Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: I’ve never felt more proud of being a supporter of the Jewish state.

http://cifwatch.com/2011/02/08/israels-never-looked-so-good/
Israel’s Never Looked So Good
This is cross posted by David Suissa, and first appeared in The
Huffington Post.
They warned us. The geniuses at Peace Now warned us. The brilliant
diplomats warned us. The think tanks warned us. Even the Arab
dictators warned us. For decades now, they have been warning us that
if you want “peace in the Middle East,” just fix the Palestinian
problem. A recent variation on this theme has been: Just get the Jews
to stop building apartments in East Jerusalem and Efrat. Yes, if all
those Jews in the West Bank and East Jerusalem would only “freeze”
their construction, then, finally, Palestinian leaders might come to
the table and peace might break out.
And what would happen if peace would break out between Jews and
Palestinians? Would all those furious Arabs now demonstrating on
streets across the Middle East feel any better?
What bloody nonsense.
Has there ever been a greater abuse of the English language in
international diplomacy than calling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
the “Middle East peace process?” As if there were only two countries
in the Middle East.
Even if you absolutely believe in the imperative of creating a
Palestinian state, you can’t tell me that the single-minded and global
obsession with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the expense of the
enormous ills in the rest of the Middle East hasn’t been idiotic, if
not criminally negligent.
While tens of millions of Arabs have been suffering for decades from
brutal oppression, while gays have been tortured and writers jailed
and women humiliated and dissidents killed, the world — yes, the world
— has obsessed with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
As if Palestinians — the same coddled victims on whom the world has
spent billions and who have rejected one peace offer after another —
were the only victims in the Middle East.
As if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has anything to do with the
1,000-year-old bloody conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, or
the desire of brutal Arab dictators to stay in power, or the desire of
Islamist radicals to bring back the Caliphate, or the economic despair
of millions, or simply the absence of free speech or basic human
rights throughout the Arab world.
While self-righteous Israel bashers have scrutinized every flaw in
Israel’s democracy — some waxing hysterical that the Jewish democratic
experiment in the world’s nastiest neighborhood had turned into an
embarrassment — they kept their big mouths shut about the oppression
of millions of Arabs throughout the Middle East.
They cried foul if Israeli Arabs — who have infinitely more rights and
freedoms than any Arabs in the Middle East — had their rights
compromised in any way. But if a poet were jailed in Jordan or a gay
man were tortured in Egypt or a woman were stoned in Syria, all we
heard was screaming silence.
Think of the ridiculous amount of media ink and diplomatic attention
that has been poured onto the Israel-Palestinian conflict over the
years, while much of the Arab world was suffering and smoldering, and
tell me this is not criminal negligence. Do you ever recall seeing a
UN resolution or an international conference in support of Middle
Eastern Arabs not named Palestinians?
Of course, now that the Arab volcano has finally erupted, all those
chronic Israel bashers have suddenly discovered a new cause: Freedom
for the poor oppressed Arabs of the Middle East!
Imagine if, instead of putting Israel under their critical and
hypocritical microscope, the world’s Israel bashers had taken Israel’s
imperfect democratic experiment and said to the Arab world: Why don’t
you try to emulate the Jews?
Why don’t you give equal rights to your women and gays, just like
Israel does?
Why don’t you give your people the same freedom of speech and freedom
to vote that Israel does? And offer them the economic opportunities
they would get in Israel? Why don’t you treat your Jewish and
Christian citizens the same way Israel treats its Arab and Christian
citizens?
Why don’t you study how Israel has struggled to balance religion with
democracy — a very difficult but not insurmountable task?
Why don’t you teach your people that Jews are not the sons of dogs but
a noble, ancient people with a 3,000-year connection to the land of
Israel?
Yes, imagine if Israel bashers had spent a fraction of their energy
fighting the lies of Arab dictators and defending the rights of
millions of oppressed Arabs. Imagine if President Obama had taken one
percent of the time he has harped on Jewish settlements to defend the
democratic rights of Egyptian Arabs — which he is suddenly doing now
that the volcano has erupted.
Maybe it’s just easier to beat up on a free and open society like
Israel.
Well, now that the cesspool of human oppression in the Arab world has
been opened for all to see, how bad is Israel’s democracy looking?
Don’t you wish the Arab world had a modicum of Israel’s civil society?
Would you still be worrying about “stability in the Middle East?”
You can preach to me all you want about the great Jewish tradition of
self-criticism — which I believe in — but right now, when I see poor
Arab souls being murdered for the simple act of protesting on the
street, I’ve never felt more proud of being a supporter of the Jewish
state.

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Quoto
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recoil is insignificant when there is a tiger on the head of your elephant