Victor Davis Hanson: With Obama and his moral equivalence, Israel is hardly any better than Hamas or Hezbollah or the Palestinian Authority. I wonder, though, if they really believe that.
What if a Jew says he wants to live in Ramallah because it’s a nice place? Arabs live in Nazareth and other places in Israel, so what if a Jew says he wants to be a Palestinian citizen?
Michael J. Totten: That’s impossible.
VDH: Jews aren’t allowed there.
MJT: It’s crazy, isn’t it?
VDH: That fact all by itself should tell the Obama administration that there’s something weird about that place and there’s no moral equivalence.
VDH’s implication — that Palestinians are free to move to Israel at will, while Israelis are not similarly free to move to the West Bank — is, to say the least, peculiar. Still, he has no need to worry. Any Jew who takes a fancy to the Ramallah area — whether or not they’ve so much as set foot in the region before — is free to move to any of the several settlements that surround the city, where he or she will enjoy tax breaks, cheap housing, and government subsidies. But what about the reverse? What if a Palestinian from Ramallah decides that he or she wants to live in Tel Aviv (“because it’s a nice placeâ€)? More to the point, what if a Palestinian whose family was driven from the Nazareth area in 1948 wants to move to Nazareth? VDH settles for implying (rather than stating explicitly) that they are free to do so, because he clearly knows (but chooses not to dwell on) the fact that this would be impossible. To allow it would be to open the door to the right of return, and thus — as VDH would surely warn apocalyptically — the “destruction of Israelâ€.
It should surprise no one that VDH displays an understanding of the issues at stake that is almost entirely backward. Still, it’s revealing that he holds up this particular example as proof that “there’s no moral equivalence†in the conflict.
(For anyone who hasn’t read it, now is as good a time as any to plug Chase Madar’s brilliant VDH parody from last year’s American Conservative.)
Hanson is not confused.He is spreading falsehood that he is very well aware of.
Precisely….
Absolutely he is not confused.
In my experience, the Zionists and their supporters in the US and elsewhere have absolutely NO intellectual integrity whatsoever. They will spout any bald-faced lie, any mind-numbing nonsense, any historical revisionism necessary without any shame at all.
The word “chutzpah” was invented for these people.
I mistakenly hit the – mark, it should have been +. A Jewish friend once told me I had chutzpah, unmitigated gall. I took it as a compliment from a Jew.
No Richard…"chutzpah" was invented BY the jews to refer to people like you who seem to always claim some moral or intellectual high ground just by saying it is so and then disparaging anybody who may disagree with you. There are historical records that you can refer to, along with diplomatic documents, and thousands who could intellectually wither any arguement you might make, but you wouldn't listen. I can only take it that your "experience with "Zionists and their supporters" is extremely limited and for that your ignorance should be forgiven. But not by me. I for one am extremely happy that the socialist/progressive/communist/nazi/anarchist cabal has come out of the closet in their new found solidarity with Islam (as counter intuitive and mad as it is). PS Islam is more a political philosophy than a religion and will be treated as such in the short term. As for you and your friends…there are lamposts (an historical reference before you start pointing fingers…just seek and ye shall find).
What a lovely little historical reference! Nice to know the argument has proceeded past simple ad hominem, to the very brave anonymous threat of violence.
If only you understood what your handle means.
Make no mistake, he is an earnest believer in what he say. Just read one of his book on warfare about how the Greeks and western traditions are the sole genesis of modern warfare and you'll see how narrow and intolerant his mind is.
chutzpah indeed. Hanson is a scumbag hack historian, yeoman tough guy wannabe, typical zionist neocon. he's following the big-lie technique – if you're gonna tell a lie, make it a whopper. turn the truth straight on it's head. no normal person will ever believe that someone could tell such a gross falsehood and therein lies the greater part of the deception. seems that lying is all that neocons are really good at doing.
He's the anointed Israel First official neoconservative Poet Laureate.
He was being fawned on Fox News once and I swear I thought he was reading the Talmud in tongues.
Confused?, He's irrelevant . He made that bed, he can sleep in it.
I'm censored here.
Are you kidding?
That parody at American Conservative is indeed hysterical. Also possibly of interest to your readers are the columns of the "War Nerd", he has written a few things criticizing VDH, and he lives in Fresno. VDH apparently accused him of setting fire to his vineyard or something.
Especially funny considering, War Nerd is the nom de guerre of John Dolan who was an english prof working 1500 km aways in Victoria Canada.
VDH was on CSPAN last weekend. it was really awful. I felt bad for the camerman who had to watch the whole thing. I saw him say that war was the absolute zenith of civilization where all innovations and humanity and so forth come to the surface and without it we would be cave people and that Iran would have nukes in 15 months. It was a like bad joke or dream
West Bank Palestinians are barred from most of these areas. Israel says the system is meant to reduce friction and fire-fights between Palestinians and Israeli settlers. Israel's critics say it benefits 300,000 Jewish settlers while pushing 2.3 million Palestinians onto longer, bumpier alternatives, as well as carving up the territory in ways that complicate future statehood. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100613/ap_on_re_mi_e….
