When you, an avid reader of Jerusalem Post, go through another editorial by Caroline Glick (to take one, but outstanding, example), the customary feeling of gloom and doom sinks its talons into your sensitive soul. It makes your morning pita taste just the same as that highly hygienic sliced white bread you get from a plastic bag. Syrians are already climbing the fence, Hezbollah is horribly bemissiled, Hamas is finishing a burrow to get to the Prime Minister’s office and Mahmoud the Mad is priming the warhead on the doomsday machine.
If you read it here in Israel, your pita still retains a bit of its taste. After all, we all know that our Caroline is, how to say it gently, a bit too overexcited. Just because a certain knight in his slightly tattered armor has not yet unseated that weasel who somehow insinuated himself in the PM’s chair and who doesn’t show any signs of getting off. Anyhow, we understand her bitterness.
But if you are Jooish abroad, your pita’s taste is definitely off. Your day is destroyed, your digestion is ruined and, short of running to the airport to take the first flight to Ben Gurion and start saving us the moment you step of the plane, a fat check to AJC or JNF is your only recourse to some semblance of healing.
And if you are a non-Jooish sympathizer, you just wonder what keeps IDF from tearing all these vicious enemies to bits in one mighty swoop. And your conclusion is that these commie peaceniks at the helm are too impotent to do anything useful and thus condemn the country to speedy demise.
Well, I think that there is something in the way of relief. It is not that Syrians don’t have a look now and then at the fence or that Hezbollah is not horribly bemissiled. It is just that we need to step back from the hype from time to time to get some sense of proportion. Which is hard to do if you are an avid reader… but this is how I have started this post. In any case, the article Israel Is Strong – Really by professor Barry Rubin of GLORIA Center does exactly this.
Let’s face it: after almost 2,000 years in exile and only 60 years of Israel as a sovereign nation, it still feels funny for Jews, especially those outside of Israel, to have a state.
That, along with other factors, makes it easy to underestimate Israel’s success and security. However, though at first glance it might seem counter-intuitive to say so, Israel today is stronger, more secure and in a better strategic position than at just about any time in its history.
Read the whole article before you go for that pita. And Bon Appetit!
Cross-posted on SimplyJews.
After eight days of matzah, I know lots of folks who wouldn’t care *how* dull that Pita tastes! You should have seen the line at Dunkin Donuts this morning.
I’m the exception – I love matza and prefer it to bread.
Appreciate the link, Meryl. You can put me on the non-Jewish fairly conservative end of your insightful analysis of friends of Israel. I will keep this article in mind the next time I get to grinding my teeth! I still think Olmert is a stinker though.
My own reaction to the article was, “Well, duh!” It’s painfully obvious that with the USSR no longer around to arm Israel’s enemies, Israel is now far safer than it’s been for most of its history. And even when Israel began a war imprudently against Lebanon in 2006, the Israelis acheived a modest victory anyway.
A more interesting question is, considering that Israel is generally secure, why does America give Israel aid? It seems unnecessary to give aid to a first world country facing third world foes, rather than simply allowing Israel to purchase American military equipment.
First, Lefty, Israel did not start the 2006 war in Lebanon, Hezbollah did, by attacking Israel troops in Israel. That is an act of war. The Arabs were horrified when Israel shot back; in the Arab mind that is cheating. Bad enough that so many people around the world seem to take the Arab view on that, but blaming Israel for starting a war started by Israel’s deadly enemies is really too rich.
Secondly, if the USA does not continue to help Israel, a tiny country (the size of New Jersey) in the midst of enemies, I think that Israel will not be secure for long. Personally I’m kind of pleased that the USA is helping to prevent the Muslims from finishing the job Hitler started, and if it earns us the enmity of fascists and religious fanatics who hate all non-Muslims, they can shove their enmity, as hard as possible, where the sun doesn’t shine.
And if they come to kill us over this issue they should be made to regret their evil stupidity very strongly for a very long time, those who survive the experience. So far in the war against the jihadist terrorists we have not exerted a tithe of the power we could exert. Any smart Muslims out there had better pray to Allah, five times a day, that we never do feel the need to exert more.
Dear Lefty,
“Well, duh!†is a healthy response to any article and shows that you carry the necessary charge of skepticism. Always good.
Re the continuing US help – there are several good reasons for it:
1. While the amount of help (something in the region of 2.5 B) will not cripple the Israeli economy if it is ceased, it will create a sizable dent that simply cannot be covered without a serious imbalance.
