-Caveat Lector- > http://www.thejewishpress.com/news_article.asp?article=1169 > > Hating Israel: What We Know But Can`t Say Out Loud > Posted 5/22/2002 > By Victor Davis Hanson > > Europe, the United Nations, many elites in America, and, of course, > the > entire Arab and Islamic world, are against Israel. Their venom arises > from > three pretexts. > > 1. Occupation? Israel purportedly occupies land not its own - a > travesty > said > to be wholly unique on the world stage, and so deserving of special > and > universal condemnation. > > Yet contra the Palestinians� constant lament, there is a great deal > of > occupied territory in the world today - tragedies that completely > evade the > moral radar of the United Nations and are unimportant to any of the > self-proclaimed moralists of the Arab world. Since 1974, a good part > of > Greek > Cyprus has been under Turkish control - the homes and property of the > Greek-speaking Cypriots confiscated, the native population expelled, > and the > island partitioned. > > The entire country of Tibet has been annexed by China, quite > illegally and > without much complaint from any besides a few in the United States. > > What happened to Lebanon? The Syrians have occupied the entire > country, > where > Palestinians find themselves helots, and the Lebanese themselves are > little > more than butlers to their Syrian overlords. > Kurdistan is the property of three different countries; the Balkans > are a > mess with literally millions of ethnic Slavs, Albanians, Serbs, and > Greeks > living in lands controlled by others. A quarter million, not three > thousand, > have died there in the last fifteen years. > > What gives Russia the right to hang on to Japanese islands it > confiscated in > the closing weeks of World War II? > > Terrorist organizations - similar to Hamas and Hizbullah - in Ireland > and > Spain seek similarly to blow people up to claim for themselves an > autonomous > and hereditary homeland. > > What is different in many of these cases is that the Tibetans did not > try to > invade China on three occasions. Greek Cypriots did not, in a series > of > wars, > try to push all the Turks into the Mediterranean. Nor did the > Lebanese seek > to storm Amman, lose a war against Syria, and thereby lose the > autonomy of > their homeland. > > Clearly there is something else going on in the Israeli-Palestinian > conflict > besides the world�s moral indignation over the principle of occupied > lands. > > 2. Borders and Refugees? Wars have a bad history of displacing > residents. I > doubt whether millions of Germans will ever get back any of their > land in > what is now eastern France and western Poland. Thousands of Russians > have > been finding themselves increasingly unwanted in the Baltic states. > Will > Ionian Greeks - residents of the Western coast of Turkey since the > 11th > century B.C. - ever return to their homes after the brutal expulsions > of the > 1920s? Millions of Islamic Pakistanis and Indian Hindus find > themselves > living in artificial countries in which they were not born. > > By any fair measure of ancient or modern history, the situation of > the > Palestinians is not unique. Indeed, Israel is trying to be far more > just to > its defeated enemies than most victors - whether Turks, Poles, > French, or > Chinese - have been in the past. I omit questions of body counts and > collateral damage. Pace the United Nations and the > Palestine-propaganda > machine, the real killing in the world today is going on in Central > Africa, > the Amazon basin, the former Soviet Union, and India. > What is amazing is not that Palestinians have died in the fighting, > but that > in comparison to urban fighting in Chechnya, Mogadishu, and Panama, > so few > have perished. In that regard, Mr. Arafat�s invocation of Stalingrad > is as > historically silly as it is obscene to the memory of those hundreds > of > thousands who perished on both sides in the winter of 1942-43. > > 3. Racism? A constant charge - most recently and repugnantly made by > a freed > Mr. Arafat - is that the Israelis bear a racial grudge against the > Palestinians. He has alleged that, like Nazis, Israelis seek to > cleanse > non-Jews from the West Bank. Yet by any fair measure the Israeli > government > is light-years ahead of the Arab world in terms of racial and > religious > tolerance. Privately, Arabs would concede that they are treated far > better > in > Tel Aviv than any Jew would be now in Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus, or > Amman. > > We do not read in the Jerusalem Post, as we do in the Arab dailies > [about > the > Jews], that Palestinians are "monkeys" and "vampires." Nor is there a > sizable literature in