The jihadist pretext of angry compassion for their oppressed Palestinian brothers, then, is a function of propaganda, a way to exploit the latent anti-Semitism still lurking in the Western soul in order to find support for the jihadist cause. No other explanation for hatred of Israel can account for the obsession with that country on the part of many Europeans, the irrational hatred that accompanies the ritualistic mantras of “never again” even as European countries pursue anti-Israel policies that aids those who in fact passionately want another genocide. Remember when France’s ambassador to England called Israel “that shitty little country” even as Palestinian terrorists were slaughtering Israeli women and children during the Intifada? That insult was just a new version of the old anti-Semitic tropes redolent of Der Sturmer that can be found everywhere in Europe. During the debate over the Iraq war, a British Labour M.P. said Tony Blair was “unduly influenced by a cabal of Jewish advisors.” A German former defense minister said President Bush wanted to remove Saddam Hussein because of “a powerful––perhaps overly powerful––Jewish lobby.” A member of the European Parliament claimed that in the U.S. Defense Department “key positions are held by Jews; the Pentagon is today a Jewish institution.” And according to a recent Anti-Defamation League survey, such anti-Semitic attitudes are on the rise across Europe. Given these prejudices, blaming Israel as the global arch-villain comes easy to many Europeans, and puts in the hands of jihadists a powerful tool for rationalizing their terrorism and making it easier for Europeans to marginalize Israel.
Beyond European anti-Semitism, though, the “Israel made them do it” excuse bespeaks a remarkable arrogance on the part of Westerners, who can explain jihadist behavior only by the materialist and psychological categories with which Westerners are comfortable. Thus the jihadists have no motives of their own derived from their faith, but are merely reacting to Western sins like colonialism and imperialism, or to a lack of material prosperity and political freedom. No matter how often the jihadists quote chapter and verse of the Koran, hadiths, and Muslim theologians and jurisprudents, smug Westerners dismiss it all as the “distortions” of a fanatic fringe, and brand as “Islamophobes” those who call attention to these facts. When such rationalizations are impossible, then our pundits and academics simply ignore this ever-increasing evidence of mainstream Islamic intolerance. Thus we heard nothing in the mainstream press when Abdulaziz ibn Abdullah Al al-Sheikh, the grand mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, recently said it is “necessary to destroy all the churches in the Arabian Peninsula,” as the Freedom Center’s Shillman Fellow Raymond Ibrahim reported. Rather than take religion seriously and acknowledge the intolerant and violent theology of Islam that drives the jihad, Western intellectuals find it easier to blame Israel, which also allows them to indulge their irrational dislike of “Zionism,” the new face of the old anti-Semitism.
Western demonization and scapegoating of Israel have warped our foreign policy and our tactics for confronting jihadist terror and its state sponsors like Iran and Syria. We forget that Israel has been on the front-line of this war long before 9/11, and is our most important ally in this struggle. The more we compromise Israel’s security, the more we hearten our enemies and make them believe they can win.
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Thanks. Thornton is correct. One may criticize specific policies but in the case of Israel (and, by the way, often of the U.S.), the criticism turns to hatred, delegitimization and dehumanization of Israel. If the hatred and murder come from Muslims, then it is whitewashed and justified.
So why do they, the radical Muslims, hate women, homosexuals, blacks, converts to Christianity, Christian evangelists, other Muslims? Is all that an Israeli-Palestinian thing too?
They hate because that is the basis of Islam – death, hatred, revenge, violence – all these things and more are esteemed goals of Muslims, as they are directed by the Koran, hadiths, suras, etc. This is what is required of them in order to please their god, and gain paradise, although paradise is only guaranteed if one dies while killing others in the name of Allah. it's tragic that so many are controlled by such a belief system.
It's their 'religion'…IF all Muslim practiced their 'faith' as they are called to do…well all of them would beleive and act the way the 'radicals' do. Do your homework. Look at what is going on in Europe. Look at England, France…anywhere where they take over a neighborhood. There is plenty of info out there. If God forbid (he did allow the Assyrians to destroy the 10 Northern tribes of Israel) Islam accomplishes it goal of re establishing it caliphate…you will have 3 choices: 1) Convert 2) pay a heavy tax and become a dhimni (sp) or 3: die…All FACTS. Do your homework. Islam and the West are incompatible. The good news is God, the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, the triune God: Father, Son (Jesus Christ) and Holy Spirit is still on the throne, is still Sovereign. ThankYyou dear God! Thank You, Jesus!
