Why does the truth bother the Jewish Left?
I've already discussed the significance of Danny Ayalon's video, asserting Jewish claims to Judea and Samaria, and I showed you the video here. On Thursday, Ayalon had a debate with Jeffrey Goldberg on Twitter. Goldberg objected to the video. Jonathan Tobin explains why. For Goldberg, the mere mention of Jewish rights (whose validity he later acknowledged during the course of the Twitter debate) is wrong. The fact that the West Bank is the heart of the historic Jewish homeland, that there never was a Palestinian nation to which this land should be “returned,” that Jordan’s occupation of the West Bank was illegal and that Israel came into the possession of it during a war of self defense may be true, but to Goldberg, it is a truth that should never, ever be mentioned. To speak of the West Bank as disputed territory rather than “occupied Arab land” is beyond the pale, because it hurts the feelings of the Palestinians and puts the two claims on a level playing field. According to this point of view, anything said that could in any way buttress the arguments of Jews who believe large parts of the West Bank must be retained by Israel in a peace settlement is the sort of information that clearly must be suppressed.I had my own brief dust-up with Goldberg on Twitter on Friday - it ended because the Sabbath started here.
Goldberg’s side of the argument consisted mainly of him saying he knew what Ayalon really meant, and extremists agreed with him. But he never answered Ayalon’s question, because he didn’t have one. The assertion of Jewish rights to the West Bank doesn’t mean those rights can or will be exercised in all or even part of the land. But it does mean any negotiation over the land ought not to be conducted as a trial in which Israel is put in the dock for being in possession of stolen property.
That is the beauty of Ayalon’s video. It corrects the lies about Israel that have for too long gone unanswered even by its supposed advocates in its Foreign Ministry. But for those who want Israel to merely shut up and hand over all the land to the Palestinian Authority with no questions asked, the truth about the West Bank shouldn’t be told.
For too long, Israel's Foreign Ministry has been more interested in advocating for the 'Palestinians' than in advocating for Israel. Is that now changing? Will the Jewish Left openly abandon Israel if we assert our rights? What could go wrong?
Labels: Danny Ayalon, Jeffrey Goldberg, Jonathan Tobin, Judea and Samaria
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:20 AM
5 Comments:
Let the Jewish left decamp to Norway. in fact, they should be deported there! They will love the atmosphere, heavy with anti-semitism and hatred for Israel, full of murderous raping mozlem immigrants!
There is one possible solution, send the pro-Palestinian Jews to Jordon, Syria, the West Bank and/or to Gaza. Perhaps a taste of life as it really is, as opposed to how they envision it, might make them a little more appreciative of what they want everyone else to surrender.
All else failing, the Palestinians will stand in the corner and excite their own exposed honor and shame nerve endings, so avoiding wounded sensibilities is a doomed Sisyphean folly. Ultimately, the crime of Israel is that its Jews are breathing Palestinian air. That said, although there never was a Palestinian national community, descended from Ishmael's seed in days of yore, there were Arabs in the neighborhood since the Islamic conquest in the 7th century.
For too long, Israel's Foreign Ministry has been more interested in advocating for the 'Palestinians' than in advocating for Israel.
Exactly. it's about time Israel took control of the narrative. Words have consequences. Israel has continually refused to take command of the language by "following from behind," as it were. For example, for decades, Israel refused to use our historically correct names for the areas in dispute - and they are just that, in dispute - Judea and Samaria. They have cowered from false accusations of "illegal occupation", which never would have been part of the anti-Israel lexicon, if Israel hadn't refused to take charge of the language in the first place.
Israel is reaping what it sowed during years of neglect. Now, finally coming to terms with this foolish and damaging neglect, some elements in Israel's government have finally bucked up the courage to speak the language of truth.
Goldberg, and other Israel-haters, can stick their ignorant heads back in the sand.
Re Israel, it seems to me that the reason Danny Ayalon's current efforts are making a splash and these leftists (not just Jews) look a little mentally ill is because Israel has already tried all the hair brained ideas the left has pushed for decades. You've tried it all and have given the Palestinians and other regional neighbors EVERY benefit of the doubt to have a better life (on this earth). Your consulates even gushed over Obama during the last election. OMG. And Israel has sent a large number of leftists trained in your universities into the U.S. and they are technologically fabulous, but some are helping to institute the Leftist ideology in the U.S. So I agree that it is a good time to be putting out accurate narrative before the internationals (and your own in-house "internationals") can shove you over the cliff into suicide.
Re the Jews on the left in the U.S., they have a lifetime of striving for sophistication in relativism, "accepting" things as they are, don't judge me man, hipness, awesomeness, lovely life in latte-ville, calling for redistribution while they swim in their swimming pool... I think they are in that last kernel in the polls who still support all this leftist destruction of the U.S. system. It's only fair (but they don't figure it will affect them or their families personally, just ask Rahm).
In summary, the "Jewish Left" is not just in the U.S. (or from the U.S.). Go, Danny, go!
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