Israel vs. Palestinian Moral Smuggling


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Israel vs. Palestinian Moral Smuggling

by Edward Hudgins

June 3, 2010 — Israel is involved in another public relations mess. But even a superficial look at the incident at sea off Gaza shows that the real mess is in the morality of the public and world leaders who can't keep straight the difference between the savage and the civilized.

Flotilla peace ploy

Three ships under Turkish flags carrying some 600 self-styled pro-Palestinian activists sailed from Cyprus to deliver what they said was humanitarian aid to the 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip. The real goal, however, was to break Israel's and Egypt's blockade of Gaza and make a public relations point. The agents provocateurs made sure news organizations were aware of their efforts. They posted

showing the ships laden with food. They put out PR that they were peacefully trying to relieve Palestinians made miserable by Israel.

Let's acknowledge that Israel walked right into the PR setup. It dropped commandos from helicopters onto the decks of the ships to prevent them landing. It should have anticipated what was clearly seen on their

of the incident: passengers seized commandos, beat them, threw them off the deck, and threatened their lives. Of course those commandos' comrades would fire on those passengers. Unfortunately, nine were killed in the melee.

Misplaced outrage

The pro-Palestinians no doubt were thrilled that the flotilla ploy turned out better for them than they could have imagined. Instead of news photos of the "peace" ships being waved back out to sea by Israeli forces off Gaza, they got video broadcast worldwide of wounded passengers, of nine coffins, and of grieving families. The leftist media could show Israelis as callous killers. (The footage of the commandos being attacked on the ships could be downplayed and, after all, that's what Israelis get for trying to stop the forces of "peace").

Angry demonstrations against Israel erupted throughout Europe. Leaders in those countries and elsewhere denounced Israeli brutality. Turkey, Israel's closest friend in the Muslim world, recalled its ambassador.

But if we view this incident in its full context, we see that it is the so-called "peace" activists and the denouncers of Israel who are the true moral midgets.

Savage killers

Why was Israel blockading Gaza to begin with? Israeli troops had occupied Gaza for decades to prevent it from being used as a base for the periodic wars launched by Arab nations seeking the country's destruction. Finally, in 2005, Israel pulled out its troops.

One would have thought that the Palestinians in Gaza, who always blamed the Israelis for all their woes, would have taken up productive lives to work themselves out of grueling poverty, to educate their children, to rebuild their city, and to generally do what civilized people do. But they were not civilized.

Instead Hamas, an Islamist terrorist group, after a power struggle with other Palestinian factions, took control. A principal goal of Hamas is to destroy Israel. Its 1988 charter states, supposedly quoting the prophet Mohammad, "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him." Hamas began training Gaza residents, including children, to fight the Jews.

Of course, there is much support for Hamas in Gaza, which has one of the morally sickest cultures in the world. These are people who see it as a high act of religious piety for their own children to strap explosives to themselves in order to butcher the children of Israelis. They even celebrate their own children's deaths in the commission of such murders.

Israel began a blockage, which was followed by Hamas raids into Israel. Soon Hamas was launching thousands of rockets, many supplied by Islamist allies in Iran and Syria, into Israel with the goal of randomly killing civilians.

Israel sent the military back in to clean out as much of the mess as possible. And it rightly tightened the blockade on Gaza to keep Hamas from being resupplied.

Real rescue

Israel does allow humanitarian aid into Gaza but reserves the right to check cargos for weapons and other contraband. And when the pro-Palestinian flotilla headed for Gaza, Israel offered to work out some arrangement in order to get the legitimate aid into Gaza, after the ships were searched for weapons. Of course, that would not have made very good anti-Israel propaganda, which is why the flotilla organizers ignored the offer.

But let's look at the real picture and what a real rescue for the Palestinians in Gaza would mean.

Where was the flotilla of hundreds of pro-Palestinians heading to Gaza in 2005 after Israel's evacuation, to work with the locals for peace and prosperity, to make sure they did not support or fall into the hands of the Hamas killers who now rule Gaza with a brutal fist? Why aren't these supposed friends of the Palestinians working with other governments and activist groups today against Iran and Syria, who back Hamas, and even working with Israel, to overthrow Hamas? The answer, of course, reveals the true moral nature of those Palestinian supporters.