UN: Israel must stop discrimination against Arabs, Palestinians
http://www.haaretz.com/news/un-israel-must-stop-d…
Israelis' state of denial over treatment of Palestinians
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/isra…
To Hanson three words:
The Law of return.
What if a Palestinian wants to move to one of those JEWS-ONLY colonies that are springing up all over the West Bank and that are accessed by JEWS-ONLY roads?
Hanson’s a prick. He’s a douche bag who’ll fight to the last drop of YOUR blood, an Israel-Firster who’s got nothing to say about Israel’s crimes and depredations against the U.S. (Hey, Hanson! What do you think about the “Lavon Affair,” U.S.S. LIBERTY,
Israel’s massive espionage against us, their war crimes in Gaza, their murder of Rachel Corrie? I think it’s terrible. Don’t you agree, Hanson?)
I read Chase Madar’s parody of Hanson, and it’s first-rate!
I hope Hanson and his fellow armchair commandos at National Review enjoy their next “Ship of Fools” voyage.
Jerusalem revives plan to raze Palestinian homes:
" A Jerusalem planning body on Monday approved a plan to raze 22 Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem to make room for an Israeli tourist center, a decision that could raise tensions in the divided city and deepen the conflict with the Obama adminstration."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM…
NGG0
If these were Jewish homes in any country ,there wpuld be by now a huge outcry about it and that country would be made to stop the project immeditally and for ever.
Hanson is a poor example for any narrative regarding Israel and the palestinians .I would agree with the heart of Hansons argument , for although I'm not a jew I've been to Isarael , Jordan ,Lebanon ,Syria , Saudi Arabia and Egypt severla times over the course of the past 40 years . Hanson by selling himself to the far right and their lunacy , has lost his credibility , and he himself has lost his grip on reality .
Btw , read the palestinians National Charter , and The Hamas Proclaimation , , both are in the public domain , and you will see that , this conflict goes far beyond "just " a political issue …it is religious to it's core as far as the palestinians , arabs and muslims are concerned .Yes there are religious jews with radical views in Israel, one in fact, that for religious reasons, doesn't think Israel should even exist until it is established by the Mosciach [messiah ] but these groups do not form National Policy , nor are their goals and aspirations expressed in Israel's National Constitution . Nor is there given any religious consensus or license to such notion by the genearl population of Israelis .
.
I myself am curious about the USS Liberty .There is no way the Israeli Air Force mis-identified her . The big question is WHY the ship was attacked . Ther are some very strange circumstances involved . The US Fleet located about 380 miles to the west , ordered her to steam west , yet the Liberty proceeded EAST towards Israeli waters . The ship was first buzzed ,l then it was straffed seemingly in order to knock out its antennas .. then a more devastating attack occurred …the Fleet scrambled a squadron of fighters to her defense …but then recalled the flight .According to the ships captain , , the transmission to steam west was "garbled " . The Liberty was a spyship ,with the most advanced communication capability of her times .
What was there to possiibly gain by the Israelis attacking a military ship of it's alliy? The one explanation that has been offered , was that the Israelis were attempting to prevent the Liberty from discovering radio transmissions of Israeli plans to go further into Syria , but this makes no sense since the US Embassy itself was in a far better position in Tel Aviv, to intercept such transmissions , the Liberty was far to the south .
Let's solve the Mideast Palestinian dilemma once and for all. Let Saudia Arabia donate a few hundred square miles of their enormous territory to be designated as the New Palestinian Homeland. That way 2000 years of Anti-Semitism masked as a territorial dispute against an interchangeable bit of desert the size of a matchbook – known as Israel – can be left alone and forgotten. Then bloggers all over the world with embarassingly shrill and stunted outlooks can be free to miss the point on other topics instead of concentrating on this one. Next week's theme: Al Qaeda are just misunderstood progressive intellectuals with cool beards and scarves.
tongue in cheek sarcasm …I love it . !
btw , Lear K…a few dozen Palestinians homes were recently BULLDOZED in Gaza …..by Hamas . Didn't see any protests or hue and cry …and no Rachel Corries in the crowd .
What's up with that ?
-another interesting note on Gaza , immediately after the Israelis pulled out , Palestinians destroyed all of Israeli facilities left behind , such as hydroponic farms , buildings etc ,even fruit and olive groves . Estimates indicate , these could have provided as much as 1/3 rd of Gaza's GNP .
…as for the people who really investigate in EARNEST , there are no starving Gazans , no shortage of meats ,fish ,fruit or vegetables, no shortage of medicines or medical supplies , for no less than 1000 trucks a week traverse into Gaza from Israel . There are however shortages of munitions and arms , that is why Hamas would like the blockade lifted …..oh and baby milk ? there's enough to keep 2 million babies a month fed …every month . Feel how you will for or against Israel , but there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza .