The liberal left which includes the media has grown alarmingly anti-semitic in the past decade. Their reflexive position is almost always to fault Israel. Newsweek published an opinion piece this week that really takes the cake.
The writer begs Obama to handle the Middle East situation by getting tough with Israel – you know, the country that had rockets lobbed into it as a consequence of their intent to exist. How dare they fight back!?
Jews worry for a living; their tragic history compels them to do so. In the next few years, there will be plenty to worry about, particularly when it comes to Israel. The current operation in Gaza won’t do much to ease these worries or to address Israel’s longer-term security needs. The potential for a nuclear Iran, combined with the growing accuracy and lethality of Hamas and Hizbullah rockets, will create tremendous concern. Anxiety may also be provoked by something else: an Obama administration determined to repair America’s image and credibility and to reach a deal in the Middle East.
Don’t get me wrong. Barack Obama—as every other U.S. president before him—will protect the special relationship with Israel. But the days of America’s exclusive ties to Israel may be coming to an end. Despite efforts to sound reassuring during the campaign, the new administration will have to be tough, much tougher than either Bill Clinton or George W. Bush were, if it’s serious about Arab-Israeli peacemaking.
The departure point for a viable peace deal—either with Syria or the Palestinians—must not be based purely on what the political traffic in Israel will bear, but on the requirements of all sides. The new president seems tougher and more focused than his predecessors; he’s unlikely to become enthralled by either of Israel’s two leading candidates for prime minister—centrist Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, or Likudnik Benjamin Netanyahu….
The issue at hand is to find the right balance in America’s ties with Israel. Driven by shared values and based on America’s 60-year commitment to Israel’s security and well-being, the special relationship is rock solid. But for the past 16 years, the United States has allowed that special bond to become exclusive in ways that undermine America’s, and Israel’s, national interests.If Obama is serious about peacemaking he’ll have to adjust that balance in two ways. First, whatever the transgressions of the Palestinians (and there are many, including terror, violence and incitement), he’ll also have to deal with Israel’s behavior on the ground. The Gaza crisis is a case in point. Israel has every reason to defend itself against Hamas. But does it make sense for America to support its policy of punishing Hamas by making life unbearable for 1.5 million Gazans by denying aid and economic development? The answer is no.
Yes. They should just send a strongly worded statement instead of killing the people who are launching rockets into their neighborhood. Is it Israel’s fault that these cowards are hiding in hospitals?
The entire premise of this is so wrongheaded. I mean, what negotiating tactic do you use when the stated objective of Hamas is to drive all the Jews into the sea? OK. How about if we allow them rubber rafts?
I wonder why Newsweek would even publish this tripe. It’s lunacy on the one hand but it’s not even interesting lunacy. I’ve heard the same exact sentiments at least twice a week on MSNBC that violence in Gaza is a failure in diplomacy for America. But guess what? It’s not our fault all the time. To these guys, if a tree falls in the forest, it’s George Bush’s fault. Every time these animals blow up a bus in Israel I see the same parade of talking heads spouting that this is somehow America’s fault because we’re too much on the side of Israel. Look, Israel has a right to defend itself and we are right in acknowledging their right to exist.
January 5, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Before you get all “Amen Corner” for Israel (to paraphrase Pat Buchanan 1992), you should keep in mind that this is the same Israeli government that routinely harasses the Church. Ask anyone connected to the Church in the Holy Land, and they will be the first to tell you that their biggest opponent is not the Palestinians (many of whom are Christians), but the Israeli government, who is trying to suppress the Church there.
For more reading on this, see what Bob Novak has written. Judaism may be the parent religion of Catholicism, but the state of Israel is simply not our friend.
January 5, 2009 at 4:05 pm
What you’re saying has nothing to do with the fact that Israel has a right to defend itself.
And by the way, Christians in Muslim countries are killed.
January 5, 2009 at 4:33 pm
“I wonder why Newsweek would even publish this tripe.”