Mr Thornton begins by accusing "Westerners" of anti-Jewish prejudices. Thus he dons the mantle of an "Easterner." This automatically makes him an apostate of Westernism and an orientalist. He calls Israeli annexation of Palestinian houses, streets and water "a narrative," as if this helps children go to sleep at night. This is academic dishonesty.
Again he says "Western anti-Semitism" branding himself an Orientalist. Then he denies that there is a "festering crisis in the Middle East," though it is acknowledged by most world leaders. Then he throws Neocon hero David Petraeus under the bus. AGAIN he refers to us as as having a "Western penchant" for blaming Jews. I am perplexed. He writes in English. He sells his publications in "the West." He collects royalties from colleges like Stanford State University in "the West." Ezra Pound, Gore Vidal, and James Cameron come to mind.
This is a Jewish Edward Said, is it not? Isn't there a longstanding gripe by The Lobby that Muslims use our university system to push Orientalist racism and religion in America while getting paid for it? Isn't Mr. Thornton doing the same? I for one am irritated by this man denigrating The West in every breath while collecting a check for it.
"Israeli annexation of Palestinian houses, streets and water"
If you can write a phrase like this with a straight face, then you are sadly lacking in knowledge of the reality of Israel, Judea, Samaria and the so-called "Palestinians".
Israel has not annexed Palestinian houses and streets – and the entire water question is yet one more blood libel used to great effect by those who hate Israel and Jews. I would suggest you start educating yourself about the status of land upon which the "settlements" are built (all empty before construction – i.e. no "Palestinian streets"; also, please explain how 19 years of illegal Jordanian occupation can suddenly become a "Palestinian" right to a state?) and the truth about the water situation. The fact is Israel supplies the Palestinians with a heck of a lot more water than she is required to do. It is the Palestinians who steal water from Israel and who do not treat their own sewage, thus spoiling their own water sources.
But much easier to be a schmo, I suppose.
I am looking at this, and it really seems to negate your defense of Israeli resource theft: http://www.unitedmethodistdivestment.com/IsraelPr…
You point to an article that is based on a lie and you think that makes what you say true? There is no such thing as a "Palestinian" Arab and that is the truth. Anything said in the article you point to is therefore a lie. The Arabs living in the DISPUTED territory are not Israel's responsibility; they are the responsibility of Jordan They are living as they are due to their ancestor's unwillingness to live in peace with the Jews. Israel is NOT responsible for providing the infrastructure for a people that have sworn to kill them. I wonder schlomo if you would pay to refurbish your neighbor's house if he swore to kill you at every chance? INSIDE Israel there is ZERO apartheid. The cities in JUDEA and SAMARIA are NOT settlements; they are CITIES. Referring to them as settlements may be the anti-Semite's way of delegitimizing them but it's a lie. Lies work only when idiots like yourself want to believe them. Anything you say has been discredited by your complete ignorance of the facts.
I cannot share your disposition that people do not exist simply because we want their belongings.
Ah, so you indeed condemn the Jerusalem riots of 1922, then!!
Good. There may be some hope for you yet.
Yes. I condemn rioting, pogroms, mass violence, and interreligious warfare.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.a…
And pointing to a united methodist church article about Israel is kind of like asking us to believe Nazi propaganda about the Jews.
That is an interesting article, but I am not convinced. My friend killed a Palestinian captain, repelling an invasion into Lebanon, and even he contends that if the Israelis weren't stealing so much land and water from the Palestinians, they would not be as prompted to invade other countries. Instead they would be in their swimming pools.
Gee, so we must take the word of your "friend" against the documented evidence cited in the article? Go away, herman Cantoinette.
Good observation stern, very good……………………………..William
The palis have no army, so how did this "victim" of your friend attain a rank? Especially in a counrty not his own.
And who would be in the swimming pools? The IDF or Hamas?
Personal opinion does not make something true, no matter who one has killed in the line of duty. Or have you forgotten why the PLO was in Lebanon in the first place?
Beats me. You just shoot the guys with more insignia on their hats and the other guys turn around and go home.