We might also ask why there were no huge crowds in the capitals of Europe to protest the Hamas rockets fired at Israel, to denounce Islamist savagery, and to work for the overthrow of Hamas? And why do we hear the usual knee-jerk denunciations of Israel over the flotilla incident rather than a denunciation of the cynical, pro-Palestinian and, let's be clear here, pro-Islamist flotilla?

It is rightly said that Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity, specifically for a peaceful settlement of their differences with Israel. The supposed peace flotilla did not promote peace but simply soured relations with Israel further. It fed the Palestinians a continued diet of hate, helping to make their lives as miserable in the future as they've been in the past.

Israel might have been tragically sloppy in its operation to search the flotilla ships. But let's not lose sight of the fact that more dangerous than any weapons those ships might have been smuggling is the moral pollution they smuggle into our world.

----

Hudgins directs advocacy and is a senior scholar at The Atlas Society, the center for Objectivism.

For further reading:

*Edward Hudgins, "The Means and Ends of Islam." The New Individualist, July 2005.

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Israel vs. Palestinian Moral Smuggling

by Edward Hudgins

June 3, 2010 — Israel is involved in another public relations mess. But even a superficial look at the incident at sea off Gaza shows that the real mess is in the morality of the public and world leaders who can't keep straight the difference between the savage and the civilized.

Flotilla peace ploy

Three ships under Turkish flags carrying some 600 self-styled pro-Palestinian activists sailed from Cyprus to deliver what they said was humanitarian aid to the 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip. The real goal, however, was to break Israel's and Egypt's blockade of Gaza and make a public relations point. The agents provocateurs made sure news organizations were aware of their efforts. They posted

showing the ships laden with food. They put out PR that they were peacefully trying to relieve Palestinians made miserable by Israel.

Let's acknowledge that Israel walked right into the PR setup. It dropped commandos from helicopters onto the decks of the ships to prevent them landing. It should have anticipated what was clearly seen on their

of the incident: passengers seized commandos, beat them, threw them off the deck, and threatened their lives. Of course those commandos' comrades would fire on those passengers. Unfortunately, nine were killed in the melee.

Misplaced outrage

The pro-Palestinians no doubt were thrilled that the flotilla ploy turned out better for them than they could have imagined. Instead of news photos of the "peace" ships being waved back out to sea by Israeli forces off Gaza, they got video broadcast worldwide of wounded passengers, of nine coffins, and of grieving families. The leftist media could show Israelis as callous killers. (The footage of the commandos being attacked on the ships could be downplayed and, after all, that's what Israelis get for trying to stop the forces of "peace").

Angry demonstrations against Israel erupted throughout Europe. Leaders in those countries and elsewhere denounced Israeli brutality. Turkey, Israel's closest friend in the Muslim world, recalled its ambassador.

But if we view this incident in its full context, we see that it is the so-called "peace" activists and the denouncers of Israel who are the true moral midgets.

Savage killers

Why was Israel blockading Gaza to begin with? Israeli troops had occupied Gaza for decades to prevent it from being used as a base for the periodic wars launched by Arab nations seeking the country's destruction. Finally, in 2005, Israel pulled out its troops.

One would have thought that the Palestinians in Gaza, who always blamed the Israelis for all their woes, would have taken up productive lives to work themselves out of grueling poverty, to educate their children, to rebuild their city, and to generally do what civilized people do. But they were not civilized.

Instead Hamas, an Islamist terrorist group, after a power struggle with other Palestinian factions, took control. A principal goal of Hamas is to destroy Israel. Its 1988 charter states, supposedly quoting the prophet Mohammad, "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him." Hamas began training Gaza residents, including children, to fight the Jews.

Of course, there is much support for Hamas in Gaza, which has one of the morally sickest cultures in the world. These are people who see it as a high act of religious piety for their own children to strap explosives to themselves in order to butcher the children of Israelis. They even celebrate their own children's deaths in the commission of such murders.

Israel began a blockage, which was followed by Hamas raids into Israel. Soon Hamas was launching thousands of rockets, many supplied by Islamist allies in Iran and Syria, into Israel with the goal of randomly killing civilians.

