by: john harrison
Israel does not have any “genocidal policies” towards anyone. That is a fact. They have the military capacity to wipe out in their entirety the Palestinians wherever they remain. If Israel were in fact genocidal, they would have used it. But, in spite of provocation, they have never used it. Calling them “genocidal” is ignorance, or a lie.
There are anti-semitic people everywhere. BTW both the Jews and the Palestinians are a semitic people. “The Squad” and their ilk are anti Israel and they are all so very left wing as well. Does that make them anti-semitic? I don’t know, but it makes them anti Jew. They are in the main ignorant of history, and international law. Seemingly they only care for what seems to be “right” to them. It appears though that they are only really opposed to a war is when the war is Israel successfully defending itself from further, unprovoked Palestinian aggression and clear war crimes.
It is also true that there are fascist, far rightest, both in the US and elsewhere who are anti-semitic, or at least anti Jew. It is one thing the extreme left and extreme right now seem to be able to unite on. However, anyone who thinks that it is acceptable to boycott or attack the “Jewish State” solely because it is a Jewish state, is both a bigot, and a racist regardless of the leaning of the rest of their political sentiments.
The religious affiliation of the Israeli population as of 2019 was 74.2% Jewish, 17.8% Muslim, 2.0% Christian, and 1.6% Druze, with the remaining 4.4% including faiths such as Samaritanism and Baha’iism, and irreligious people with no faith. The Muslim population is growing the fastest.
Some object to Israeli claims that it has a God-given right to the disputed territories as well as to Israel itself. They note that idea is one way that religions have used over the years to take what is not theirs simply by claiming that God gave it to them. Some of these people also believe that Israel’s actions are genocidal.
However, genocidal is clearly wrong. It is an adjective: genocidal, meaning relating to or involving the deliberate killing of a large group of people of a particular nation or ethnic group. Not only has Israel not done that, even in war it has shown remarkable restraint. There are idiot factions in Israel that now and then do criminal things for which they are usually punished, but that is all they are, idiot factions, or in many cases just plain idiots as well as criminals.
As far as a similar claim of apartheid, Israel has neither housed them behind barbed wire like we did to those of Japanese descent during World War II, nor have they disenfranchised them as we did in the South after the Civil War, nor is there anything resembling a Jim Crow system of segregation much less an apartheid like system similar to that in South Africa. Nor have the Israelis forcibly moved them around like the Allies forcibly repatriated and ethnically cleansed after World War II.
So, I do not agree that Israel is either genocidal or apartheid like. The State of Israel has been effectively at war since its inception, but it has rarely overstepped the legal lines for a state at war, and usually it has made some recompense or at least tried to when it has overstepped.
While I do not suppose all will agree, I do believe that at least some of the Squad and their followers are extremely anti-Jewish people, not just anti Israelis. Some protesters would cheerfully kill all Jews if their chants are to be believed.
The Palestinians and their supporters argue that their history gives them a greater right to land in Israel than Israel’s history does for the Jews. Well, they have tried in several wars to do just that and failed miserably. Wars have consequences often involving the loss of land. As I am sure everyone realizes, there are two concepts at work here, “de jure” and “de facto”. “De jure” is sometimes at best aspirational but Israel is a legal state created by the United Nations after World War II. “De facto” on the other hand is always real, present, and usually powerful. It is all of those here as several Arab-Israeli Wars since 1948 have repeatedly proved.
My philosophy in such matters mostly involves taking the specific and applying it generally. If it does not work generally, it will not work specifically over time. The fact of the matter is the Palestinians are making the same kind of claims the Nazis did regarding the Sudetenland and Austria prior to World War II; that they had a greater “right” to the land than the current occupants. That the land had been “stolen” from them.
Unfortunately, that is too often true in the history of the world. The Muslims conquered and then lost great swaths of land. The Crusades conquered and then lost great swaths of land as well. The Argentinians think that relative proximity to the Falklands gives them greater rights than the people who had peacefully lived there for over 300 years. Simply stated the violent road that the Palestinians are on, and want to take the rest of the world to go down is already soaked with the blood of millions.
The Palestinians need to make a case why their claims are different from all of these other claims, and why the world should risk the very real consequences of deciding for them. I do not believe they have made such a case. Nor do I believe that when weighed against the History of the Jews that it could prevail even if well argued. Finally, what the Palestinians propose is clearly contrary to International law. Israel is a lawful state.
Think of this, on the same basis, Germany has a much better case for the return of East Prussia and the Sudetenland. Think of this as well, no one, whether large or small, except perhaps the Romans and then only for a relatively short period of time has been able to deprive the Jews of their homeland. It will takes a big war to do that. I think every sentient person knows that.
Then, there was the Holocaust. Whether they are God’s chosen people or not, the World owes them a homeland. Six million dead bought them that. No people is in greater need of a place where they can be safe, and can defend themselves, because for reasons that are utterly inexplicable to me there are many that still want to do them harm. We call those people racist and bigoted in their beliefs, and more importantly, clearly criminal in their actions.
If, nonetheless, you still want to support the illegal and in may cases criminal cause of the Palestinians, Hamas has positions opening up all the time. Leave the campus join up, or educate yourself and choose the morally, legally, better side.
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My book, Steel Rain, the Tet Offensive is available on Amazon both as a paperback and on Kindle. It is a Five Star book with lots of reviews, many by others that were there as well. Please give it a look. See; Steel Rain, the Tet Offensive 1968
Recent Reviews of Steel Rain, the Tet Offensive:
“John Harrison does an eloquent job writing what it was like being in the infantry during the Vietnam war. I know, I was in the infantry in Vietnam. There is a statistic which states that only 1 out of 10 who served in Vietnam were in the infantry. All of us have been asked what that was like at one point since our return. It is an impossible question for most of us to answer in part much less in full. John Harrison manages to do this in his book, Steel Rain, the Tet Offensive. So, if you are inclined and wonder what it was like, or you want to tell someone else what you went through, buy this book. Show it to your friend, show it to your family. It tells your story. To, “LT” John Harrison- thank you Sir.Salute.”
“John Harrison’s book, Steel Rain, the Tet Offensive, is a series of short stories, told mostly in the first person, that weaves together the humor and violence that only a talented writer can accomplish. The result is a compelling book that is hard to put down. John’s words flow easily on the pages, making an easy read. I highly recommend this book to anyone that has been there and did that, or anyone wanting to know a personal record of one lucky Lieutenant in Vietnam and the people that made it possible for him to return home.
Dan Hertlein, helicopter mechanic with the 192nd AHC at LZ Betty 1968″
“John is the soldier speaking the truest story of Vietnam. I will confirm his action as I was in a different company same battalion, fighting the same battles.”
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