...Western governments, including
Obama administration officials had no comment on the continuing violence in dozens of nations throughout the world but were quick to condemn the new building.
United States Vice President Joe Biden stated emphatically that the new building was "an impediment to world peace," adding later that "if only the Israelis would stop building schools, roads, farms and electric grids the smoke monster would be imprisoned forever on the Lost island and we would finally get an answer as to why Walt was so important to the Others. Also, settlements are an impediment to world peace, did I mention that yet?"
Experts calculated that in the time it took Biden to make that statement an additional 139 Darfurians had their houses burned down by pro-Sudanese government militias, 54 Congolese people starved to death due to war-induced famine and 11 Rwandans were killed in tribal warfare.
Obama administration officials would not comment on any of these
ongoing international conflicts but indicated that they would be happily discuss the newest snow removal laws passed in Jerusalem.
Has there ever been a more ridiculous rift between two allies than the
recent scuffle between the Obama administration and Netanyahu over the new housing project announcements in Jerusalem? In all sincerity, I'm serious - historically, have two friends fought SO PUBLICLY over something as absurd as a new housing unit that it becomes an international incident, discussed by pundits at every level of the political spectrum? Think of the town you live in...can you imagine if anytime you wanted to widen a road or build a new community center or pass a new littering ordinance, that the leaders of 95 different countries would weigh in and gave you their opinion on what they thought about it? It would be crazy!
Regular readers will recall that I'm a firm believer that until the Israelis have
someone legitimate to actually sit down at a negotiating table with (that isn't plotting their destruction as soon as the class is dismissed for the day and the teacher's back is turned), that they shouldn't alter any of their settlement plans for anyone.
I also am in firm agreement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Jerusalem (that's the Israeli CAPITAL for those keeping score at home) is NOT a settlement, is NOT negotiable and should NOT be treated in the same way as a random trailer park in the middle of a sea of Gaza or West Bank Arabs. And I've also made it very clear that even these "illegal outposts" are just
used as scapegoats anyway by
anti-Zionists and as excuses for why the Palestinians just can't resist the urge to shoot rockets at innocent men women and children in
Sderot and Ashkelon.
But to even discuss this issue and the public spectacle Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have made of it in this context is lending too much credence to it. This isn't a core conflict issue at all. The Israelis haven't changed their housing policy in Jerusalem since the
Johnson administration - including all through the Oslo Accord negotiations! Hillary's husband never had a problem with Jews living in Jerusalem...why does she?
By the way, here's another reminder that a few thousand people senselessly died today between Congo, Rwanda, Darfur, Sri Lanka, Somalia,
Iran, Mexico and the Philippines due to starvation, drug wars, ethnic cleansings, communist insurgencies, Islamic fundamentalism, sectarian violence and other ills of society that all the wonderfully
tolerant idealists were supposed to have solved back in the 20th century. Maybe it's time we started spending our time/resources fixing these problems instead of telling Jews where they are or aren't allowed to live? Oh wait, nevermind - none of those countries threaten to shut off our oil faucets if we don't do what they say.
Finally, doesn't anyone else see it as more than just a little racist that there is all this uproar when Jews want to build new houses or expand old ones in this part of the world? Can you imagine if you wanted to expand your attic in order to add another room to your house but were told you couldn't...not because of safety or occupancy issues but rather because you were Italian or Irish or Mexican or whatever and the United Nations had zoned your street as an "immigrant-free" zone? Ignore for a minute the Biblical or
historical ties to the land that Jews claim...strip away for a minute the conflicts and the talking points and whatever side you're on.
You have a group of people who LEGALLY PAID for property but are being told "sorry, you can't live here because you don't celebrate Christmas or Ramadan" - I'm pretty sure that's the kind of completely institutionalized racism entire
liberal civil rights movements have been based on. Think about it, would that attitude be acceptable in ANY other part of the world that isn't a complete fascist cesspool?
And yet, who are the ones screaming to keep the Jews out of Jerusalem (along with the West Bank and elsewhere)? You guessed it...
Discrimination against Jews: not just for southern country clubs anymore
People who call themselves "liberals" or progressives. Also known as the same people that demanded equal rights for Blacks in the 60's...so why the double standard when it comes to Jews living in their historical homeland?
As if that wasn't enough, anti-Semitic violence was
up over 100% in 2009 - good thing we elected a hope and change president who was going to make us all much safer than his cowboy predecessor the
through dialogue instead of action. And lest you think that this only about the president, here's some
additional less-than-startling news from
Rosner about the widening divide in Washington between Republicans and Democrats on the topic of Israel:
In a poll commissioned by the Arab American Institute last month, respondents were asked whether Obama should "steer a middle course" in the Middle East - code for not clearly supporting Israel. "There is a strong divide on this question," Zogby reported, "with 73 percent of Democrats agreeing that the President should steer a middle course while only 24 percent of Republicans hold the same opinion."
Can you honestly consider yourself
"pro-Israel" and call for moral-equivalence between Hamas and Israel?
So fellow Jews, I ask again, is it time yet to start admitting what a terrible mistake approximately
77% of us made? Or are we going to keep pulling the wool over our own eyes and pretending we aren't completely
burying ourselves like we always do? I mean hey,
Ed Koch is willing to man up and admit it, can you?
Because admitting our problem is step 1 on the path to
rectifying it.
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