Israel - as there is in the Arab world - > devoted to > proving their enemies are subhuman. > > Real racism and hatred exist in this present conflict, but they are > expressed > almost entirely by Arabs, not Jews. Had a newspaper in Tel Aviv > alleged that > Arabs drink blood and are related to primates, the world�s outrage > would be > second only to the moral indignation in Israel itself. If Israel is > guilty > of > little more than defending itself, and of not allowing its defeated > adversaries sovereignty until the Jewish state is guaranteed > security, what > then really is at the heart of the world�s hatred against the > Israelis? > > The answer is rather transparent and can be summarized easily by five > general > considerations. > > 1. Realpolitik. We must never forget the crass self-interest of > states - a > trait the Greek historians felt was at the heart of most conflict, > albeit > often crudely disguised by pretexts such as "justice" and "fairness." > There > may be nearly half a billion Arab-speaking peoples. Millions of > Islamic > citizens reside now in the West. Just a few hundred miles of the > Mediterranean separate Europe from medieval regimes in Libya, Algeria > and > Syria. The importance of the Arab world vis-a-vis Israel, then, can > be > gauged > in an array of cultural, economic, and political fears and > opportunities - > from the size of expatriate populations to profits to be made from > expansive > trade and enormous markets. > > Were Israel large - say 400 million Jews - and the Arabs around them > scarce > (perhaps 10 million), then we would see dozens of U.N. resolutions > condemning > Mr. Arafat, for everything from murdering U.S. diplomats in the past > to his > present complicity in ordering suicide bombing. > > 2. Oil. Somewhere between one-quarter and one-third of the world�s > oil > reserves are beneath Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq. For the next 30 > years or > so, Europe, the United States, and Japan must depend on this steady > supply > of > imported petroleum. And while these Western economic powerhouses > obviously > try to seek alternative suppliers in Russia, South America and > Norway, the > fact remains that for the foreseeable future, in such an > interconnected > global economy, Middle Eastern oil - and its unstable and unsavory > caretakers > - are essential to the world�s economic health. > > We have seen various efforts by these regimes to disrupt such > supplies - > from > Saudi Arabia�s oil embargo of 1974 to Iran�s bombing of tankers in > the > Persian Gulf to Saddam Hussein�s torching of the Kuwaiti oil fields - > and so > realize that prejudices, internecine wars, and inexplicable feuds at > any > hour > can incite all these autocracies. Far easier, and cheaper, to keep > silent > about their routine horrors, or indeed actively abet their often > absurd > agendas. > > Moreover, the income from oil brings these dictatorships Western > technological expertise and military hardware - and hence the > sympathy of > millions in the West, who depend on selling them everything from cell > phones > and computers to jets and drill bits. The thousands of Europeans and > Americans who buy, trade and ship crude oil can hardly risk the ire > of their > own benefactors. So they usually cloak their crass utilitarianism in > more > patriotic slogans of "national interest" and "economic security." > > Had Israel 25 percent of the world�s oil reserves and her Arab > neighbors > none, the European Union would now be damning the Palestine bombers > as the > thugs and terrorists they are. > > 3. Terrorism. The majority of the world�s international terrorists of > the > last 30 years - the very worst killers who blow up international > jets, storm > the Olympic Games, murder Western diplomats, storm embassies, take > hostages, > and vaporize civilians at work - have been in the service of radical > Islamic > and Arab causes. That is not to say that Japanese, Irish, Basque, > Malaysian, > white racis, and Armenian terrorists have not murdered frequently - > only > that > Arab assassins have been far more likely to attack on a global scale, > especially against Europe and America. > > Since at least the 1967 war, the world has known that supporting > Israel > might > well result in the killing of diplomats, athletes, tourists and > soldiers in > their sleep, at the office and on vacation. In contrast, had the > Mossad been > murdering Frenchmen, Americans and Germans all over the world, > politicians > would now be scrambling to assuage Israeli discontent and seeking to > ascertain the "root causes" of such grievances. > > 4. Anti-Semitism. We do not quite know why anti-Semitism persists in > a > supposedly