They all warned us. The geniuses at Peace Now. The brilliant diplomats. The think tanks. 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 in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to "freeze" their construction, and 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 the streets of Cairo and across the Middle East feel any better? Would they feel less oppressed?
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 has 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 was jailed in Jordan or a gay man was tortured in Egypt or a woman was 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 U.N. 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 those Israel bashers, during all the years they put Israel under their critical and hypocritical microscope, 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, freedom of religion and freedom to vote that Israel gives its people? And offer them the economic opportunities they would get in Israel? Why don't you treat your Jewish citizens the same way Israel treats its Arab 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 1 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? And that it was as stable and reliable and free and open as Israel?
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 killed for protesting on the street, and the looming threat that one Egyptian Pharaoh may be replaced by an even more oppressive one, I've never felt more proud of being a supporter of the Jewish state.
9 comments:
Absolutely Brilliant!
You have managed to sum it up perfectly!
No more needs to even be said!
People (Jews & gentile) criticize Israel because Israel is wrong, and because they expect more from Israel.
The fact that someone is crueler does not justify being "mildly cruel". The fact that Mubarak & Sadaam Hussein treat Arabs like they did, does not give Israel the right to treat Arabs like we do.
America can not bring back slavery because "blacks should be thankful they are not starving in Africa".
Do I wish the Egyptian people had it as good as we do in terms of freedom, democracy, etc.? Sometimes. Then again, it might just be a matter of time until an Arab-like Jewish dictatorship would have us jealous at the bravery of our southern neighbors.
It's hard to understand this illogical comment.
Paragraph one: Israel is criticized because it is "wrong".
Yes, Israel is sometimes wrong, certainly not wrong as often as it is criticized.
I don't want to spend any more time trying to get into Adam's brain. It's not worth the energy.
Alas, Mr. Suissa - you have instant proof of just why the truth doesnt work: bigots (yes, BIGOTS, "Adam" - you have the bigotry of double standards for Jews & low expectations for Arabs) absolutely refuse to grasp any fact that refutes their bigotry.
Adam,
I don't live in Israel. Apparently you do. But here in the US, we have lots of people like you who will not accept the simple truths in this article. I know... words like "truth" whip people like you into a sophomoric lather. "Israel is wrong" is all you are good for, for now. But if you stay in Israel long enough, and if Israel stays exactly the way it is, you will look back on these days of heady naivete and thank your lucky stars that you lived in a place where the human spirit can actually flourish - no matter if you're Arab, Israeli, Jewish, Christian or Muslim. For now, you'll just have to be content with not getting it, at all. It's your choice whether to share that with the rest of the world.
I can't agree with you more!
True, excellent post , Greetings from Managua, Nicaragua.
Hi, David! Your great column has gone viral! A friend of mine in Portland, Oregon just forwarded it to me and several of her closest friends!
It sickens me to see how many people refuse to see what a shining beacon of democracy and freedom Israel is..as much as it can be given Israel's situation of being surrounded by enemies and haters.
I understand some of the frustration Suissa feels, yes, there are those who constantly rail against Israel, as if nothing they can do is right, but the opposite of that view is just as flawed...
As one who criticizes, buts supports Israel, just as I do the US, I was not comfortable with what sounded like an implication that only those critics deserve chiding for not speaking out against the injustices occurring in Arab countries
I know that I have been an "equal opportunity" critic of injustice, wherever it occurs, & that many others, even those who include Israel in their criticisms, do as well. These kinds of unsubstantiated "well you never hear them talk about ..." cheap shots are all too common in today's current political environment, & only devalue the writer's point & credibility.
Do you really KNOW they aren't criticizing Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, etc? And even more relevant, where is all the public outrage towards the abuses in these other nations by the partisan, pro-Israel following? IMHO, I don't hear too much from anyone, especially our government, but we all know why that is, that three-letter word that sounds like Popeye's girlfriend's last name!
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