Israel sent the military back in to clean out as much of the mess as possible. And it rightly tightened the blockade on Gaza to keep Hamas from being resupplied.

Real rescue

Israel does allow humanitarian aid into Gaza but reserves the right to check cargos for weapons and other contraband. And when the pro-Palestinian flotilla headed for Gaza, Israel offered to work out some arrangement in order to get the legitimate aid into Gaza, after the ships were searched for weapons. Of course, that would not have made very good anti-Israel propaganda, which is why the flotilla organizers ignored the offer.

But let's look at the real picture and what a real rescue for the Palestinians in Gaza would mean.

Where was the flotilla of hundreds of pro-Palestinians heading to Gaza in 2005 after Israel's evacuation, to work with the locals for peace and prosperity, to make sure they did not support or fall into the hands of the Hamas killers who now rule Gaza with a brutal fist? Why aren't these supposed friends of the Palestinians working with other governments and activist groups today against Iran and Syria, who back Hamas, and even working with Israel, to overthrow Hamas? The answer, of course, reveals the true moral nature of those Palestinian supporters.

We might also ask why there were no huge crowds in the capitals of Europe to protest the Hamas rockets fired at Israel, to denounce Islamist savagery, and to work for the overthrow of Hamas? And why do we hear the usual knee-jerk denunciations of Israel over the flotilla incident rather than a denunciation of the cynical, pro-Palestinian and, let's be clear here, pro-Islamist flotilla?

It is rightly said that Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity, specifically for a peaceful settlement of their differences with Israel. The supposed peace flotilla did not promote peace but simply soured relations with Israel further. It fed the Palestinians a continued diet of hate, helping to make their lives as miserable in the future as they've been in the past.

Israel might have been tragically sloppy in its operation to search the flotilla ships. But let's not lose sight of the fact that more dangerous than any weapons those ships might have been smuggling is the moral pollution they smuggle into our world.

----

Hudgins directs advocacy and is a senior scholar at The Atlas Society, the center for Objectivism.

For further reading:

*Edward Hudgins, "The Means and Ends of Islam." The New Individualist, July 2005.

Ed,

This is a well-written article, but I disagree with you on this one. There's simply no way that this bungled Israeli operation can be justified. What was Israel trying achieve? Losing their closest ally in the region, probably for good? I'm a Netanyahu supporter, but this thing will haunt the State of Israel for a long time to come.

Jim

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Ed,

This is a well-written article, but I disagree with you on this one. There's simply no way that this bungled Israeli operation can be justified. What was Israel trying achieve? Losing their closest ally in the region, probably for good? I'm a Netanyahu supporter, but this thing will haunt the State of Israel for a long time to come.

Jim

Jim - I don't fully disagree with you. I did say Israel walked right into this set-up and should have anticipated what might happen. Losing Turkey as an ally in fact is a victory for the Islamists.

Israel does have a way of doing legitimate things the wrong way. For example, building a fence to keep terrorists out is valid but they too often divide Palestinian farmers from the land or water supplies in ways that are unnecessary and create more bad feelings than are necessary. But I still reserve more anger for the morally bankrupt Westerner with their double standards who put Israel in this position in the first place.

Ed

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Ed,

This is a well-written article, but I disagree with you on this one. There's simply no way that this bungled Israeli operation can be justified. What was Israel trying achieve? Losing their closest ally in the region, probably for good? I'm a Netanyahu supporter, but this thing will haunt the State of Israel for a long time to come.

Jim

Jim - I don't fully disagree with you. I did say Israel walked right into this set-up and should have anticipated what might happen. Losing Turkey as an ally in fact is a victory for the Islamists.

Israel does have a way of doing legitimate things the wrong way. For example, building a fence to keep terrorists out is valid but they too often divide Palestinian farmers from the land or water supplies in ways that are unnecessary and create more bad feelings than are necessary. But I still reserve more anger for the morally bankrupt Westerner with their double standards who put Israel in this position in the first place.

Ed

Ed,

That's a fair response. The Western preoccupation with a peace process has hamstrung the Israelis so that they can't finish military operations and deal with Hamas, Hezbollah and Al Aqsa once and for all, but this is a whole new level of screwup. Israel should just admit they made a mistake, patch it up with Turkey and move on.

