Much of the international discussion in the wake of the Mavi Marmara incident has been a perfect demonstration of the singular position of the Jewish state in the world community, which bears uncomfortable resemblance to the position of the Jews among their neighbors in the days there was no Jewish state. This has nothing to do with the specific merits or faults of the matter. It's about the way people understand the reality of a Jewish state, and their relationship to it - in itself already a telling point, since most people in the world have no relationship whatsoever to most countries beyond their own, an important neighbor, and perhaps the United States for its unique dominance. And Israel.
I'm way too busy these days to have time to blog thoughtfully about the issue. Happily, Norman Geras does have the time, and yesterday he put up three posts, all of which should be read: here, here, and here (this one apparently written by Eve Garrard at Normblog).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
IMHO David Rieff, especially in context with the NIF-debate is a must-read (he is of my;) and WRM's opinion, bear with him to the end) - compared to Rieff WRM didn't exaggerate, he was tame and too moderate. (I only know Gulliver as a children's book version but the giant tied down by Liliputans keeps pestering my inner eye)
Tony Judt is a may-read but I find him useful because he summarizes the "foe" quite well
Silke
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/opinion/10judt.html?hp
http://www.tnr.com/article/world/75421/ng-uh-o
hi. in a way i had the same idea....
http://oren1.wordpress.com/2010/05/31/free-gaza/
... combine these two from the London Times today and make a 3D picture out of them.
all this keeping the cake and eating it or Gulliver tied down by the Liliputans goings-on frighten me silly
- and that with a US-president who moans that he couldn't get the romantic of Europe
- any POLITICIAN who thinks Europe isn't about blood-shed but about Romance should go back to history class 101
Silke
Barack Obama pledged $400 million (£275 million) in aid to Gaza and the West Bank yesterday, calling on Israel to reconsider its “unsustainable” blockade on the Hamas-run territory.
Cameron hinted at Afghanistan withdrawal
4infidels
and the pro-NIF-ers
this is what I keep complaining about
"The campaign was launched by the Exploring Islam Foundation, a new and privately funded group run by young British Muslim professionals." - Link below
once I try to check who funds the professionals who fund the project will I find a comprehensive answer?
- of course they may be what they say they are, but just as well they may be something totally different, how can I find out which is which?
I haven't found a single clue on that and if I remember the abrasiveness of Didi Remez when asked about finances I feel that they must know that their system is almost impossible to penetrate.
... which makes me wonder why the real decent ones tolerate finding themselves in bed with the shady ones and do not lead the effort to expose the shady ones publicly.
Silke
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7146085.ece
IMHO great headline
... and because they are really "cool" NGOs supporting them are allowed to keep their halo?
Silke
All the really cool dictators have their own peace flotillas
http://judeopundit.blogspot.com/2010/06/all-really-cool-dictators-have-their.html
Great article by Eve Gerard, even though, as she says, her list of horrors ignored while condemning Israel has been said many times before.
The world's criticism IS motivated by anti-Semitism. The specific things Israel is alleged to have done wrong matter less then the fact the defendant is a Jew. And that unleashed all the old demons we thought (naively) were gone with the Holocaust and returned in full force. It hardly matters that Israel used force to defend soldiers as much as it matters that Israel had the temerity to behave like a sovereign country in the first place. And that is intolerable. Hence Israel's place as the Jew among the nations.
AKUS and y'all
in his post quoting Pilar Rahola Nick Cohen says something very important how all we pro-ones use the same tactic of bullet points
- I stubbornly refuse to play the bullet-point-game over at Fake Ibrahim's place though my fingers itch intolerably from it and seem to have an impact.
But I can't see how the tactic I apply there could be transformed to be used effectively in the MSM/TV/whatever sphere.
I'd sincerely wish though we could start BRAINSTORMING here and elsewhere of how to improve on the bullet-point strategy.
Silke
(it doesn't matter if "they" watch us doing it, "they" operate from such a different FRAME of mind that they MUST rely on the bullet-point-strategy - i.e. I guess we should go "guerilla" ourselves and refuse to join battle on "their" terms)
Yaacov -
Thank you for giving us such "charming and up-lifting" pieces to start our day with. I think you owe us another Israeli song about now, to cheer us up a bit.
Silke -
I just needed that Tony Judt piece of drivel, too. Can someone please tell me why Jews have this compulsive need to talk about themselves so much? Z-Word does a good job of tearing apart the Judt piece.
http://blog.z-word.com/2010/06/tony-judt-warns-the-jews/#more-1615
Maybe you should give us a song, too.
As for Star Trek, I was referring to the WRM piece. The crux of the episode is that the entire timeline has been messed up because a beautiful social worker, peace activist, Edith Keeler, did not die in a car accident, and instead led a peace movement that kept the US out of WWII.
Nycerbarb
Nycerbarb
I apologize for the Judt-thing but since I assume everybody with a keyboard will take him seriously ...
the Rieff thing makes me feel hope though. If the commentariat wakes up to the fact that something has gone over the top with the NGO-thingy then that might evolve into a good thing and maybe just maybe a tough no-nonsense knowledgeable reporter will manage to cut through their noise
as to songs
- I hope these two are sufficiently soothing
No.1 is a Yiddish one and the singing comes at about 3:35
http://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/sendungen/wiegenlieder/shlof-main-fegele/-/id=5555962/nid=5555962/did=6095482/4u3gbo/
No 2 I fell in love with probably even before I could talk - it is very much like a folk song for us
- there the singing starts at 4:35
http://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/sendungen/wiegenlieder/rueckschau/-/id=5556006/nid=5556006/did=5627914/64bpe2/index.html
Silke
as Yaacov has asked about it:
Hamas not letting stuff in via Michael Totten:
"Even those who actually donated and delivered the items are quiet about it."
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/totten/311296
and for those who need LOLs
Elder of Ziyon has two pieces on what gets Gazans whining:
one about Egypt opening Rafah and the other because Israel makes the World Cup available in Arabic for free while AlJazeera does it only for payers. Health warning the latter may do serious damage to your little grey ones..
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/
Silke
in an attempt to further atone for my sin of this morning I remembered this on Tony Judt
Silke
"I also found myself wondering whether his (Tony Judt) history was quite up to scratch."
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article7074444.ece
Silke -
Thanks for the songs. My soul has been soothed. ;)
Nycerbarb
Post a Comment