Newsweek has lost all credibility as an objective mainstream news magazine. As conservative readers have stopped their subscriptions over the years, the median political views of their readership base has moved farther and farther left of center. I think they’ve reached the tipping point where if they can’t publish moderate articles anymore and still appeal to their subscribers at the same time.
January 5, 2009 at 4:37 pm
I dont see the writer of this article denying Israels right to defend itself against Hamas, he’s just questioning is this the right way to do it. I agree with him that this is not the best way just as much as writing a strongly worded statement is not… as history shows they have to do this kind of thing which severly effects millions of largely innocent Palestinians every 3-5 years. On the other hand, rocket assaults on Israel are not stoping and after each such operation number of Hamas supporters grows.
Obviously this way is not working, they have to find something better.
January 5, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Why not give Israel the support they need to turn all Gaza into a fighter jet runway pointed in the direction of Iran & Syria?
Just thinking out loud.
January 6, 2009 at 5:45 am
Rellis, since the various Palestinian factions took over running the territories, persecution of Christians by Jihadis of various stripes has increased exponentially. Christians in the Holy Land won’t speak out about it because most of their neighbours are fanatical Jihadis of one stripe or another.
Apparrently the Israelis let the Christian Gazans travel to Bethlehem for Christmas this year, and massive numbers simply decided to “forget to return” to Gaza. Go figure. So much for the Christian-friendly Hamas state!
As for the “many Palestinian Christians”, the percentages for the Gaza Strip are “Muslim (predominantly Sunni) 99.3%, Christian 0.7%” – less than one percent! Many indeed! Even in the West Bank, anly 8% of the population identifies as Christian, with 75% claiming to be Sunni Muslim, and the balance, Jewish.
When I can open a Church in Saudi Arabia, or carry rosary beads in that wonderful ol’ pre-medieval theocracy, the model for the Islamic world, i’ll concede you might have half a point.
January 6, 2009 at 4:03 pm
David:
As I said, ask the Church hierarchy in the Holy Land. I’ve personally spoken to very, very high Church officials stationed in Israel. As of late 2008, they agree with my take on this: the biggest impediment to Church liberty in the Holy Land is the Israeli government.
This government, of course, has a right to defend itself. However, we as Catholics shouldn’t assume that we should be on the Israeli side here.
Israel, if it has its way, would expel all Christian religious and clergy from her borders. The Palestinians (and Muslims in general) are far more tolerant–both historically and in the here and now. They’re no angels, to be sure, but they’re a lot better than the Israelis.
January 6, 2009 at 5:48 pm
And by the way, Christians in Muslim countries are killed.
All Muslim countries?
The liberal left which includes the media has grown alarmingly anti-semitic in the past decade.. Their reflexive position is almost always to fault Israel.
Faulting Israel isn’t “anti-Semitic.” And if the media’s reflexive position is to fault Israel, well, then, that is a good balance to the government’s reflexive position of praising Israel’s “restraint.”
January 6, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Rellis – I have stayed in Israel and lived among Christian Palestians, specifically in Jerusalem. I have been saying the SAME thing you are on this very same board. Unfortunately, generally with the same response.
Matthew when you say, “the media has grown alarmingly anti-semitic in the past decade” you are kidding/dilluding yourself if you don’t think Jews have a huge influence in the media. The media is anything but anti-Semitic. Anti-Israel, possibly. Two separate issues here.
David – your reaction is a bit naive and one-sided. I can tell you 1st hand that the Israeli government (and this bleeds down to the citizens who carry the guns on the streets) DOES harass and oppress the Christian (see: Catholic and Orthodox) church and its members. Evangelicals get a pass and are like honored guests. You seem to be of the misguided theory that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”, or rather to criticise Israel means to buddy-up to Mohammedans. I can assure you this is NOT the case. I am the first to condemn Mohammedan regimes, specifically that of Gaza, that have indeed been ALSO persecuting Christians, and to a far worse and blatant degree. But if you are too cowardly to call a spade a spade and denounce oppression of the church whether it comes from Moishe or Mohammed, then you are doing your church and your suffering brothers and sisters worldwide a disservice.