Jim

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One would have thought that the Palestinians in Gaza, who always blamed the Israelis for all their woes, would have taken up productive lives to work themselves out of grueling poverty, to educate their children, to rebuild their city, and to generally do what civilized people do. But they were not civilized.

According to the Gaza Strip article on Wikipedia, this area has a population density of over 10,000 people per square mile. This is higher than Hong Kong and Singapore. It is less than Monaco and Macao.

I would really love to know how the hell these people are supposed to work themselves out of poverty. They can not leave the area. They can not bring in food. without permission from Israel.

Of course, they could try to grow their own food. But that's not a realistic option. The people of Hong Kong, Singapore, Monaco, and Macao have to import their food as well. I don't know of any geographic entity that has over 10,000 people per square mile and grows its own food. That's because it's impossible.

Try working without food. Let's see how productive you are. See how much work you can get done when you can't eat.

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Ed,

This is a well-written article, but I disagree with you on this one. There's simply no way that this bungled Israeli operation can be justified. What was Israel trying achieve? Losing their closest ally in the region, probably for good? I'm a Netanyahu supporter, but this thing will haunt the State of Israel for a long time to come.

Jim

It is very simple. No contraband to Hamas. Period.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Edited by BaalChatzaf
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According to the Gaza Strip article on Wikipedia, this area has a population density of over 10,000 people per square mile. This is higher than Hong Kong and Singapore. It is less than Monaco and Macao.

I would really love to know how the hell these people are supposed to work themselves out of poverty. They can not leave the area. They can not bring in food. without permission from Israel.

Of course, they could try to grow their own food. But that's not a realistic option. The people of Hong Kong, Singapore, Monaco, and Macao have to import their food as well. I don't know of any geographic entity that has over 10,000 people per square mile and grows its own food. That's because it's impossible.

Try working without food. Let's see how productive you are. See how much work you can get done when you can't eat.

Chris - The answer to your question is in your question. Hong Kong and Singapore are two of the most prosperous places on earth. Why? Because they have markets as nearly free as it's possible to have. And because rather than seeing their neighbors as enemies who must be destroyed in the name of some religion, Hong Kong and Singapore see them as potential customers and business partners. The Palestinians can't leave the area because when they do, they're armed with weapons and wearing suicide vests to kill Jews. If they want to commit suicide, let them do it in Gaza.

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[...] The pro-Palestinians no doubt were thrilled that the flotilla ploy turned out better for them than they could have imagined.

Oh, yes. Nine murders of unarmed people are always "thrilling." Including one American man who was shot four times in the head, possibly slightly more than necessary to put down someone defending himself with a lead pipe, if he even had that.

{/sarcasm}

I can't bear to comment any more on this. Yet I had to note that this locution utterly nauseated me, and it was unworthy of you.

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The nine were killed because of Israel's half-assed PC blockade. Paintball guns? I don't know about the boarding business as the best way to enforce a blockade. The people who care about the dead are friends and relatives and those who are exulting in their supposed martyrdom as a victory against Israel, which it was. The blockade is an act of war against Hamas and running the blockade an act of war against Israel therefore. The situation in Gaza is one that Israel made when it let Arafat and his Palestinians come back and take over the place delivering the inhabitants into not only slavery but the worse subsequent slavery of Hamas. Israel cannot escape the contradiction of its founding: a socialist European political entity artificiality injected into an unstable, naturally hostile land that will last only a few more generations at most because of demographics. The Palestinians are pawns and Palestine doesn't exist. There is no such country. This doesn't mean there won't be eventually.

--Brant

Edited by Brant Gaede
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At the risk of outing myself as a "true moral midget" because I believe that Palestinians are actual human beings and not savages who deserve to be imprisoned in what has become the concentration camp of Gaza, I've decided to post a link and a section of an essay by Arthur Silber, entitled "The Slaughter of the Diseased Animals".

Martin

http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2009/01/slaughter-of-diseased-animals.html

Eyad El-Sarraj is very ill; he suffers from multiple myeloma. He was unable to obtain desperately needed medical treatment for three months, because he was refused permission to make the short trip to Tel Aviv. El-Sarraj has a British passport. He lives in Gaza.