educated and modern Western world at a time when > assimilation, > integration, and intermarriage are ever more common and a crass > secularism > has blurred distinctions among the major religions. Traditional > stereotypes > and hatred, of course, are always passed on to each new generation; > and we > must never forget the power of envy that highly educated, competent, > and > professional Jews incur from the less gifted and less successful. > > Nevertheless, the current rise of anti-Semitism is quite blatant - > especially > the shameful blasphemy in the indiscriminate use of the words > "holocaust" > and "genocide," and in the sudden reappearance of swastikas next to > Stars of > David. > > I am a 48-year-old Swedish-American Protestant and have expressed > support > for > Israel for 30 years - but never once before had I been asked, "Are > you > Jewish?" This past year alone, however, that question, usually framed > as an > accusation, has arisen at least 50 times - along with printed and > electronic > invective that would make Mr. Goebbels proud. > > Here we must be frank: The Arab world bears a great deal of the blame > for > the > current new hatred. Islamic prejudice is the engine that drives > European > anti-Semitism. The state-run newspapers in Egypt and Saudi Arabia are > no > different from those in Germany in the 1930s. Saudi diplomats and > religious > figures unapologetically voice loathing right out of Mein Kampf - > itself a > bestseller in parts of the Arab world. > > The truth is that had the Palestinians been attacked and won four > wars > against the Israelis, and so right now found themselves occupying the > state > of Israel, much of the world would say, "More power to you for > defeating and > occupying those pesky Jews." > 5. Aristocratic guilt and the cult of the underdog. With few worries > about > hunger or drudgery, and with ever-increasing material appetites, many > Westerners have used that indulgence of affluence to condemn the very > culture > that produces such a good life. Nihilism, cynicism, and sarcasm are > the > symptoms we see among our bored and guilt-ridden elite, who belittle > both > the > capitalists who manage their wealth and the arms and backs of the > purportedly > crass middling classes who actually produce it. > > Radical environmentalism, romantic multiculturalism, and > authoritarian > utopianism all reflect a rather smug idealization of the > disadvantaged and > of > nature in the raw. Central to this creed is identification with the > supposedly anti-Western world of the universal downtrodden - and, > really, > almost anyone or anything else in the past three centuries that has > come up > against the juggernaut of the dominant culture of Western industrial > capitalism. > > Thus, for some Westerners, it is not so much the facts of the last 50 > years > in the Middle East that drives their hatred of Israel. Nor the > plenitude of > Arabs and paucity of Israelis nor, perhaps, even worry over the price > of gas > for their Volvos and SUVs, nor their fear of bombs and germs, nor > envy of > Jews. Rather, the Palestinians are weak and the Israelis are strong. > So - > like the hosts of disadvantaged in America - Mr. Arafat and his > minions are > deserving of injured-party status as their birthright, getting a pass > from > liberal censure to mouth hatred and prejudice. > > In turn, the Israelis - almost like white affluent Republicans in > America - > are thought to be so strong and confident precisely because they are > exploiters, and thus are held collectively responsible for the > oppression > and > current plight of their long-suffering "victims." Partly Marxist, > partly > ignorant, and mostly naive, these insufferable and affluent European > and > American leftists see their solidarity with Palestinians as > inseparable from > their own embarrassed personas. > > It is easy, cheap - and safe - to right the injustices of the world > by > marching, shouting, and signing petitions, rather than by living > among, > marrying, seeing daily, or materially aiding the "other." It can all > be done > in a few seconds on campus, on television, or in the suburb, without > any > true > self-introspection about what really ensures one�s own rather > comfortable > material existence in the university, media or government. > > The truth is that Westerners� support or hatred for Israel > increasingly > tells > us far more about ourselves than it does about the real situation in > the > Middle East. > (NationalReviewOnline) > > Victor Davis Hanson, a military historian, is the author most > recently of > "Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power."
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