Reading the Dutch, German, French, and English news sites and forums today highlighted three tendencies regarding reactions and thoughts about Israel's action in Gaza. These tendencies already existed, of course, but have been more sharply drawn in the last seventy-two plus hours.
The Pro-Israel no-matter-what tendency
The writer damns all Muslims, Palestinians, Socialists, and self-hating Europeans, while lauding the actions of Israel in Gaza.
This is distinctly a minority point of view.
The Nuanced Point of View
This person tends to understand that Hamas broke their own ceasefire, has sworn to destroy Israel, and provoked the conflict by firing off over two hundred rockets towards Israeli towns. Nevertheless, civilian deaths are lamented, and question are raised. The writer is not comfortable with adding to the misery of the average Arab.
This too is a minority point of view.
The angry Anti-Israel Opinion
These writers thoroughly condemn everything that Israel does, lament the misery of Palestinian existence, curse their own governments for doing nothing, and fervently wish ill upon Israel, the Jews, and anybody who takes the side of either Israel or the Jews. Many of these writers are anti-Semitic, but assert that being anti-Israel is not actual hatred. They are not overt bigots, as they (mostly) stay within the bounds of acceptable 'progressive' discourse.
This is the overwhelming majority point of view.
Digesting it all
What became apparent, reading the various sites, is just how much Israel is hated. To a certain extent, I can understand Arab hatred of Jews and Israel - Arabs hate everything and everybody. It seems to be part and parcel of their culture. They've killed over seven million of their own in the last sixty years, and almost instinctively speak ill of each other or sabotage their own causes.
I expect no better from that side. And I'll admit it, I am probably a racist because I expect nothing else from them. For which I apologize - I honestly cannot hold them to the same high standard as the civilized world. I am a realist.
I can also understand European hatred of Jews and Israel. After all, to many Europeans, the very survival of Jews proves them wrong. Their attempts to exterminate the Jews did not succeed, their attempts to force them to convert en-masse to Christianity or Communism failed. There are still Jews. It must be keenly disappointing to have those people still around as a reminder of the failure of European society.
Life would be so much simpler for both the Arabs and the Europeans, if there were no Jews. The Arabs could slowly destroy European society, the Europeans could profit enormously from whoring to the Arabs in the meantime. Benefit to both sides.
The Jews, especially in the shape of Israel, are the fly in the ointment. And so Israel taking action against Hamas, is of course, an affront to both many Europeans and to Arabs.
Which must be thoroughly condemned.
What I have never understood is why parts of America, in particular Northern California, are so filled with Jew-hatred. Places such as San Francisco State University and the University of California at Berkeley. Heck, I cannot fathom why Berkeley is the most Jew-hating city in all of California. It would appear that our universities inculcate a very European attitude, and deliberately undermine our society's values.
I fully expect the next domestic terrorist movement to originate in academe.
AFTERTHOUGHT
I find myself in-between the first and second tendencies. I recognize that Israel had to act, I find what they are engaged upon justified, and I applaud their successes. Granted, as a society, Israel is by no means perfect. And ideally it should be possible for any society to speak for all of its members. But in the real world, societies are not always capable of giving all goals and values equal importance. To Israel's credit, she tries. And often succeeds in advancing the interests of a large majority of her citizens. Israel does so as the only democratic state in that area, and the only liberal humanist society in the Middle-East.
That, unfortunately, is something that not a single one of the Arab states have ever done, and also something which almost none of the Arab states can even lay claim to ever trying.
The one great contribution to our vocabulary from the Arabs in modern times has been 'mukhabarat' - a term for a secret police that functions with extraordinary brutality. It is the one constant shared by all Arab states, and frequently the only efficient department in an Arab government.
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4 comments:
Oh come now, the Arabs have also given us some other terms:
tagine (mm, tasty)
burka (ultra-tznius)
and, of course, al-Jazeera (wait, you mean the heretics have TVs too?)
I also have 6 wine glasses - purchased at HEMA which are made in Saudi Arabia...
And a small leather cushion which smells terribly - from Algeria.
Graham
The only thing the Arabs export are colege professors to our universities that are more interested in money than education and are turning our youth into little Arab loving automatons.
I am an atheist. But I was born into a reform Sephardic-Jewish household and can still identify with much of Jewish culture and thought. (Seeing as much of modern ethics and morality were originally formulated by the ancient Jews, this is unsurprising.)
But, to the point, I am capable of understanding both sides. Israel initiated this escalated conflict according to its rights and responsibilities to not only preserve itself and its people, but to reaffirm its undeniable, and disproportionate, power in its region.
The positively Hadean dynamics of the opposing side are utterly ghastly to behold. The perpetuation of such ideology hatred would appear untenable and impossible, to one who knew not of it, but the actions happening there do not reflect any level of logic or humanity. Looking from the ground up, they reflect desperation. Destitution and binding religious ties, along with poor education rife with zealotry, these conditions create humans who find it most efficient to live without humanity. From the top down, The religious and societal elite control and suppress the general populace, who have no means to resist or refute. This is their reality, their only reality. As for those located overseas who are influenced, they are also largely uneducated, and likely have suffered the same injustices as those they choose to identify with.
I add this to the dialogue to posit environmental and sociological reasons for the events occurring on both ideological/political sides, and to inspire reasoned, logical insight into the motives and experiences of both groups. As well of course, to puit forth my own ideas.
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