El-Sarraj was finally granted a one-day travel permit, but only because an Israeli friend with the right connections intervened on his behalf. We know that many others are not so fortunate. In mid-December 2008, El-Sarraj described some of the effects of the Israeli blockade:

"The situation in Gaza got worse early last month when Israel tightened its blockade of Gaza. Our food, fuel and medical supplies have been severely limited. The blockade has ruined our economy and reduced many among us to a level of economic desperation that has alarmed United Nations officials.

According to Karen Koning Abu Zayd, the commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the human toll of this siege is terribly grave. Gaza has "been closed for so much longer than ever before ... and we have nothing in our warehouses. ... It will be a catastrophe if this persists, a disaster," she said. And U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently called for the immediate easing of the closure because of "deprivations of basic supplies and human dignity."

The secretary-general rightfully condemned Palestinian rocket fire at civilian targets in Israel. Such rockets are morally wrong and strategically inept. Yet the blockade that Israel has clamped on 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza is a collective punishment that harms men, women and children who have no power to control those firing the rockets. Rather than turn Gazans against Hamas, the blockade's effect has been a humanitarian catastrophe that alienates Gazans young and old from both Israel and the West. Even I, a practicing psychiatrist for decades and a longtime advocate of coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, am having trouble coping with the hardships to which we are subjected.

Travel is crucial to me, not just for medical reasons but for reasons of basic sanity. I long to see dear friends, to see the world again, to breathe fresh air and, most of all, to reassure my senses that there are normal things and normal people outside Gaza's debilitating confines."

I'm almost certain that El-Sarraj understands this, but it is crucial to emphasize that this exercise in dehumanization engineered by Israel is intentionally designed to destroy the concept of "normal things and normal people" -- indeed, to destroy the concept of "normality" itself.

El-Sarraj mentions "Palestinian rocket fire at civilian targets in Israel"; this is, of course, the primary justification offered by Israel for the current slaughter. But without an appreciation of the monstrousness of the conditions that have been imposed on Gaza over a long period of time, this represents only the worst, most viciously dishonest kind of war propaganda. When one considers every matter of moment, that is to say, all those conditions that make possible a human mode of existence, Israel has all the power -- and the Palestinians generally, and certainly the inhabitants of Gaza, have none. That is the point from which all further analysis must begin.

And the argument about "Palestinian rocket fire" is a notable lie used to "justify" acts that are immensely evil. Uri Avnery explains:

""Israel must defend itself against the rockets that are terrorizing our Southern towns," the Israeli spokesmen explained. "Palestinians must respond to the killing of their fighters inside the Gaza Strip," the Hamas spokesmen declared.

As a matter of fact, the cease-fire did not collapse, because there was no real cease-fire to start with. The main requirement for any cease-fire in the Gaza Strip must be the opening of the border crossings. There can be no life in Gaza without a steady flow of supplies. But the crossings were not opened, except for a few hours now and again. The blockade on land, on sea and in the air against a million and a half human beings is an act of war, as much as any dropping of bombs or launching of rockets. It paralyzes life in the Gaza Strip: eliminating most sources of employment, pushing hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation, stopping most hospitals from functioning, disrupting the supply of electricity and water.

Those who decided to close the crossings – under whatever pretext – knew that there is no real cease-fire under these conditions.

That is the main thing. Then there came the small provocations which were designed to get Hamas to react. After several months, in which hardly any Qassam rockets were launched, an army unit was sent into the Strip "in order to destroy a tunnel that came close to the border fence". From a purely military point of view, it would have made more sense to lay an ambush on our side of the fence. But the aim was to find a pretext for the termination of the cease-fire, in a way that made it plausible to put the blame on the Palestinians. And indeed, after several such small actions, in which Hamas fighters were killed, Hamas retaliated with a massive launch of rockets, and – lo and behold – the cease-fire was at an end. Everybody blamed Hamas."

For a very long time, the United States government has specialized in the pattern pursued by Israel. The vastly more powerful nation wishes to act on a certain policy -- almost always territorial expansion, for purposes of access to resources, or to force itself into new markets, or to pursue the evil notion that economic and ideological success depend on brutality and conquest -- but a specifically moral justification for its planned actions does not lie easily to hand.