2. No less important than the money by itself is the availability of the military stuff that is purchased using this money. There are not a lot of countries that will readily replace US in this regard.
3. The money (most of it, at least) goes back to the US suppliers, who are quite happy about it.
4. The amount of testing done by Israeli pilots, armored troops, technicians, etc. is indirectly paying back a lot of money to the military equipment suppliers, DoD and its branches, so it is not all a loss.
There is more, but the above should be sufficient.
I would describe the 2006 war as a Hizbullah-initiated border skirmish which Israel escalated into a full-fledged war by invading Lebanon. The Israelis were certainly within their rights to go after Hizbullah, though whether it was very smart to do so is another question. But my original point is that even that war, fought against Israel’s most dangerous foe at the moment, was an Israeli success despite the gloom and doom assessments of that war you often hear. If Israel ever goes against Hizbullah again the Israelis will inevitably prevail.
“Secondly, if the USA does not continue to help Israel, a tiny country (the size of New Jersey) in the midst of enemies, I think that Israel will not be secure for long.” And therein lies the debate. Israel has made peace with Egypt and Jordan, the Syrians are so weak they can’t even take back the Golan Heights, the Palestinians have no tanks or aircraft, and the Israelis can go after Hizbullah any time they want. Considering the relative weakness of Israel’s foes, and considering that Israel is basically richer than Portugal and has an increasingly prosperous high-tech economy, it’s hard to see why Israel requires military or economic aid.
For one thing Lefty, direct US aid is a signal to all the brutal racists there that the US really does back Israel, and if the latter was faced with an ultimate crisis her enemies cannot count us out. You’d be amazed what small lapses convince despots that it is safe to start a war. Look at April Glaspie’s mistake with Saddam.
Incidentally if we did rat on Israel, the way we did on South Vietnam and the way so many (mostly on the left but some on the right) here want to do to the Iraqis, we would not earn any gratitude from the Arabs for such a cowardly performance. James Baker and other “realists” are deluding themselves if they think that. What we would get is undying contempt from the Arabs for ratting on our friends.
Furthermore Arabs tend to become overoptimistic about their ability to make war when they perceive weakness of will and can count on having a numerical superiority of men and weapons. This perception may be, indeed is likely to be, inaccurate, but the perception leads to war. That is what happened in both 1967 and 1973.
Egypt’s peace with Israel is a frigidly cold one. The Egyptian government constantly spews out vicious antisemitic propaganda to its people and to others in the Middle East and the world. It was Egypt, for example, that recently made a huge multi-part TV series from the “Protocal of the Elders of Zion.” That’s the book, remember, that has been called the Warrant for Genocide, and the government of Egypt has been popularizing it.
The minute the Arabs think they can win against Israel you’ll see them all joining up to do the job. The tropes of “Arab Unity” wiil flow like water ove Niagra Falls, at any rate until the war is done. Better not to let them get any such perceptions that they can win, even if false.
I totally disagree.
It might feel funny for that author that Israel exists, but speaking as a Jew living outside Israel, its not the least bit “funny” (aka. Odd) to me.
Furthermore, the situation we are in is NOT hype.
Israel is surrounded by openly genocidal enemies. Israel’s enemies are ideologically strong. Israel is threatened with nuclear extermination. Israel’s leadership is weak. Israel’s government is weakening the country and leading us towards national suicide. Israel’s so-called “allies” (such as America) are helping pave the way for Israel’s destruction.
This is reality – and its time we tried to accept and then change this reality rather than pretending it were different.
@Lefty:
First ask yourself why you are giving over $3 billion money to Egypt – and more to other Arab nations.
Steven,
Leaving aside your dispute with Lefty (I notice that he hasn’t replied to my answer), your level of anxiety about Israel is (probably) precisely due to the fact that you are not living here. You, and many other brothers and sisters living abroad display the same syndrome – undue anxiety for us local siblings.
Both I (the author of the post) and prof. Rubin (the author of the article that is linked from this post) live in Israel. This explains the different outlook.
You have described the dangers quite succinctly, and no one will argue with you. Just a question: so what else is new? New tools for mass destruction, new weaponry etc. – this could be surmounted as long as we are united.
Otherwise, we should worry, but not to the level of distraction – it is bad for one’s liver and stomach (I highly value both).
Cheers and best.