You may have noticed that on April 16, 2003, a group of disgruntled Iraqi civilians decided to throw rocks at US troops in Iraq. The GIs mowed them down and killed ten; for rock throwing. I mention this because, of course, the position of the US State Department has long been that when Palestinians throw rocks at Jews it is mere symbolic protest, not violence and certainly not terrorism. Heck, even Edward Said joined the fun and threw rocks at the Jews.
Now, I think this event is just the trigger that we need to issue a call to the leaders of Israel to abandon their failed policies and follow in the footsteps of the United States. Israel needs to accept the US role model, since the US is the world?s superpower and a great democracy. Israel needs to do some Americanized homework, and adopt some American ways. It needs to take some lessons from the great cradle of liberty.
To help things along, we have made a partial list.
Following the example of the Americans:
1. When Arabs throw rocks at Jews, Israeli troops should mow them down with automatic fire. It does not matter if they are civilians; no rubber bullets;
2. When a country (Syria or Lebanon) aligns itself with terrorists who are launching atrocities against civilians, Israel should do to it (Syria or Lebanon) what the US did to Iraq;
3. When the leader of a country behaves belligerently, makes threats, plots assassinations, aids terrorists, and develops weapons of mass destruction, Israel should follow the US lead and drop smart bombs with a ton or so of explosives in them on the buildings in which Bashar al-Assad or his family can be shown to be staying;
4. When people complain about collateral damages and civilians killed in military operations, Israel should follow the American lead and say, ?Tough.?;
5. Since the US announced it was going to take harsh action against Iraqis who had looted national antiquities from museums and elsewhere and would hunt them down and deal with them in uncompromising ways, Israel should follow the US lead by expelling the PLO from the Temple Mount and from the area around Joseph?s Tomb in Nablus, where the PLO has similarly been systematically destroying antiquities;
6. When suspicious vehicles approach Israeli positions and troops, Israel should deal with them the same way the US did and does with suspicious vehicles in Iraq;
7. When terrorists hide in schools or hospitals or religious institutions, Israel should deal with them the American way;
8. Israel should follow the American lead and bomb Western human shields to smithereens;
9. When the UN or some snotty European countries support the enemies of your country, ignore them and publicly display your contempt for them;
10. Israel should follow the American lead and expel all hostile journalists from war zones and allow in only those who are not seeking to invent propaganda reports to discredit the country. In Israel?s case, any journalist who refers to terrorists as ?activists? or ?militants? would get deported;
11. Israel should encourage people to smack statues and photos of Arafat with their sandals;
12. Israel should capture, try for war crimes, and then hang Palestinians who mistreated Israeli POWs;
13. Israel should rename anything in the country whose name includes the term ?French?;
14. Israel should make it clear that the civilian needs of the Palestinians will be addressed only after all the violence stops;
15. Israel should insist that the eastern areas of Syria be converted into a semi-autonomous Kurdish area. Israel will then enforce a no-fly zone within 200 kilometers of the Golan Heights and will shoot down any Syrian object flying in that area;
16. Israel should insist that Syria?s oil industry and resources be seized, used to finance reparations to victims of Syrian aggression, and otherwise be held in escrow for a future democratic Syrian regime; and
17. Dissident expatriates from Syria, and especially emigrant Syrian Jews living in Israel, should be invited to seize the reins of power in liberated Syria. Similarly, expatriate Jews will be invited back into the liberated areas of Judea, Samaria and Gaza to set up residence and participate in nation building.
--------------------------------------------------------
Steven Plaut teaches at the University of Haifa and is author of The Scout (available from Gefen Publishing House: http://161.58.167.199/shop/indi_scout.htm).
Now, I think this event is just the trigger that we need to issue a call to the leaders of Israel to abandon their failed policies and follow in the footsteps of the United States. Israel needs to accept the US role model, since the US is the world?s superpower and a great democracy. Israel needs to do some Americanized homework, and adopt some American ways. It needs to take some lessons from the great cradle of liberty.
To help things along, we have made a partial list.
Following the example of the Americans:
1. When Arabs throw rocks at Jews, Israeli troops should mow them down with automatic fire. It does not matter if they are civilians; no rubber bullets;
2. When a country (Syria or Lebanon) aligns itself with terrorists who are launching atrocities against civilians, Israel should do to it (Syria or Lebanon) what the US did to Iraq;
3. When the leader of a country behaves belligerently, makes threats, plots assassinations, aids terrorists, and develops weapons of mass destruction, Israel should follow the US lead and drop smart bombs with a ton or so of explosives in them on the buildings in which Bashar al-Assad or his family can be shown to be staying;
4. When people complain about collateral damages and civilians killed in military operations, Israel should follow the American lead and say, ?Tough.?;
5. Since the US announced it was going to take harsh action against Iraqis who had looted national antiquities from museums and elsewhere and would hunt them down and deal with them in uncompromising ways, Israel should follow the US lead by expelling the PLO from the Temple Mount and from the area around Joseph?s Tomb in Nablus, where the PLO has similarly been systematically destroying antiquities;
6. When suspicious vehicles approach Israeli positions and troops, Israel should deal with them the same way the US did and does with suspicious vehicles in Iraq;
7. When terrorists hide in schools or hospitals or religious institutions, Israel should deal with them the American way;
8. Israel should follow the American lead and bomb Western human shields to smithereens;
9. When the UN or some snotty European countries support the enemies of your country, ignore them and publicly display your contempt for them;
10. Israel should follow the American lead and expel all hostile journalists from war zones and allow in only those who are not seeking to invent propaganda reports to discredit the country. In Israel?s case, any journalist who refers to terrorists as ?activists? or ?militants? would get deported;
11. Israel should encourage people to smack statues and photos of Arafat with their sandals;
12. Israel should capture, try for war crimes, and then hang Palestinians who mistreated Israeli POWs;
13. Israel should rename anything in the country whose name includes the term ?French?;
14. Israel should make it clear that the civilian needs of the Palestinians will be addressed only after all the violence stops;
15. Israel should insist that the eastern areas of Syria be converted into a semi-autonomous Kurdish area. Israel will then enforce a no-fly zone within 200 kilometers of the Golan Heights and will shoot down any Syrian object flying in that area;
16. Israel should insist that Syria?s oil industry and resources be seized, used to finance reparations to victims of Syrian aggression, and otherwise be held in escrow for a future democratic Syrian regime; and
17. Dissident expatriates from Syria, and especially emigrant Syrian Jews living in Israel, should be invited to seize the reins of power in liberated Syria. Similarly, expatriate Jews will be invited back into the liberated areas of Judea, Samaria and Gaza to set up residence and participate in nation building.
--------------------------------------------------------
Steven Plaut teaches at the University of Haifa and is author of The Scout (available from Gefen Publishing House: http://161.58.167.199/shop/indi_scout.htm).