent about the very real threat that they face, must act carefully to protect the lives of civilians, regardless of nationality or religion.
If they do those two things, then there is nothing to talk about. If they do not, they must be called on it like everybody else.
3. Bill
- 06/05/2010 11:55 am CDT
Andrew,
I may be missing something - who called who an anti-semite?
4. Bill
- 06/05/2010 12:03 pm CDT
You may have been referring to this?
The world is tired of these troublesome Jews, 6 million -- that number again -- hard by the Mediterranean, refusing every invitation to national suicide. For which they are relentlessly demonized, ghettoized and constrained from defending themselves, even as the more committed anti-Zionists -- Iranian in particular -- openly prepare a more final solution.
If so, the anti-Zionist charge was leveled at Iran, which I think is a no-brainer. Their stated national policy is the destruction of Israel.
You may be referring to something else, and I won't argue that the charge of anti-semite can and has been leveled at people who don't deserve it. So I'll defer to you on that for now (although Helen Thomas is, definitely, an anti-semite. Did you hear her "they should go back go Poland and Germany" remark? Holy cow . . .)
But I don't think that was Krauthammer's overall point. I agree that Israel should obey international law (whatever that is), but I don't understand why Israel gets clobbered everytime something like this happens. Hamas is a terrorist group in Gaza that is avowedly for the destruction of Israel and has been lobbing rockets into Israel for a long time. If Mexico were doing that to us, we would have steamrolled it by now.
I'm not sure we disagree here. My fear is that at some point one of the many hostile countries around Israel will make good on their promise and we'll have another genocide of the Jewish people, or, more likely, we'll have nuclear war in the mideast.
I'm not really sure what Israel is supposed to do here (besides "go back to Germany and Poland" . . .). Thoughts?
5. kenleonard
- 06/05/2010 1:08 pm CDT
The irony is that in the occupied territories, such as Gaza, it is the Israeli government and policies that have created ghettos.
A friend of mine, a Christian Palestinian who lives in Gaza, has an entirely different take on this stuff than what is passed around in American Christian circles.
I'm not about to defend Hamas, but that doesn't mean that I have to defend Israeli oppression.
Israel's problem is that while it has a justification for action, the actions that it takes are excessive. In last year's retaliation for the rocket attacks, they killed more civilians in a few weeks than Hamas had killed in over a decade. What, in that case, makes Hamas worse than the IDF?
I'm all for killing actual terrorists. I'm not for killing school kids, elderly women, parents in marketplaces, or the like just because their Palestinian or think that Palestinians should be allowed to live like human beings.
6. Bill
- 06/05/2010 1:32 pm CDT
Ken,
Thanks for the info. I'm honestly wondering what the solution is to this problem - there has to be something between what we have now and "go back to where you came from". It *appears* (and I could be wrong on this) that Israel has tried to make accommodations (land for peace, etc) but that those antagonistic toward them in the middle east won't be satisfied with peaceful coexistance.
This post was prompted by both Krauthammer's article and Helen Thomas's "They should get the h_ll out of Palestine. Go back to Germany and Poland" comment.
I'm not for killing school kids, elderly women, parents in marketplaces, or the like just because their Palestinian or think that Palestinians should be allowed to live like human beings.
Neither am I.
8. Andrew
- 06/05/2010 1:49 pm CDT
I may be missing something - who called who an anti-semite?
I didn't read the whole article at first, but I assumed the article was in response to the flotilla incident (or, in response to the response to the flotilla incident). I assumed the charge was leveled at those who criticized Israel for their handling of the situation. I just went back and read the whole thing, and saw that I jumped to a faulty conclusion.
9. Inklingstar
- 06/07/2010 10:11 pm CDT
I'm honestly wondering what the solution is to this problem - there has to be something between what we have now and "go back to where you came from". It *appears* (and I could be wrong on this) that Israel has tried to make accommodations (land for peace, etc) but that those antagonistic toward them in the middle east won't be satisfied with peaceful coexistance.
I think that ever since Israel withdrew from Gaza, any blame for the plight of the Palestinians there falls in the lap of Hamas and the Palestinian leadership. They get tons of aid from foreign nations but instead of spending it to build infrastructure and improve the quality of life for their citizens, they spend it all on weapons to attack Israel with.
As far as civilian casualties go, Israel does not target innocent people. Innocents are killed in war, and it is tragic, but again I think the blame lies with the Palestinian leadership, Hamas, and Fatah. They use schools, mosques, and other public places as shields for their attacks on Israel and to store their weapons. They are the ones that have been lobbing missiles indiscriminately into Israeli territory, and they are the ones who target school buses and nightclubs with suicide bombers.
My question for anyone who questions Israel's actions is "What do you want them to do?" Every time Israel makes a concession, they are attacked. In 2000 Israel agreed to give up nearly the entire West Bank, and in response, Yassir Arafat called a second intifada. Several years ago Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, pulling their military and their settlements out. The Palestinian response? More rockets.
The Palestinians, Iran, and most of the other Muslim neighbors will not be satisfied until Israel is gone. I know that many of the Palestinian citizens probably want peace, but they are used as pawns by the local powers. Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Iran - they don't care about the livelihood of the Palestinian citizenry. They just use the situation to attack Israel in the court of world opinion. Why are the Palestinians Israel's concern anyway? They are letting food and medical supplies into Gaza - the only reason they have the blockade is to try and stem the tide of weapons and missiles.
Ever since its founding in 1948 Israel has been beset on all sides by nearly constant attacks. If not for their aggressive response to invasion and terrorism for the last sixty years they would have perished long ago. I do not believe peace in the Middle East relies on Israel conceding ever more until their neighbors are satisfied. I think it will only come about when their neighbors, and the Palestinians, cease their endless campaigns of terror, rhetoric, and rocket attacks, and recognize Israel's right to exist as a nation.
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In the last few weeks, Obama's simply had his hands full and I don't remember feeling so overwhelmed on the behalf of the President since Katrina - in a certain sense, this is Obama's Katrina, if not relative to political fallout, at least in regard to the amount of stress on the Oval Office.
The obvious (un)natural disaster in the gulf is simply out of control and it seems like only recently that Obama has really asserted himself. Ironically, his assertion of leadership comes at the time that Israel is being hit on all sides with few supporters, a time where Obama could really be making a mark on the international stage.
If you throw in the immigration stuff going on in Arizona, mixed with the horrible economy whose best news is that we didn't lose private sector jobs in the past month, the domestic front is loaded with problems.
Internationally, the political battle over Israel looms large, but one can't lose sign of what is happening in Korea. War could break out at any moment in two different places in the world. Meanwhile, there is an ongoing war in Afghanistan and we hear almost nothing about it. You know you're busy when your country is fighting a war overseas and it doesn't even garner a mention in the first ten minutes of a national newscast.
All this to say, Israel is quite hopeless and because of a gushing oil pipe a mile underwater, an immigration battle in a desert faraway state, a weak economy that is the lynchpin of the world's financial system, and a maniacal dictator testing his boundaries, they're not getting near the support they need from the rest of their international allies, particularly the US.
It would seem that the longer Israel can draw this out, the better they might be because as stressors are alleviated elsewhere in the world, there will be more and more opportunity for allies to come to their defense wholeheartedly.