So the powerful nation embarks on a course designed to make life intolerable for the country and/or those people that stand in its way. The more powerful nation is confident that, given sufficient time and sufficient provocation, the weaker country and people will finally do something that the actual aggressor can seize on as a pretext for the policy upon which it had already decided. In this way, what then unfolds becomes the victim's fault.

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Arthur and I studied acting with Phil Smith 40 years ago. He's made a hard life for himself. I only read him every now and then. His essays are much too long and essentially repetitve one-notes.

--Brant

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At the risk of outing myself as a "true moral midget" because I believe that Palestinians are actual human beings and not savages who deserve to be imprisoned in what has become the concentration camp of Gaza, I've decided to post a link and a section of an essay by Arthur Silber, entitled "The Slaughter of the Diseased Animals".

Whose concentration camp?

--Brant

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Arthur and I studied acting with Phil Smith 40 years ago.

I guess I'd have to say that you were lucky to have known Arthur and to have studied acting with him. Of course, I'm sure that he was a very different person then than now. I would love to meet him and just get to spend some time talking to him and learning about the evolution of his philosophical, moral, and emotional perspectives over the years. But I don't imagine I will ever get that opportunity.

He's made a hard life for himself.

That's an understatement. Arthur has been in very bad health for several years now, and his health continues to deteriorate. He has no source of income other than the contributions he receives from his blog. He can barely afford to pay his monthly rent on his apartment, let alone for any kind of medical care than he desparately needs.

I only read him every now and then. His essays are much too long and essentially repetitve one-notes.

I don't imagine we're going to reach any agreement about that; suffice it to say that I don't think you could be more wrong. Do you also think that Atlas Shrugged is much too long and essentially repetitive one-notes? There have been no shortage of Rand critics who have argued precisely that. I think that Arthur is an absolutely brilliant and deeply inspirational thinker and essayist. There's a reason that I've posted several of his essays here on Objectivist Living, generally in response to what I consider to be particularly abominable posts, such as the one that started this thread.

Martin

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I only read him every now and then. His essays are much too long and essentially repetitve one-notes.

I don't imagine we're going to reach any agreement about that; suffice it to say that I don't think you could be more wrong. Do you also think that Atlas Shrugged is much too long and essentially repetitive one-notes? There have been no shortage of Rand critics who have argued precisely that. I think that Arthur is an absolutely brilliant and deeply inspirational thinker and essayist. There's a reason that I've posted several of his essays here on Objectivist Living, generally in response to what I consider to be particularly abominable posts, such as the one that started this thread.

Well maybe I'd agree with you if I'd read more of him. So let me rephrase (I agree he's extremely smart): I find his essays too long for the Internet blog format, at least for me, and I've not the time to read them all or means to refer back to them subsequently. I do realize, though, that he's stuck with what he's got. Maybe what I think of as "repetitive one-notes" is actually a cry of pain.

I'll send him some money even though I've got a lot of disagreements with what he says and how he says it. His is the kind of voice that needs to be heard for it helps with one's own thinking regarding what he is talking about.

--Brant

Edited by Brant Gaede
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Gaza is a de facto concentration camp, created by Israel and maintained by Hamas. Hamas justifies what it does by waging a feeble war against Israel. Israel has managed to magnify the power and threat of Hamas by its big, obvious and crude responses to Hamas' provocations. By giving the Palestinians in Gaza over to Arafat, Israel effectively told them Israel wanted no real congress with them which left them with two bad choices and they took the worst because for them the worst was the left-over best. The Israel model of gross self-aggrandizing and acting state power is similar to that of other deteriorating contemporary democracies, only much more concentrated geographically. Israel has too much of the wrong type of military power in its nuclear arsenal, which it may someday use gaining it little or nothing and much in the way of unexpected consequences.

--Brant

Edited by Brant Gaede
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More examples of what Israelis are up against:

*Dialog between Israeli naval commander and so-called "peace" ship:

Israel radio operator: "You are approaching an area which is under a naval blockade," Response: "Shut up, go back to Auschwitz."

