I share Barry’s opinion. Especially his comment “If anyone is stoking antisemitism it is Israel and its supporters.” After the gun massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue, I wrote the same comment begging Americans to recognize how Jews around the world were likely to be affected with antisemitism due to the violence that Netanyahu & his …
I share Barry’s opinion. Especially his comment “If anyone is stoking antisemitism it is Israel and its supporters.” After the gun massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue, I wrote the same comment begging Americans to recognize how Jews around the world were likely to be affected with antisemitism due to the violence that Netanyahu & his extreme government were committing. That Israel did not appear to be concerned about those outside of its state political interests.
I encourage everyone to read more broadly about the modern history of Palestine and the development of Israel through to the present and that effect on the indigenous people of former Palestine. Jimmy Carter’s book “Palestine: Peace or Apartheid” is a good start though not comprehensive. Carter was criticized for his use of “Apartheid”. But, he has been more engaged and supportive of Israel than probably any other U.S. president. Castigated by both Republicans and Democrats, and characterized as a weak president, he is without doubt in my mind the most religious, moral, thoughtful and equitable president we have had since FDR. He was Israel’s best friend over his active life. If Israel had listened to him, they would likely be living in peace today. Palestine would likely have had a state by now. It’s said that the indigenous Jews & Arabs of Palestine are genetically identical, and they had lived essentially in peace during the Ottoman Empire. That violence did not occur until Europeans started immigrating to Palestine in large enough numbers & wealth to worry the great majority Arab population. Real problems developed during the British Mandate occupation after WWI. There is history that has been obscured by politics & politicians as in all history.
Interesting to me is my recently learning other Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and Eqypt did not want the Palestinians to move into their countries.
True. Arabs are not a homogenous group. They have not wanted Palestinian influence anymore than Palestinians wanted growing European Jewish influence, nor Israel wanted a Palestinian majority in their new state, or expanding state.
Arabs have given Palestinians nominal support since the Jewish militias drove 750,000 Palestinians out in the 1947-48 war to establish Israel. Arabs have had varying attitudes of acceptance or rejection of Israel based on their concerns for their own situation. Jordan though most friendly to Israel, deals with Palestinian refugees being the majority of their population. Lebanon has dealt with large numbers of Palestinian refugees in refugee camps, with small numbers of Palestinian leaders and freedom fighters fighting Israel, drawing responding & preemptive strikes from Israel similar to the strikes on Gaza, making Lebanon dysfunctional.
Egypt (1956 from Britain), Jordan (1946 from Britain) & Lebanon (1943-46 from France) were given their independence around the time of Israel’s establishment. Saudi Arabia was recognized as independent by Britain in 1927.
The interpretation of this history to favor Israel and disfavor Palestinians is similar to our interpretation of Vietnam history. We did not talk about Vietnam as a U.S. ally in WWII with Ho Chi Minh after 1945. We then saw them as an enemy as we supported France’s colonial interests. We then called Ho Chi Minh’s freedom fighters “communists” as we supported puppet governments left by the French. We lost much and gained nothing for these distortions.
To compare US support of French colonial interests in Vietnam to US support of Israel is absurd. The Vietnam war was our folly, a war of immense hubris and greed. It was also falsely contrived. There is no parallel to European and Middle East history, immersed as it is in the persecution and murder of Jews for centuries, no matter whether the Jew being persecuted was a accused of being a communist or a capitalist. (Hitler accused them of both).
Only Jordan, in 1948 and 1967, permitted the Palestinians entry in any significant numbers By September, 1970, the Hashemite Kingdom, for its own survival, had to force out the PLO, PFLP, and other such bands.
I share Barry’s opinion. Especially his comment “If anyone is stoking antisemitism it is Israel and its supporters.” After the gun massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue, I wrote the same comment begging Americans to recognize how Jews around the world were likely to be affected with antisemitism due to the violence that Netanyahu & his extreme government were committing. That Israel did not appear to be concerned about those outside of its state political interests.
I encourage everyone to read more broadly about the modern history of Palestine and the development of Israel through to the present and that effect on the indigenous people of former Palestine. Jimmy Carter’s book “Palestine: Peace or Apartheid” is a good start though not comprehensive. Carter was criticized for his use of “Apartheid”. But, he has been more engaged and supportive of Israel than probably any other U.S. president. Castigated by both Republicans and Democrats, and characterized as a weak president, he is without doubt in my mind the most religious, moral, thoughtful and equitable president we have had since FDR. He was Israel’s best friend over his active life. If Israel had listened to him, they would likely be living in peace today. Palestine would likely have had a state by now. It’s said that the indigenous Jews & Arabs of Palestine are genetically identical, and they had lived essentially in peace during the Ottoman Empire. That violence did not occur until Europeans started immigrating to Palestine in large enough numbers & wealth to worry the great majority Arab population. Real problems developed during the British Mandate occupation after WWI. There is history that has been obscured by politics & politicians as in all history.
Interesting to me is my recently learning other Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and Eqypt did not want the Palestinians to move into their countries.
True. Arabs are not a homogenous group. They have not wanted Palestinian influence anymore than Palestinians wanted growing European Jewish influence, nor Israel wanted a Palestinian majority in their new state, or expanding state.
Arabs have given Palestinians nominal support since the Jewish militias drove 750,000 Palestinians out in the 1947-48 war to establish Israel. Arabs have had varying attitudes of acceptance or rejection of Israel based on their concerns for their own situation. Jordan though most friendly to Israel, deals with Palestinian refugees being the majority of their population. Lebanon has dealt with large numbers of Palestinian refugees in refugee camps, with small numbers of Palestinian leaders and freedom fighters fighting Israel, drawing responding & preemptive strikes from Israel similar to the strikes on Gaza, making Lebanon dysfunctional.
Egypt (1956 from Britain), Jordan (1946 from Britain) & Lebanon (1943-46 from France) were given their independence around the time of Israel’s establishment. Saudi Arabia was recognized as independent by Britain in 1927.
The interpretation of this history to favor Israel and disfavor Palestinians is similar to our interpretation of Vietnam history. We did not talk about Vietnam as a U.S. ally in WWII with Ho Chi Minh after 1945. We then saw them as an enemy as we supported France’s colonial interests. We then called Ho Chi Minh’s freedom fighters “communists” as we supported puppet governments left by the French. We lost much and gained nothing for these distortions.
To compare US support of French colonial interests in Vietnam to US support of Israel is absurd. The Vietnam war was our folly, a war of immense hubris and greed. It was also falsely contrived. There is no parallel to European and Middle East history, immersed as it is in the persecution and murder of Jews for centuries, no matter whether the Jew being persecuted was a accused of being a communist or a capitalist. (Hitler accused them of both).
Only Jordan, in 1948 and 1967, permitted the Palestinians entry in any significant numbers By September, 1970, the Hashemite Kingdom, for its own survival, had to force out the PLO, PFLP, and other such bands.