----- Original Message ----- From: "Matt Grimaldi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Brin-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2002 5:31 PM Subject: Re: How This Conflict Will be Resolved RE: This week in the Middl e East
> > (snip) > > The Israelis are a tiny country facing extinction - why can't > > you see this? > > > > Tom Beck > > Assuming that everything you said is true, and it could > very well be, why do you feel it denies anyone the right > to criticize them when they behave badly? You assume that > the only reason anyone could have any complaints or criticisms > of Israel is because they hate Israel. I don't think that was the case. The question I raised, which I would actually have liked Trent to have answered first, was: quoting Trent, then me: <quote> > The "legitimacy" of terrorist acts must thus be considered situation and > in the context of ethical conduct in extreme situations, most notable > acceptable behavior by combatants and states in time of war. I suppose you could construct a theoretical case where terrorism could be justified. It certainly isn't here. Considering that the Palestinians are part of the agrees party, that has overtly tried to destroy Israel no less than 4 times, and still having the goal of destroying Israel (and likely killing all the Jews in Israel), its hard to find their behavior ethical. Is there something special about Israel that makes it's destruction ethical? <end quote> Trent seems to be making an ethical case for terrorism. Israel seems to be singled out for a special standard, that is not applied to other countries. It is not that criticizing Israel is wrong, its that some criticism seems to be based in a view of Israel as a special case. If one looks at Tom's posts from the last few days, one would see many criticisms of Israel. One that stands out in particular is <quote> This is not to defend the excesses of the Israeli army. As I've said before, I consider Ariel Sharon a murderer. He doesn't particularly want peace (I don 't think he really wants war - I think he just wants the Palestinians to shut up). But Ariel Sharon won't be there forever (hopefully, he won't be there much longer). And he can be replaced by Israelis who want peace and are willing to try to achieve it. Including dismantling the settlements. <end quote> How could one assume that someone who says this will not tolerate any criticism of Israel? One could argue that Tom misidentified posts as anti-Semitic, but since he calls the Prime Minister of Israel a murderer, one would have to logically conclude that he considers himself anti-Semitic if he considers everyone who criticized Israel as anti-Semitic. I don't think Tom is crazy enough to be a Jewish anti-Semite. :-) To me, the logical conclusion is that he considers some, but not all, criticism of Israel as anti-Semitic. If one generalizes, that's an established fact. The quotes from GB that Gautem posted are definately anti-Semetic. Tom's statement is not. Dan M. Dan M.