Another response: "We're helping Arabs go against the US. Don't forget 9/11, guys."

Here's the link to the audio:

*And a few days ago, senior White House reporter Helen Thomas said Jews occupy Israel and should all leave and go back to Germany and Poland.

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Hello, Israel, this is John Galt speaking. Back in 1776, a really great man named Thomas Jefferson penned a document we now call the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson wrote of inalienable rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He later stated in his inaugural address that he believed in "friendly relations with all... entangling alliances with none." The nation based on Mister Jefferson's ideas might not have gained independence without the aid of France. But eventually the nation prospered and was able to defend itself from all enemies foreign and domestic.

We call that nation the United States of America. The nation prospered and flourished and continued to do so into the 20th century. In 1947, you were born. Other nations immediately tried to kill you in your maternal crib. Perhaps out of the American sympathy for underdogs, many Americans sympathized with your cause. The American government began giving you money, billions and billions of dollars.

It's time for us to withdraw, Israel. If you can not stand on your own feet now, you never will. We do not need you. We never did need you. We never will need you. Our survival and prosperity does not depend on you. We flourished without you, and we can still flourish with you. You have nothing to offer us. You are sixty years old. It's time to grow up and support yourself. You can move out of mom and dad's house and live on your own.

Good-bye and good luck, Israel.

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Hello, Israel, this is John Galt speaking. Back in 1776, a really great man named Thomas Jefferson penned a document we now call the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson wrote of inalienable rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He later stated in his inaugural address that he believed in "friendly relations with all... entangling alliances with none." The nation based on Mister Jefferson's ideas might not have gained independence without the aid of France. But eventually the nation prospered and was able to defend itself from all enemies foreign and domestic.

We call that nation the United States of America. The nation prospered and flourished and continued to do so into the 20th century. In 1947, you were born. Other nations immediately tried to kill you in your maternal crib. Perhaps out of the American sympathy for underdogs, many Americans sympathized with your cause. The American government began giving you money, billions and billions of dollars.

It's time for us to withdraw, Israel. If you can not stand on your own feet now, you never will. We do not need you. We never did need you. We never will need you. Our survival and prosperity does not depend on you. We flourished without you, and we can still flourish with you. You have nothing to offer us. You are sixty years old. It's time to grow up and support yourself. You can move out of mom and dad's house and live on your own.

Good-bye and good luck, Israel.

I guess we never needed any of the following:

Brains, Creativity and Chutzpa!

  • Israel has ~140 scientists and engineers per 10,000 of population, nearly twice as many as the US, and more than twice as many as Japan.
  • Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation - 109 per 10,000 people.
  • The percentage of Israeli citizens who are university graduates is among the highest in the world.
  • Israel is second only to the US in the number of patent applications filed.
  • Israel has more than 140 companies listed on NASDAQ - only the U.S. has more.
  • The Stent was invented in Israel.
  • It is estimated that some 15% of all communications equipment sold around the world comes from Israel.
  • The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.
  • Both the Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were entirely designed, developed and produced in Israel.
  • Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer
  • Israel's Given-Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside, cancer and digestive disorders.
  • The Firewall was invented in Israel
  • Drip Irrigation was invented in Israel
  • ICQ was invented in Israel
  • Both of the leading drugs used to treat MS patients, beta-interferon and copaxone, were invented in Israel.
  • Voice over IP was invented in Israel

I guess we can do without this.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Edited by BaalChatzaf
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Chris,

I would think that if you were really that upset about Israel's policies, you would want the government to change. Are you really dissing Israel's high-tech, pharmaceutical and medical industries. They're a gold mine of some of the most innovative scientists and techologists on the planet. Are you saying this only about Israel? What about Egypt, South Korea, Pakistan and other countries we have relationships with? If we turn a cold shoulder, what country will trust us?

You don't have to pile on about Israel's diplomatic snafu, they're paying the price already. Israel has tried it your way under Ehud Barak and it didn't work. The terror only intensified. This is a different kind of error and Israel knows the US will have to balance other commitments in light of what's happened. Don't you even want to look at more data as it comes in about the motives and origins of the Turkish flotilla?

Jim

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Brains, Creativity and Chutzpa!

