tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448657.post1102327217373183123..comments2023-09-30T08:07:26.165-04:00Comments on Mystical Politics: Israel - the "faith homeland" of Jews?Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17626228106192215280noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448657.post-55981087187638835472010-03-30T10:47:29.588-04:002010-03-30T10:47:29.588-04:00Rebecca,
I respectfully disagree with you when yo...Rebecca,<br /><br />I respectfully disagree with you when you write: "Barack Obama may be more liberal than the current crop of hard-right Republicans, but that doesn't make him any less supportive of Israel."<br /><br />Obama, if this <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/world/middleeast/29mideast.html?ref=middleeast" rel="nofollow">article</a> from <i>The New York Times</i> about Israel is correct, really cannot be all that pro-Israel. In fact, what is described in the article sounds a quite a lot like the attitude of Britain and France towards Czechoslovakia before WWII. My recollection is that those countries were also a "friend" of Czechoslovakia. Which is to say, Obama's administration believes that Israel's dispute with the Arabs is the "root cause" of Muslim and Arab displeasure with the West (just as the British and French government thought that, among other areas of conflict, the minority problems in, for example, Czechoslovakia was the cause of German anger) and that by forcing the Israelis to take painful steps, supposedly (and perhaps someday) in their interest but certainly in support of the perceived master plan for the settlement for the entire region's problems, peace with the Muslim and Arab worlds will break out, Iran will be satisfied and take up a more rational attitude towards the US, etc., etc.<br /><br />Obviously, there will need to be a deal regarding Jerusalem in any ultimate resolution. But, viewing this as a solution to that region's problems is, in my mind, more than delusional. It is dangerously wrong and will make a large war more, not less, likely.<br /><br />I might add: the view that the dispute can be settled just now is wishful thinking. This is a dispute involving not only boundaries and separating two groups who clash but also a dispute about worldviews, including (but not limited to) views about Jews among Christian and post-Christian peoples in the West, views about Jews among Muslims (which are, as I am sure you know, decisively not all that lovely), views about Muslims and Arabs by Israelis and by Americans, traditionalist views about the world versus modern ways of thinking (e.g. about conflicts, about war, about dying, etc., etc.), etc., etc. <br /><br />Down the line on all of this mistaken line of thinking by the Obama administration is that, whatever "sacrifices" the Israelis make will not be enough to the most conservative traditionalists among the Arab Muslims (and even Arab Christians), who do not believe that Jewish rule could ever be anything but a crime against God. This is the view, I suspect, of the vast, vast majority of Palestinian Arabs and certainly of most Muslims throughout the world. So, a very large number of Palestinian Arabs will go on fighting no matter how the dispute is "settled." Otherwise, their notion of right and wrong in the eyes of God will be wholly undermined.<br /><br />And, Western Christians and post-Christians will, maybe not immediately but in due course, come to side with the Arabs over the Jews.<br /><br />So, I see this as a dangerous situation and, I think, Obama is being the opposite of Israel's friend. Instead of being a friend, he is stoking the embers of the next round of the dispute.<br /><br />I might also add that if this <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/0310/Fierce_debate_on_Israel_underway_inside_Obama_administration.html" rel="nofollow">report</a> about how some in the Obama administration view Dennis Ross, there is prejudice at work in that administration, supposedly, in your view, pro-Israel. Rather, if the report is true, despite the fierce denial by at least one person (but which, as I read the report, is largely consistent with the debate at hand), there are some prejudiced people among the Obami.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448657.post-73190682596190835202010-03-27T21:18:53.538-04:002010-03-27T21:18:53.538-04:00I know you don't disagree with this, but I'...I know you don't disagree with this, but I'm just struck by the incredible arrogance of it all. Normally, if my first thought was "X group has a far greater stake in this institution than I do" and my second thought was "X and I have very different views about what it means to support this institution", my third thought would be "maybe I should re-evaluate whether my brand of support is best", not "wow, X folk must be <i>crazy</i>!"<br /><br />The perk of being Christian is that you never, ever have to concede that Jews have anything new to teach you.David Schraubhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04946653376744012423noreply@blogger.com