I ain’t Jewish by a long margin. Ain’t fer it, ain’t agin’ it. I just recognize that The Joooooz aren’t out to get me, and the one nation they managed to procure for themselves is a quite well run modern capitalist democracy… which puts them leaps and bounds ahead of most of their neighbors… many of whom would love to cut my heathen head off. So, pretty much by default I’m generally on their side.
But there are many who are not. Thius includes people who want the Israelies to leave the “occupied territories.” But exactly what those territories are is sometimes not well defined. Western liberals tend to think “Gaza, West Bank and Jerusalem.” But the Arab world tends to think “everything else as well.” And sometimes, Western liberals *also* think “everything else as well.” Such as, for instance, Helen Thomas, Miss White House Press Corp 1894. Gentlemen, behold:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQcQdWBqt14
Thomas tells the Jews to “go home,” specifically the Germany and Poland.
Remember, she gets a seat right up front in White House press briefings. I’m left to wonder if this might cause her to be retired real soon now.
11 Responses to “Anti-Semitism on Parade”
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“and the one nation they managed to procure for themselves is a quite well run modern capitalist democracy”
You obviously don’t read Haaretz or The Jerusalem Post; what they have going on over there is a country that has fractured into two major and several minor factions, all of which spend all their time hating the other factions, and in which it seems there is no common ground on which a majority can agree in regards to anything.
From a political point of view it’s completely dysfunctional, and frankly I’ll be surprised if it even exists twenty years from now in any sort of recognizable form.
> From a political point of view it’s completely dysfunctional
Good. One thing you *don’t* want is a truly functional political system. That leads straight to totalitarianism.
While their politicians may be a gaggle of chuckleheads, the *country* seems to be doing well enough.
Is Helen Thomas part American Indian? If not, then why the hell doesn’t she stop “occupying” North America and go back to where her ancestors came from?
I don’t doubt that most of her colleagues in the press harbor similar bigoted views, but they have enough self-control to hide them.
“frankly I’ll be surprised if it even exists twenty years from now in any sort of recognizable form.” From your lips to the Arab League’s ear, at least that is the wish of the Muslim Brotherhood, HAMAS, Hizbullah, and the Mad Mullahs of Iran.
The Jewish economy actually used to be pretty Lefty; a lot of the earliest settlers (pre-WWII) were of a fairly socialist mindset and the kibbutzim are still pretty popular. There was actually practically no finance sector in Israel until very recently (no finance sector in a Jewish state, who’d a thunk it?), because the restrictions were so prohibitive. But they’ve got a great tech sector and lots of R&D, and I understand that they liberalized things a lot after that hyperinflation bout in the early 80s.
I am not a Jew. But I have friends who are. And I’ve been doing a lot of reading on Israel lately, because the subject is such a great litmus test for telling the decent human beings apart from the idiots and the a**holes. I will never claim that Israel has behaved perfectly, or that the Palestinians have no legitimate grievances against them. But I will say that from what I have seen and read, most of what the Jews have done has been out of the need to win and secure their state (and yes, back in 1948 the need for a state was quite desperate). The territory they now rule was legitimately conquered in wars they did not start, and held for legitimate reasons (land for peace). The Palestinians on the other hand, while they do have some legit grievances, have turned down multiple offers of peace including the most recent, which was quite generous, and are currently ruled by a group whose stated ambition is to wipe Israel off the map. Plus, as a woman I’d be lucky to escape beatings, rape and honor killings in the Arab world, let alone receive my first-class engineering education.
So like you said Scott, not a terribly difficult decision.
Admin said:
“Good. One thing you *don’t* want is a truly functional political system. That leads straight to totalitarianism.”
If that’s the case, then Israel has nothing to worry about in that regard.
One of the former Prime Ministers made this wonderfully accurate statement: “Do you have any idea what it’s like to try and govern a country that has six million Prime Ministers?”.
I really felt for him when he said that, as I can imagine that that is _exactly_ what the situation is like.
One can picture all the customers waiting for a haircut down at a Tel Aviv barbershop gathered around a glass-covered map of the Mideast on the wall, each taking their turn to grease-pencil lines on it and demonstrate their perfect solution to all of Israel’s problems. 😀
A long time back, Binyamin Netanyahu wrote a book in which he argued that Israel was quite willing to sacrifice land for peace… his proof for this was the fact that Israel had given up the whole territory of Jordan, despite the fact that it was theirs 2,000 years ago.
I have to remember this tactic next time I go to a restaurant.
I can go to any chair at any table and demand whoever is sitting in that chair moves so I can sit there, as I sat in that very chair several years ago, and therefore that is _MY_ chair.
Well, so much for that war between Israel and Ireland:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-boards-gaza-bound-ship-rachel-corrie-says-crew-compliant-1.294265
You’re letting me down lads…you should have been hurling potatoes at them as they tried to board you.
Shar, and if that’s not what you should have done.
Let me take a wild guess that the ship was under the control of damnable Protestant Orangemen when this infamy went down.
Shar, and if that will not be revealed to be the cause of the cowardness. 😉
They should have thrown potatoes, and some onions and garlic and carrots, some nice thick lamb cutlets. Then those good, conscientious and admirable lads of the IDF could have made them a nice meal for their after arrest soiree’.
““Do you have any idea what it’s like to try and govern a country that has six million Prime Ministers?”.”
My friend who is Jewish once said that he considered it his duty as a Jew to divide himself into pieces and have the pieces argue with each other.
Another good quote is “Between any two Rabbis you will find three different opinions.”
Anyway, guess who wants to get involved with the Gaza convoys now?
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=177635
Not the Iranian Navy mind you, but the nutjobs that are the Revolutionary Guard.
Of course to get to the Gaza coast they will have to transit the Suez Canal after sailing up through the Red Sea…a place where enemies of Israel have had bad luck before. 😉
Maybe the idea is to figure out some way to truck their ships up through Turkey and into the Black Sea without anyone noticing.
[…] Friday, I posted this bit about Helen Thomas being an anti-semetic jackhole. I ended my Pulitzer Award Worthy post with this […]