Since the new Lebanon war started I have received lots of comments. One particularly vile comment, promising to introduce me to the gas chambers, caused me to turn on comment moderation in addition to deleting the anti-Semitic vitriol.
I have also received four very long diatribes from a Palestinian man full of the usual Palestinian propaganda. His comments were longer than my last four posts put together. He accused me of getting all my news from that "fair and balanced" network. He also told me I had no clue what is going on in the region. Clearly he hadn't read most of my blog. I rarely look at Fox News, which I do agree is biased, and almost never link them. He clearly didn't realize that I have spent time in the region or that I am an Israeli-American woman. Please, there are plenty of Palestinian propaganda sites. Don't expect me, an ardent Zionist preparing to join most of my family in Israel, to publish such nonsense. There are plenty of "mainstream" media outlets that tout the Palestinian line. My job here is to debunk them, not to get into endless debates. The best I can do for you is to try an be factual and to link my posts to lots of really good sources.
Well-meaning liberals who want to tell me that it's horrible that Jews don't want to intermarry, and that ethnocentrism is evil need not apply to post pages of long diatribes either. Clearly I value my Jewish heritage and I am not about to abandon my basic beliefs for yours.
Finally, anti-Zionists cannot redefine the meaning of Zionism. We who are part of the Zionist movement are the only ones who can tell you what Zionism means. Huge clue: it isn't about dispossession or oppression. It was, is, and always will be about Jews, who have been persecuted for centuries in the Muslim and Christian worlds alike, returning to the land we were dispossessed from and rejoining the Jewish community that had remained in what is now Israel throughout the centuries. Zionism is Jewish nationalism, period. Nothing more, nothing less.
Zionism is not at all incompatible with sharing the land with the Palestinian Arabs provided they are willing to live in peace with us as good neighbors. Most Israelis support a two state solution--the only possible just solution to the conflict. The rejection of Prime Minister Barak's offers at Camp David and Taba without so much as a counter proposal, the abandoning of the peace process in favor of the intifada, the election of Hamas, the unceasing rocket fire out of Gaza even after Israel withdrew, and the current war and support of Hizbullah makes it clear the Palestinians are the ones who have no interest in peace.
You want me to have sympathy for Palestinians suffering? Fine, stop the wars. Stop trying to kill me and mine and offer to return to negotiation. Otherwise I have little sympathy for self-inflicted injury.
Will I ever accept comments from those who disagree with me? Sure, always. Just not pages of diatribe, anti-Semitic hate, or long winded propaganda. This isn't a debate page. It's a Zionist blog.
2 comments:
First of all, I am not a Palestinian. I am not even a Muslim. I am a Hindu by birth but infact, I choose to consider myself as belonging to no particular religion. (God is one and so is His Message)
Having got that out of the way, I must say that if indeed you are an Israeli-American woman who has spent time in the region, then indeed you are more informed than I thought. My apologies for that.
I agree that what Hezbollah carried out is wrong and that it must be disbanded. However, what price must be paid for that?
Look, I am not going to argue with you, because, clearly you are well-informed on the issue and have made up your mind. But, at some point of time, we will all realize that all this fighting was meaningless. At some point, a compromise has to be sought, where all sides concerned including Israel must compromise. Otherwise, this conflict will keep arising every 50 years or so.
Sometimes, well-intended actions result in completely unintended and adverse consequences. Look, lets assume that Hizbollah was completely disbanded, but at the cost of enormous loss of Civilian Lebanese and enormous damage to Lebanese infrastructure. Do you think the humiliation of a defeat and anger at so much destruction will go away?
Hezbollah might be broken, but the ideology will persist. And that ideology will consolidate in say 5 years time! Is this war really worth?!
PS : I sincerely mean what I write. I am not some Islamist/propaganda guy, etc. I sincerely feel that this madness must stop. We must seek a middle-path and end the misery on both sides.
First, please accept my apology for misidentifying you. While I did recognize the name Rajiv as usually Indian in origin you wrote with such passion and self-inclusiveness that I clearly got the wrong impression. I'm sorry for that.
I agree that what Hezbollah carried out is wrong and that it must be disbanded. However, what price must be paid for that?
While I agree that disbanding Hizbullah would be a good thing in principle I feel, in reality, it is too ambitious a goal. The price would be way too high and may, in fact, prove impossible. Israel is demanding no such thing nor are they attempting such a thing militarily. What Israel wants is much simpler and is very much inline with what President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, Australian Prime Minister Howard, and Canadian Prime Minister Harper are saying: put Hizbullah in a position where they can no longer fire rockets into Israeli cities and kill Israeli civilians at will. That, plus return of the kidnapped soldiers, is sufficient.
But, at some point of time, we will all realize that all this fighting was meaningless. At some point, a compromise has to be sought, where all sides concerned including Israel must compromise. Otherwise, this conflict will keep arising every 50 years or so.
Arise every 50 years? It has not stopped in 86 years. There are good years and bad. The Arab revolt (1936-37) was the deadliest, with 6,000 Jews killed. There was no Israel and no occupation then. Just Palestinian Arabs who hated Jews and killed them for daring to live in the British mandate of Palestine.
Compromise? With whom? Hizbullah has two stated purposes: the replacement of the Lebanese government with an Iranian-style Islamist state and the destruction of Israel. Please remember that Israel occupied no Lebanese territory before Hizbullah started this war.
Their goal for the Jewish people is genocide. Hamas is no different. Read the Hamas charter if you don't believe me.
Neville Chamberlain compromised with the Nazis. He even declared "peace in our time". Was that a good thing? I think history says otherwise.
As you say, jihadist ideology will perists. It has persisted for nearly 1,500 years so to expect otherwise in unrealistic.
The cost? I have family in the north of Israel. Whatever the cost to prevent such attacks, destruction, and death from recurring in the near future is fine by me. Please remember that international law holds Lebanon responsible for acts of war committed from it's territory. Please also remember that the President of Lebanon has announced his support for Hizbullah.
Whos is responsible for the death and destruction in Lebanon? Is it solely Israel or is it the Hizbullah militiamen who place themselves and their arms among Lebanese civilians?
Finally, have you seen pictures of Nahariya? Of Haifa? Infrastructure is being destroyed on both sides of the border. A Qassam rocket fired from Gaza struck a kindergarten in Ashkelon yestersday. Tell me, were the dead four and five year old children worthy of news coverage the way the dead Lebanese children were? CNN didn't think so. Fox News is not the only biased network out there. Isn't the Israeli government, first and foremost, responsible for protecting it's own citizens?
A cease fire would be a good thing. An end to the killing would be a good thing. Those things can only happen in such a way that is sustainable if they are to have any meaning. Otherwise it can all start again in three weeks or three months. I don't want that.
Some evil has to be fought.
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