I never expect much good when I read The New Republic, but today, I was truly disappointed by what I saw. John Judis has a piece in TNR discussing who is to blame for the current fighting in Gaza. Given Judis' political orientation, I was not surprised to see that he blamed Israel. Indeed, the column was actually quite funny. It starts with Judis saying that he will not defend the rocketing by Hamas of Israeli civilians. Nor will he attack the kidnapping and murder of Israelis by Hamas terrorists. Then Judis ignores these causes of the fighting and goes on to blame Israel. Why, you may ask? According to Judis, it is because Israel is one of the last colonialist powers in the world, and Hamas is an anti-colonial movement.
There is no word to use about this paradigm imposed by Judis other than to call it a lie. Israel is hardly a colonial power. But Judis says that the Israelis have built all sorts of settlements (principally in East Jerusalem) since 1967, so they are colonizing Palestine.
Let's just stop here. East Jerusalem is better known as the old city of Jerusalem. It is the Jerusalem that existed for centuries before the expansion of the city and the construction of more modern areas commencing around 1900. In other words, East Jerusalem is just plain old Jerusalem during the 3000 years before the founding of Israel. During those 3000 years, there were Jews who lived in East Jerusalem until 1948 when the Arabs evicted all of the Jewish inhabitants of the old city of Jerusalem. Families whose roots went back centuries in that city were ousted from their homes. Judis ignores all that. When the Jews who were evicted from their ancient capital moved back into the old city just 19 years later, they suddenly became a colonial movement. This was not Jews moving back into an area from which they had been forcible ousted just 19 years before. No, this was some sort of colonial movement.
The idea that Israel is a colonial power is ludicrous. It is just another lie told by the left to justify their anti-Israeli positions.
There is no word to use about this paradigm imposed by Judis other than to call it a lie. Israel is hardly a colonial power. But Judis says that the Israelis have built all sorts of settlements (principally in East Jerusalem) since 1967, so they are colonizing Palestine.
Let's just stop here. East Jerusalem is better known as the old city of Jerusalem. It is the Jerusalem that existed for centuries before the expansion of the city and the construction of more modern areas commencing around 1900. In other words, East Jerusalem is just plain old Jerusalem during the 3000 years before the founding of Israel. During those 3000 years, there were Jews who lived in East Jerusalem until 1948 when the Arabs evicted all of the Jewish inhabitants of the old city of Jerusalem. Families whose roots went back centuries in that city were ousted from their homes. Judis ignores all that. When the Jews who were evicted from their ancient capital moved back into the old city just 19 years later, they suddenly became a colonial movement. This was not Jews moving back into an area from which they had been forcible ousted just 19 years before. No, this was some sort of colonial movement.
The idea that Israel is a colonial power is ludicrous. It is just another lie told by the left to justify their anti-Israeli positions.
No comments:
Post a Comment