Israel is a democracy, but no amount of spin can mask the fact that a democratic state cannot permanently rule over another people who are denied the basic rights of citizenship.
-- Paul Gross, The Jerusalem Post
The above statement by Paul Gross sounds good, especially to liberal Jews who typically demonstrate a shallow understanding of realities even as they embrace mindless principles that end up in their own destruction.
The situation Israel faces conjures up to the mind a scene of lambs declaring grand principles of love, tolerance, and brotherhood and then expecting jackals to adhere to them. It is of course an impossible situation since the principles the lambs advocate go against the reality of a jackal species that are by nature fixated on the devouring of the lambs. But that lamb reality is the situation to which Paul Gross in the Jerusalem Post subscribes.
There is even a historical situation in which a side died for principle: the case of the Jewish warriors who rested on the Sabbath day against the Roman soldiers and got themselves slaughtered. Surely we can do better than that today.
The point here is that some of the so called "human rights principles," like the "self determination" that President Wilson declared, could very well lead to the destruction of innocents when the principles are wielded by aggressors who use it to accomplish their ends. As the world witnessed, Hitler used these grand principles -- more sensible when put into operation in a utopian world of love and brotherhood that exists only ideally or in imagination -- to get control of the strategic territory of Czechoslovakia and plunge the world into war. Those Wilsonian principles, as I heard Menachem Begin explain, are principles that sound good but that in practical terms are recipes for endless war and, in the case of Israel, her national destruction.
Consider the situation of Israel, surrounded by Arab enemies who are determined to destroy her since its existence goes against Islamic religious principles that lands once controlled by Islam must forever remain under Islamic control. This principle is a crowd pleaser both among the Arab masses and Arab leaders. Add to the situation the about 20 to 30% of Israel's Arab citizens that subscribe to this view as do 100% of the Arabs of the territories that Israel controls.
In these terms, these Arabs, both in and out of the green lines, are not a minority but are part of a majority in the region of Arabs that demand Israel's destruction. They are only a "minority" in the microcosm of the limited area
of Israel. In actuality, it is Israel that is a minority in the region, a minority faced by the 150 million and more Arab majority that seeks its blood. In these terms, the Arabs within the Israeli controlled perimeter are not a minority but part of a majority, the vanguard of Arab efforts to return the land of Israel to the control of the Islamic realm.
As we see, Paul Gross, on the basis of an unworkable principle, in effect, advocates a decisive surrender of Israel to the Arab goal of removing Israel from the region. The Arab population that Gross would accommodate in a new Arab state would then take on their role more vigorously within the Arab realm of pushing Israel back to non- existence, all with Israel's help.
The fact is that some principles are not of such caliber that they must override even more important principles: the right of a nation to preserve itself against deadly, implacable enemies. Thus the so-called dilemma Israel faces is not a dilemma at all, were Israel's leaders not obsessed with high sounding, unworkable, leftist ideological principles that, if followed, are sure to lead to Israel's destruction as occurred to Czechoslovakia in 1939.
I won't go into detail about this here, but the Allies after World War II recognized the problem and took action to safeguard the future of Europe to prevent such a thing that Hitler exploited and what the Arabs are today exploiting. Israel ought to learn from the mindless disasters that have occurred to well-meaning nations because they confused seemingly high-minded ideals with the possibilities under the realities of a world that does not operate ideally -- a world in which ruthless aggressors exploit all the weaknesses of poorly thought through principles to enable them to conquer their victims.
No nation today is as dedicated to mindless and insane grand principles than is Israel, which constantly makes the choice of taking the path that will lead it to become what it thinks is the most righteous nation in the graveyard, rather than counter the evil intent of its adversaries by taking the same action that Western nations took when faced with similar circumstances. Israel's current way is not a formula for its survival, and Israelis ought to get themselves leaders that are dedicated to the nation's survival rather than to being the most righteous in the graveyard.
-- Paul Gross, The Jerusalem Post
The above statement by Paul Gross sounds good, especially to liberal Jews who typically demonstrate a shallow understanding of realities even as they embrace mindless principles that end up in their own destruction.
The situation Israel faces conjures up to the mind a scene of lambs declaring grand principles of love, tolerance, and brotherhood and then expecting jackals to adhere to them. It is of course an impossible situation since the principles the lambs advocate go against the reality of a jackal species that are by nature fixated on the devouring of the lambs. But that lamb reality is the situation to which Paul Gross in the Jerusalem Post subscribes.
There is even a historical situation in which a side died for principle: the case of the Jewish warriors who rested on the Sabbath day against the Roman soldiers and got themselves slaughtered. Surely we can do better than that today.
The point here is that some of the so called "human rights principles," like the "self determination" that President Wilson declared, could very well lead to the destruction of innocents when the principles are wielded by aggressors who use it to accomplish their ends. As the world witnessed, Hitler used these grand principles -- more sensible when put into operation in a utopian world of love and brotherhood that exists only ideally or in imagination -- to get control of the strategic territory of Czechoslovakia and plunge the world into war. Those Wilsonian principles, as I heard Menachem Begin explain, are principles that sound good but that in practical terms are recipes for endless war and, in the case of Israel, her national destruction.
Consider the situation of Israel, surrounded by Arab enemies who are determined to destroy her since its existence goes against Islamic religious principles that lands once controlled by Islam must forever remain under Islamic control. This principle is a crowd pleaser both among the Arab masses and Arab leaders. Add to the situation the about 20 to 30% of Israel's Arab citizens that subscribe to this view as do 100% of the Arabs of the territories that Israel controls.
In these terms, these Arabs, both in and out of the green lines, are not a minority but are part of a majority in the region of Arabs that demand Israel's destruction. They are only a "minority" in the microcosm of the limited area
of Israel. In actuality, it is Israel that is a minority in the region, a minority faced by the 150 million and more Arab majority that seeks its blood. In these terms, the Arabs within the Israeli controlled perimeter are not a minority but part of a majority, the vanguard of Arab efforts to return the land of Israel to the control of the Islamic realm.
As we see, Paul Gross, on the basis of an unworkable principle, in effect, advocates a decisive surrender of Israel to the Arab goal of removing Israel from the region. The Arab population that Gross would accommodate in a new Arab state would then take on their role more vigorously within the Arab realm of pushing Israel back to non- existence, all with Israel's help.
The fact is that some principles are not of such caliber that they must override even more important principles: the right of a nation to preserve itself against deadly, implacable enemies. Thus the so-called dilemma Israel faces is not a dilemma at all, were Israel's leaders not obsessed with high sounding, unworkable, leftist ideological principles that, if followed, are sure to lead to Israel's destruction as occurred to Czechoslovakia in 1939.
I won't go into detail about this here, but the Allies after World War II recognized the problem and took action to safeguard the future of Europe to prevent such a thing that Hitler exploited and what the Arabs are today exploiting. Israel ought to learn from the mindless disasters that have occurred to well-meaning nations because they confused seemingly high-minded ideals with the possibilities under the realities of a world that does not operate ideally -- a world in which ruthless aggressors exploit all the weaknesses of poorly thought through principles to enable them to conquer their victims.
No nation today is as dedicated to mindless and insane grand principles than is Israel, which constantly makes the choice of taking the path that will lead it to become what it thinks is the most righteous nation in the graveyard, rather than counter the evil intent of its adversaries by taking the same action that Western nations took when faced with similar circumstances. Israel's current way is not a formula for its survival, and Israelis ought to get themselves leaders that are dedicated to the nation's survival rather than to being the most righteous in the graveyard.