  • Israel has ~140 scientists and engineers per 10,000 of population, nearly twice as many as the US, and more than twice as many as Japan.
  • Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation - 109 per 10,000 people.
  • The percentage of Israeli citizens who are university graduates is among the highest in the world.
  • Israel is second only to the US in the number of patent applications filed.
  • Israel has more than 140 companies listed on NASDAQ - only the U.S. has more.
  • The Stent was invented in Israel.
  • It is estimated that some 15% of all communications equipment sold around the world comes from Israel.
  • The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.
  • Both the Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were entirely designed, developed and produced in Israel.
  • Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer
  • Israel's Given-Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside, cancer and digestive disorders.
  • The Firewall was invented in Israel
  • Drip Irrigation was invented in Israel
  • ICQ was invented in Israel
  • Both of the leading drugs used to treat MS patients, beta-interferon and copaxone, were invented in Israel.
  • Voice over IP was invented in Israel

I guess we can do without this.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Who exactly invented those things? Imagine all those scientists in America. Would they have done the same thing here? Would they have done the same thing in Britain, Estonia, Singapore, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, or Switzerland?

I appreciate your list. Thank you.

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I would think that if you were really that upset about Israel's policies, you would want the government to change.

Jim, I would like to see everyone live freely. By everyone, I mean Israelis and the people who live in countries around them. So-called Objectivists are the only ones who advocate killing the one billion Muslims in the world. Not only is it immoral--it's also impossible.

Are you really dissing Israel's high-tech, pharmaceutical and medical industries. They're a gold mine of some of the most innovative scientists and techologists on the planet. Are you saying this only about Israel?

What about Egypt, South Korea, Pakistan and other countries we have relationships with?

South Korea could overrun North Korea in a few weeks. North Korea is poor, backward. The people there are barely alive. South Korea does not need us.

Egypt and Pakistan have no science. They truly have nothing to offer to anyone. All they offer the world is religious cultism.

You don't have to pile on about Israel's diplomatic snafu, they're paying the price already.

They have become the most hated country in the world.

American foreign policy is summed by a simple phrase of Garet Garrett: "Everything goes out. Nothing comes in."

Why should productive Americans pay to defend other countries?

Don't you even want to look at more data as it comes in about the motives and origins of the Turkish flotilla?

They are trying to break a starvation blockade. Gaza is basically the Warsaw Ghetto, and about half the people there are children. The only way that the people there can survive is through free trade with everyone around them.

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"Starvation blockade"? The "Warsaw Ghetto'? There is a protocol for shipping in food and what have you to Gaza. It was disregarded. Why was that? And just who is starving in Gaza anyway? And where are the death camps the Palestinians are being shipped out to by their genocidal Jew enemies?

--Brant

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I would think that if you were really that upset about Israel's policies, you would want the government to change.

Jim, I would like to see everyone live freely. By everyone, I mean Israelis and the people who live in countries around them. So-called Objectivists are the only ones who advocate killing the one billion Muslims in the world. Not only is it immoral--it's also impossible.

Are you really dissing Israel's high-tech, pharmaceutical and medical industries. They're a gold mine of some of the most innovative scientists and techologists on the planet. Are you saying this only about Israel?

What about Egypt, South Korea, Pakistan and other countries we have relationships with?

South Korea could overrun North Korea in a few weeks. North Korea is poor, backward. The people there are barely alive. South Korea does not need us.

Egypt and Pakistan have no science. They truly have nothing to offer to anyone. All they offer the world is religious cultism.

You don't have to pile on about Israel's diplomatic snafu, they're paying the price already.

They have become the most hated country in the world.

American foreign policy is summed by a simple phrase of Garet Garrett: "Everything goes out. Nothing comes in."

Why should productive Americans pay to defend other countries?

Don't you even want to look at more data as it comes in about the motives and origins of the Turkish flotilla?

They are trying to break a starvation blockade. Gaza is basically the Warsaw Ghetto, and about half the people there are children. The only way that the people there can survive is through free trade with everyone around them.

The inmates of Gaza are not starving. If the Israelis imposed starvation, they would all be dead by now. No starvation, no death camps. The only death camp in the area is Gaza itself and it is run by Hamas.

Ba'al Chatzaf

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