The fact is, because Israel is for all intents and purposes a Democracy, we have that much MORE responsibility to speak out against oppression of the church there, because we can actually make a difference.
January 7, 2009 at 3:01 am
1. I’d like to see someone cite some examples of this terrible persecution of Christians by Jews.
2. What I see, year in year out, is the unedifying spectacle at the Holy Sepulchre in which the Catholics and Orthodox need to be physically prevented from rioting and braining each other with their croziers by Israeli police.
3. Former Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michael Sabbah, himself has a very dubious record when it comes to jihad and promoting hatred of Jews:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/001376.php
According to Palestinian Christian convert Walid Shoebat:
a. “The Arab war against Israel is a jihad,” Shoebat says. “Of course it’s a jihad. It is a religious, holy war. What part of ‘religious, holy war’ can’t the world understand?” Even Christians are indoctrinated in jihad ideology, he notes. Rejection of Jewish rights and history in Israel underlies the foundation of this Islamic jihad doctrine.
b. Jerusalem Patriarch Sabbah also promotes Islamic loathing of Jews in Palestinian churches. Following a theological map created in 1983 by the al-Liqa Catholic center and a CJPC pamphlet, “Moslems and Christians on the Road Together,” Sabbah supports the Sabeel “Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center,” whose very name suggests a Christian brand of jihad.
c.Palestinian Christians behave much like medieval serfs, and function as subservient little dhimmis. But their acceptance of jihad dogma is a futile enterprise, Malik stresses. Even “removing Israel from the equation and satisfying the Palestinians beyond their wildest dreams would not eliminate the violence against non-Muslims inherent in political Islam.”
Benedict XVI didn’t waste any time accepting his resignation!
January 7, 2009 at 1:07 pm
David, to cite specific examples I was told by a very high Church official detailed to Israel:
–a nun who lived in Palestine/Israel for many decades was told she would be denied an entry visa if she left the country to attend a funeral
–religious used to get 10-year visas. Then they became 7. Then 5. Now 3. The pattern is that the Israeli government declares that all visas will be gone. There is a storm of diplomatic protest. Then Israel relents–but always “compromises” by lowering the number of years attached to the visa
–the Israeli government wants to tax Church property, for the first time in the entire long history of the region. The official I spoke with has said flatly that this would, definitely, shut down a large percentage of religious houses
–the Israeli government tried to annex by eminent domain the major Catholic holy sites in the region as “national treasures.” The obvious reason for this was to control access
I could go on, and on, and on.
The point is that this is a Catholic blog. We should be concerned primarily about what happens to the Church. Israel is an enemy of the Church, as demonstrated by their Warsaw Pact-like actions.
January 7, 2009 at 7:01 pm
David – you are as misinformed as you are short-sighted. Walid Shoebat is a tool for the Evangelicals, who HATE the Catholic church. Their propaganda is always anti-Catholic and pro-Zionist (as is Walid). And you are not only going to quote from this heretic defaming against a bishop of the CATHOLIC church without any evidence or confirmation, but SIDE with the heretics? Just what kind of Catholic are you? Or maybe I should ask, ARE you even Catholic?
Your comment about Catholics and Orthodox rioting in the Holy Sepulcre is so ignorant that it defies logic. Name ONE instance where Catholics rioted against Orthodox at the Holy Sepulchre this last year. Just one. You say it is “year round” so lets hear it.
The fact is, you are referring to ONE incident last year between Armenian and Greek Orthodox monks. When you make superfluous and hyperbolic statements like that, in the end it just makes you sound stupid and your words meaningless.
Lastly, Rellis gave you quite a few examples of Israeli persecution (which once again, I am not comparing to that of Mohammedans, but it is still persecution nonetheless). I could give you first hand examples of it from my time there. Have you been there? If not, you would do well to study the situation and inform yourself before making any additional hollow comments or quotes from your anti-Cathollc heretic buddies.
Shameful.