An Israeli leftist almost comes face-to-face with reality
The Washington Post's post-global has a brief piece by one Hanna Rosin, an Israeli leftist who lives - where else - in the US. Ms. Rosin was recently in Israel visiting her right-wing relatives when she happened to catch Farfur the 'Palestinian' Mickey Mouse on Hamas television. It almost caused her to have an epiphany:"Tomorrow's Pioneers," which runs on a Hamas affiliated station, is not some nutcase cable access show. It's "educational television," the Hamas equivalent of Sesame Street or Baby Einstein, the kind of show that appeals to parents who think kids today spend too much time with their Game Boys. In some episodes Farfour tells kids to study hard for their exams and drink their milk. In other episodes he shows them how to hold an AK-47 and launch a hand grenade.Fortunately, in the next paragraph, Rosin returned to her 'senses.'
This is the hardest thing to get your head around. Martyr culture is not just for the hopeless youth of refugee camps. I remember once visiting a West bank school that was the Fatah-affiliated equivalent of Maret- a tony outpost for the children of professors and accountants. Even there the most prominent space was reserved for the Martyr's Wall, a collection of photos and bloody mementos of neighborhood kids who'd been killed while fighting the enemy. No youthful aspirations exist outside the context of the noble death wish. For a fourteen-year-old, to aspire to be just an accountant is shameful, a betrayal. To be a martyr is the ultimate goal.
We are once again in one of those moments when some American official is gamely setting out to tackle the Middle East peace process (in this case Condi Rice) But if anyone has one spark of hope for the success of such a process, the Martyred Mouse will kill it off. Even the most willfully blinkered lefty Israeli (such as myself) just has to throw up her hands at a preschool program that includes among its vocabulary phrases "murderers of innocent children" and "criminal plundering Jews." This seems only one step short of the child soldiers of Uganda, kidnapped by the Lord's Resistance Army. " "We will annihilate the Jews," one young female caller told Farfour."I will commit martyrdom."
One bit of good news: " Israel's Education Ministry announced Sunday that it had approved a textbook for use in the state's Arab schools that for the first time described Israel's 1948 war of independence as a 'catastrophe' for the Arab population," the New York Times reports. Hardly a radical concession, but still very controversial in Israel. The Education Minister, my relatives would point out with disgust, is of course a longtime, loyal Laborite.And a founder of
I wonder if Ms. Rosin is friendly with Olmert's son Shaul, who lives in New York.
By the way, when there's an election here, people like this charter airplanes to come here to vote (no absentee ballots unless you're in the army or the diplomatic corps). There are left-wing airplanes and right-wing airplanes. And with the number of leftists living abroad these days, those numbers can change the election results. Amazing, isn't it?
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:09 AM
4 Comments:
"Israel's Education Ministry announced Sunday that it had approved a textbook for use in the state's Arab schools that for the first time described Israel's 1948 war of independence as a 'catastrophe' for the Arab population,"
Hmmm...so it was a Laborite and one of the founders of Peace Now, a real dhimmi, who came up with that?...and what's next? While I'm not Jewish, I consider myself a firm friend and admirer of Israel and the Israeli people. That textbook really offends me. Sheesh! What's next? An official textbook in which Israel apologizes for Zionism and for it's own existence?
There's a really noxious, toxic strain of anti-Western Civilization among the West's neo-liberals. It would appear that at least some of Israel's Labor Party and Peace Now people are part of that strain. (Rather reminiscent of a long list of prominent "progressive" American Democrats.)
Rejecting the Judeo-Christian religious and cultural roots of the West is only the start of their sedition and subversion from within. Personally, I think they're much more dangerous and destructive than our Islamofascist enemies.
Dave,
Most of Israel's leftists are the type of neo-liberal you describe. As long as they can reject anything Jewish, they could care less what they have to reject along with it.
By the way, when there's an election here, people like this charter airplanes to come here to vote (no absentee ballots unless you're in the army or the diplomatic corps). There are left-wing airplanes and right-wing airplanes. And with the number of leftists living abroad these days, those numbers can change the election results. Amazing, isn't it?
Now there is a law that needs to be changed.
There ought to be, perhaps, a 6 month residency requirement to vote. At the very least, it would require these people to maintain homes here in Israel.
Folks who are sent overseas by their jobs (in the private sector, as you point out, the army and diplomatic corps are covered) should also be allowed an absentee ballot.
But the idea of chartering planes to come here for a week, just to vote, is highly offensive.
And for a personal disclaimer, yes, I'll apply for an absentee ballot in the next US election. But only at the Federal level, as I no longer have an address for State/local elections.
Michael,
Most of them don't even spend a week here. God forbid they should contribute to the economy! They come for a day - two days tops.
Post a Comment
<< Home