Category Archives: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

UPDATED (8/24/018): Taki: Not Very Bright

Anti-Semitism, Islam, Israel, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Neoconservatism, South-Africa, Terrorism, The West

In “From Russia With (Less Than) Love,” I asked—and answered—the question as to why Russia and Israel don’t cooperate more. For one, both nations live adjacent to terrorist entities—the Russians to Chechnya; the Israelis to the Palestinian Authority. Putin must put up with Shamil Basaev (a Chechen terrorist and advocate of an Islamist state in the Northern Caucasus); Israelis have to contend with the new Dalai Lamas of Gaza (Hamas).

And both Israelis and Russians “are hectored by elements in the Bush and Blair administrations and the Europeans about granting statehood to their terrorism-endorsing neighbors. Against insuperable odds, both are expected to trust terrorists and their fan base to stop butchering babies and embrace Jeffersonian democracy and a Bill of Rights.”

Note the consistency of my position: Assailed by savages, Russia and Israel have my sympathies and support on this front.

A year later, Taki, a moldy scribe, with life tenure in various publications, makes a similar point in The American Conservative (TAC). He is smarting over the administration’s double standard: “American policy makers” are “bear baiting” Russia about its mistreatment of Chechen jihadists, whom the administration (as I pointed out) lionizes. Chechens are freedom fighters, but the Palestinians are terrorists? What’s up with that, he wants to know.

This is rich because Taki’s writing is laced with exactly the same illogic:

In fawning, radical-left fashion, he and TAC finesse everything about the savage and dysfunctional Palestinian society, yet evince a loathing of all things Israel. Or, if a little honesty pierces the fog, and they acknowledge the facts on the ground, it is invariably to blame Israel, Ã la the left’s theory of culpability. Apparently, if not for Israel, a veritable economic oasis and a culture of life would flourish where a black hole now threatens to collapse upon itself.

Yes, this is rich because it exposes Taki’s inability to detect the same category of contradiction he rightly accuses the administration of in his and The American Conservative’s oeuvre.

That’s good for a laugh.

UPDATED (8/24/018): Praised by a cult.

 

Arab Universalism?

Islam, Israel, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Terrorism

The Boston Globe assures readers that “in the Arab world, Zarqawi tactics bred disgust.”

“If you are fighting foreigners, how come you kill 5,000 [Iraqi goons have killed multitudes more than that] or other innocent civilians and only a few Americans?” asks Bashar al-Akhras, whose “father was killed in the November 2005 suicide bombings of three Amman hotels, claimed by Zarqawi as retribution for Jordan’s support of US policy in the region.”

“His extended family,” Akhras relates, “consists of hard-working Palestinians who live across the Arab world and are bystanders in the war between Al Qaeda and the United States.”

So Akhras disagrees with the Mayor of London’s favorite “progressive” theologian, Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Qaradawi draws a sharp “moral distinction” between suicide bombings against ordinary Londoners (not good) and those against ordinary Israelis (perfectly good). He is not alone among Muslim ulama (scholars).

I’m eager to hear this lad extend his indignation and disgust to the slaughter by terrorists of all civilians—Jordanian, Iraqi, American, and Israeli.

It would be good too if the press avoided sweeping, unsubstantiated and unqualified generalizations.

Men & Women Who Hothouse Hamasniks & Those Who Love Them

Israel, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Terrorism, The Zeitgeist

Believe it or not, there are a couple of *creeps and kooks on the Internet who find nothing creepy or kooky about how Palestinians cultivate kids into killers.

By the looks of it (take a look), this “educational” effort is a real communal affair, involving immediate and extended family, grandmothers too. Nothing cute about them or their offspring. Yet some find them sympathetic, certainly tragic, even endearing. Fail to finesse this ugly and evil specter and Friends of the Palestinian Authority and Enemies of Everything Israel accuse you of bias.

You must understand, after all, that the tinfoil faithful usually read from a script every bit as binding as the Quran. They parrot their lines like any good madrasa student regurgitates The Hadith and Sunnah. And in particular, our automatons shun the concepts of free will or personal responsibility when it comes to the Palestinians, and blame Israel for causing Palestinians to raise children to die as “martyrs.”

What do you know? A Jewish mother prays for a lawyer or a doctor; her Palestinian neighbor prefers a cold-blooded killer. All out of necessity, you see. For, as her defenders preach, under the skin, all mothers are equal in their love for their offspring. Including those who partake in “sex-selective infanticide in several of the world’s cultures.” Ultimately, behind every fine female who kills her kid or raises him to kill lurks a man, often an Israeli.

Yes, it’s Israel’s doing.

If not for the Israelis, a veritable economic oasis and a culture of life would flourish where a black hole now threatens to collapse on itself. And the evidence for this putative Palestinian revival, whence does it come? Why, from the Islamic world, at large. Oh, you mean to say the Ummah is not exactly in the grips of a Renaissance? Well, then, let me tell you about those crusaders.

And so the blame game goes.

* The link to the suicide slideshow promo originated at the little green footballs, was picked up by Michelle Malkin, and was lovingly redeemed and reinterpreted (minus soft focus, though) by libertarian exculpators of evil, where yours truly found it. (What’s up with the popular affectation of giving credit to the finder of a link, by the way? It’s not as if he or she is a real secondary source.)
†Recommended reading: “Coddling Killers: The Liberal Root-Causes Racket”, The American Spectator.

Men & Women Who Hothouse Hamasniks & Those Who Love Them

Israel, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Terrorism, The Zeitgeist

Believe it or not, there are a couple of *creeps and kooks on the Internet who find nothing creepy or kooky about how Palestinians cultivate kids into killers.

By the looks of it (take a look), this “educational” effort is a real communal affair, involving immediate and extended family, grandmothers too. Nothing cute about them or their offspring. Yet some find them sympathetic, certainly tragic, even endearing. Fail to finesse this ugly and evil specter and Friends of the Palestinian Authority and Enemies of Everything Israel accuse you of bias.

You must understand, after all, that the tinfoil faithful usually read from a script every bit as binding as the Quran. They parrot their lines like any good madrasa student regurgitates The Hadith and Sunnah. And in particular, our automatons shun the concepts of free will or personal responsibility when it comes to the Palestinians, and blame Israel for causing Palestinians to raise children to die as “martyrs.”

What do you know? A Jewish mother prays for a lawyer or a doctor; her Palestinian neighbor prefers a cold-blooded killer. All out of necessity, you see. For, as her defenders preach, under the skin, all mothers are equal in their love for their offspring. Including those who partake in “sex-selective infanticide in several of the world’s cultures.” Ultimately, behind every fine female who kills her kid or raises him to kill lurks a man, often an Israeli.

Yes, it’s Israel’s doing.

If not for the Israelis, a veritable economic oasis and a culture of life would flourish where a black hole now threatens to collapse on itself. And the evidence for this putative Palestinian revival, whence does it come? Why, from the Islamic world, at large. Oh, you mean to say the Ummah is not exactly in the grips of a Renaissance? Well, then, let me tell you about those crusaders.

And so the blame game goes.

* The link to the suicide slideshow promo originated at the little green footballs, was picked up by Michelle Malkin, and was lovingly redeemed and reinterpreted (minus soft focus, though) by libertarian exculpators of evil, where yours truly found it. (What’s up with the popular affectation of giving credit to the finder of a link, by the way? It’s not as if he or she is a real secondary source.)
†Recommended reading: “Coddling Killers: The Liberal Root-Causes Racket”, The American Spectator.