Dancing with Myself

Supporting Israel

My lack of enthusiasm for this latest round of war between Israel and its neighbors should not be misunderstood as lack of solidarity with Israel.  On the other hand, when I read around the Jewish blogosphere, I am appalled at the level of triumphalism and hostility towards anyone who has had the temerity to question whether Israel's resopnse was disproportionate. 

I would not presume to tell Ehud Olmert how to handle this crisis.  He has better advisors than I.  I would tell him that I wish him and his family peace.  I would tell him to do what he can to secure the release of his young warriors.  I would tell him to do what he must to stop the rocket attacks against Israel.  And I'd tell him I've got his back.  I'd also tell him to stop punishing the people of Lebanon who are not supporting Hezbollah.  I would warn him that if Lebanon has no center, Israel would, in my opinion, be a much more dangerous place.   I would not tell him his job, however.

There were two pictures in Friday's papers.  One showed a young Israeli soldier in grief at the funeral of a friend.  The other showed a crowd of Syrian women demonstrating and screaming for war.  There are no demonstrations in Israel demanding war (American supporters of Israel take note). It was not Israel that broke the truce by sneaking across the border and kidnapping the enemy.  The difference in those two pictures only serves to reinforce my allegiance.  One of the parties in this conflict has shown a willingness to engage its opponents.  It is not the Palestinians or their neighbors.

I'd like to say that Olmert and Israel are in my prayers, but I don't believe in prayer, per se, but besides that, I wouldn't pray for Israel, I'd pray for peace.  Everyone over there would benefit from that.

Isreal, Palestine and Hamas

I sure do wish those people luck.  Palestinians in general have been ill-served by their leadership for over 50 years now.   This latest choice for leadership seems as questionable as their choice of Arafat.  What good did he ever bring to them?

I'd wish them more luck if they could get over their hate of Israel.  Yeah, yeah, they got a bad deal in the last century.  Europe did take advantage of them by dumping the Jews not killed by the Germans there.  Hey, like it or not, the Jews never gave up their claim on the land just because someone bigger came along and threw them off of it, and jeez, that was over 1900 years ago.  Israelis might want to make a note of that.  Just as the Jews never gave up the idea of eretz Israel, do present day Israelis really want 2,000 years of a blood feud with Palestinians?  If the past 50 years is any indication, I want to get out of the line of fire.  I do not have a dog in this fight.  However, my sympathies are much more pro-Israel than otherwise.  I know dozens if not hundreds of Israelis and only a smattering of Palestinians.  The ones I know on each side I like, and consider them both to be reasonable people. 

To the Palestinians I  would offer this advice:  play the hand you've got.   You need to get a grip and start improving the life of your people.  Get over losing part of your land.  It could have been worse, and it can always get better. 

To the Israelis, I offer this advice:  Might does not make right.  You are in danger of losing your very souls.  Times have changed since the days of marching into a land and destroying all the male inhabitants and all the women who have known men.  You can't get away with that shit anymore.  The whole world is watching and the world has announced its intention of holding you accountable to the standards of the world.  If you deny the very humanity of the Palestinians, it's going to come back and bite your asses, possibly for as long as two thousand years.  Please, for all of our sakes, find a way to deal with the Palestinians.  You have the greater responsibility because you have the greater awareness. 

I wish everyone over there well these next several months.  From what I read and hear, nothing will happen until after the Israeli election.  Everyone needs to know who the negotiating parties are.  It wouldn't hurt for the Palestinians--that means Hamas right now--to indicate their willingness to be pragmatic.  The Israelis I know don't give a fuck if you like them or not, but they're going to continue to do everything they can to keep suicide bombers away from their buses and their daily life.  If Hamas continues to sound like a terrorist organization, Israel is going to elect some really hard-ass people who are going to kick their sorry asses.  Oh sure, it may blow back into their faces in a hundred years or so, but right now, most Israelis are thinking about right now.  Oh yeah, and tomorrow:  They've been building a fence.