OK, I dug up one of the articles mentioned in that link: http://web.archive.org/web/20080828232013/http://…
So, in essence, it describes a situation where Israel is planning to use, as just *one* of its sources,
a desalination plant to get drinkable water. It does mention that Israel maintains a tight grip on the West Bank aquifer, but who can blame anyone living in a volatile region for wanting to preserve a strategic reservoir of water available for emergency? Most importantly, in fact, the article mentions "unusual cooperation" between the Israelis and Palestinians on water sharing and infrastructure maintenance, even in times of intifada. As to the Gaza aquifer question, the article concludes:
"Over the years, Israel has developed a good reputation for using water efficiently, and in the 1980s it began recycling sewage effluent for irrigation. In 2004, Israel signed a deal to buy water shipped by tanker from Turkey.
Meanwhile, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip depend almost exclusively on small wells tapping the coastal aquifer. As the water table falls, the aquifer is becoming increasingly polluted by salt water from the sea. UN scientists say Gaza will have no drinkable water within 15 years [my edit: and similar may happen in West Bank, as the population and needs keep expanding!]
Despite earlier efforts to develop desalination, the Israel government only decided to invest heavily in the technology in the past four years. Some, including Israeli liberals and Palestinian optimists such as Barghothi, believed that once Israel began desalinating seawater for its own use it would be prepared to relax its grip on the West Bank aquifers.
But now it appears that Israeli water planners see desalination as a means of retaining control of those aquifers.
The desalination plant to supply the West Bank would parallel a similar US-funded reverse osmosis plant to fill taps on the hard-pressed Gaza Strip. The scheme has already been approved and funded, but is currently on hold because of continuing conflict in Gaza. Taken together, the two schemes would leave an independent Palestine more dependent on desalination than almost any other nation in the world."
I'm not seeing anything here that suggests "stealing." Control? Yes, certainly. Stealing? Quite the opposite.
I suggest that if you love your Palestinian brethren so much, you should go ahead and help out educating kids and helping them learn that tolerance is OK and that the path to prosperous and enlightened society lies in learning, normal fertility patterns, and technology.
And one more thing to reiterate: that Israeli desalination plant will supply water to Palestinian territory as well!
I can't say how the desalination plans will turn out, but I definitely agree with your last sentence.
The answer to the Islamisation of Europe is also well stated in an recent op-ed by Caroline Glick. Whilsts no one doubts that the Westerners (the non Muslims) have always been prone to accepting anti Semitism over the years before,during and after World War 2 there were many of them who were not anti Semites and assisted the Jews of Europe at their peril saving them from the Holocaust. However, the demographics of Europe have changed so dramatically, as to make Europe generally unrecognisable. The Muslims are taking over Europe making the native europeans look on in fear and amazement and changing the demographices which are affecting Europes attitude in many directions, particularly in their anti Semitic views and pushing Sharia law in the process. I won't quote the figures of the Musim population in various countries here, France and UK in particular. Both these countries are heading for Caliphate status in the not so distant future at their present rate of progress in that direction. The clarion call for a wakeup in Europe and elsewhere is sounding loud and clear!
Next thing you know,the Muslims will blame Jews and especially Jewish immigrants to America for all their problems. Wait,I forgot! They already do!
When all is said and done my Jewish friends will remain who they are, good and decent people that
I can not distinguish from any other American trying to do their best raising a family and making do.
Anti-Semites are unfair and dishonest in mind and spirit . It is a testament to the goodness of the
entire Israeli Nation that they have not obliterated the false Palestinians and have made good offer
after good offer for years with no response but more murder and mayhem. It is probably time for
the long suffering Israeli population to change their mind and face the fact Islam is never going to
live in peace with them or anyone else. There are millions of Americans who see the rightness of
the Israeli people and will do all they can to help when the final idiocy of Islam unfolds…………William
It`s like a Nazi swine once stated,"Tell a big enough lie often enough people will believe it".
