On Sun, 18 Jun 2006 Mario Goveia wrote :
--- Mario Goveia wrote:
>
> >Was it really necessary to mention Mossad and
> >undercover agents when talking about a country that
> >has continuously been in survival mode
>
--- Valmiki Faleiro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> I thought yes. Not for the reason I think you
> adduce, but to underscore the inherent strenghts of
> a diaspora, such as ours.
>
Mario asks:
>
Valmiki,
If I was wrong in "adducing" a hostility towards the
Israelis, I apologize.
I said I "thought" you adduced the wrong reason. You
now confirm that you indeed did - tag it incorrectly.
I was not at all 'hostile' towards the Israelis (can't
imagine how you figured that!) Mention of the Mossad
had nothing to do with my views on Israel or her
policies and politics. Like I said before, it was just
to emphasize strengths of a diaspora, as I will elaborate
in response to what you say below. (Just btw, I am
a great admirer of Israel and the survival instinct of
her people - even if I may contend with some of her
policies. I learnt a lot from a Professor at the Tel
Aviv Univ., a close associate of Yitzak Rabin, who was
deputed on a worlwide mission to propagate Israel's
viewpoint, when Rabin was PM the first time. Of the
three lectures he gave in India, one was in Margao-Goa,
in the late 1970s. I was a working journalist then and
had the privilege of not only listening to and reporting
on the event, but having an almost three hour long interaction
the following morning, before the good Prof left for Bombay.
As I later learnt from the Israeli Consulate in Bombay
(remember this was before India snapped diplomatic relations
and the Consulate was shut), the Prof died in a road
accident, before he could organize the sponsored trip
for me :-( I was particularly interested in the working of
Kibutz (if the spellin's right), the counterpart of Goa's
own ancient Comunidades or the Chinese agricultural communes,
the Golan heights and the Sinai desert.
I am also - just btw, again - an admirer of the Mossad's
achievements ... particularly the episodes about the most
advanced Soviet-supplied radar installed by Egypt in the Sinai
(which put the entire of Israel under enemy scanner) prior to
the Yom Kippur war, and the raid on PLO HQ in a Beirut
highrise.)
=====
However, here is my problem now that you have
confirmed that you mentioned Mossad intentionally. I
am still missing how Israel's elite intelligence
agency has anything to do with the Israeli and Goan
diasporas...
I didn't connect the Mossad to the Goan diaspora.
How did you figure that out? I connected the Mossad
to the strenghts of a diaspora. How Jews, who have
lived for ages in most countries of the world (they
resemble, speak and understand the culture of their
former domicile), and have now returned to their
Promised Land, are in deed often drafted by Mossad
to gather intelligence.
Since Israel has people who have come from all corners
of the globe -- THE DIASPORA -- Mossad can, with relative
ease, depute people to any such corner at its choosing.
That's one strenght of a diaspora.
I must thank small mercies that from my statement you
did not conclude that I was making out a case for the
establishment of a Goan Mossad in the "Republic of Goa"
that many here seem to dream about :-)
This is the last I will say on this score. If that doesn't
convince you (about my view on the inherent strengths of a
diaspora such as Goa's) can't help it, mate.
-Valmiki
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