A French Priest by the name of Patrick Desbois, author of" Holocaust By Bullets", President of Yahad-In Unum, has dedicated his life to confronting anti-Semitism. Asked the persistent question – How could they let this happen? Why didn't people speak up and cry out against this? We might now begin to understand how this is can happen. When mainstream news media , plays down our increasing debt, makes Islam sound palatable, turns a deaf ear to our tax paying citizens in favor of the concepts of Globalism/Islamism, socialism, illegal immigration and demonizes Israel by ominously implying that it is internationally viewed as an "apartheid" state and (also implying that the US is too for supporting Israel.) We begin to see the swing of the pendulum and the momentum of hatred that is behind it. When our President openly sides with Islamic countries, (As Hitler did with The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini) we can see just "how this can happen."
Yet in his statements after 9/11, bin Laden mentioned the real reason: the “humiliation and disgrace” inflicted on Muslims by the dissolution of the caliphate in 1924.
Well, first of all, there is no such thing as Islamists, or what you really mean radical Muslims. Their existence is a false PC multiculturalism myth. Thus, they only exist in your very vivid imagination and in your delusional fantasies.
Second, OBL hates our guts not because of the dissolution of the caliphate in 1924, but because like all Muslims he is obligated per the dictates of Islam to maintain nothing but enmity in his heart for all non-Muslim unbelievers. Furthermore, just like all other mainstream orthodox Muslims, anything he utters to non-Muslim unbelievers is taqiyya meant to dupe gullible useful idiots.
given the contempt most Arabs have shown for the people who ran away in 1948 rather than fight
Uhm who ran away? Nobody ran away, they voluntarily left on their own accord at the urging of the Arab Higher Committee and their Imams to make way for the invading Arab/Islamic armies. They were told that they would soon be able return to their homes to claim as booty the property of the dead Jews who were supposed to be annihilated or driven into the Mediterranean Sea.
or the way Arab countries herded Palestinian refugees into squalid camps existing on international welfare
Woe there slick, you're jumping the gun here. Back in those days the Jews were known as Palestinians and the Arabs were called, well Arabs. The Arabs didn't morph into so-called Palestinians until after 1964 when they were created out of whole cloth by the Soviet KGB in Moscow to dupe gullible useful idiots by camouflaging the Islamic world's permanent genocidal jihad of conquest being wage perpetually against the Jewish unbelievers in Israel under a cloak of nationalism. Which is really absurd if you know anything about Islam and you know very little, as nation-states are a Western manifestation and un-Islamic and blasphemous abominations that must all be obliterated, as Muslims only believe in a one world caliphate. Nevertheless, that disinformation campaign worked like a charm to dupe millions of gullible useful idiots all over the planet.
Western demonization and scapegoating of Israel have warped our foreign policy and our tactics for confronting jihadist terror and its state sponsors like Iran and Syria.
Actually, the whole notion of state sponsorship of terrorism is an utterly absurd false PC multicultural myth. Buddy, when it comes to understanding Islam, you are still way back in the latter part of 2001. In other words, you don't have the first clue about what you are writing about and you sure didn't learn a damn thing in the ensuing years via the fiascos in Iraq and Afghanistan that were both preordained to fail because they were both premised on false PC multicultural myths and misconceptions about Islam of the kind you like to spew ad nauseum. If I were you, I would take time off from writing about Islam and take a crash course in Islam from a reputable instructor like me.
Anyone taking ‘instruction’ from you could only roll on the floor laughing at your self-aggrandizement, ignorance, pompous idiocy and general narcissist stupidity. Or, if they were as ignorant and dim witted as you are, end up the same sad, sorry and contemptible rut you are in.
Arabs and Jews of Palestine lived harmoniously as friends and neighbors prior to the creation of Israel. And the Palestinian Jews did not adhere to the European ashkenazi claim "this land is mine". If some aliens came and uprooted you and your family from your home because of some Biblical fantasy-fable and murdered your family you would'nt like it, would you? And, enough already with the accusations of anti-semitism. Arabs are semites. Are not the atrocities against civilian, including defenseless woomen and children, by IDF anti-semitic? And, to deny that Zionists do not pressure and intimidate D C politicos is a Zio-lie! Why else do those pandering fools have to attend the AIPAC convention and avow their loyalty to a foreign regime? (Yeah, Newt, the real invented people are the Israelis, circa 1948). It's not PROMISED LAND, it's STOLEN LAND!
Complete and utter rubbish. Hebron, among others, demonstrates just how “peaceful” the arabs were, prior to the re-creation of the state of israel.