Submitted by Ron Thompson (United States), May 31, 2016 at 14:18
As long as a large majority in the United States remain solidly pro-Israel, this article probably should not end on the downbeat/inaccurate note of israel's "cooling relations with the West." And
I'm not sure the "warming" relations with some of their neighbors, while certainly as welcome as they are ironic, are any more than tactical, and hence speedily reversible.
The bulk of this sobering article, digging into the details of a foolish UN report and pointing out
the juicy details of where some of Israel's worst enemies send their relatives for medical treatment,
raises a question that has bothered me for decades: WHY DOESN'T IT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE?
That is, why doesn't repeated analysis of the glaring contrast, on many, many levels, between the actions and thought of Israelis and the actions and thought of their enemies, make any difference in the judgement of so many people and governments?
Indeed why do we have the curious moral inversion where the aggressors are the victims, while the physically tiny target of aggression, which conducts its defense with overwhelmingly and almost unnervingly civilized behavior, is the Bad Guy?
I think one reason, perhaps the biggest, is the 'missing piece' of the puzzle. That is, the failure of all parties to, with the exception of only a few scattered individuals, name the ultimate cause of this lunatic enmity (I almost slipped and said envy, which might actually be better), which is Mohammed's religion, the commandments in His Koran, and the perpetuation of His teachings by thousands of Muslim clerics around the world.
How can the critics of Israel possibly be fully answered, and put on the defensive where they deserve to be, if the central cause of the greatest existential threat to World peace, as well as to Israel's existence, remains a taboo topic to discuss and debate openly? This omission, this vacuum, this gigantic taboo, creates an open door for so many to rush in and point the finger at what and who is NOT taboo, that is the behavior of Israel and its citizens.
Here's just one suggestion of what could be discussed but for the taboo, vacuum, omission.
We hear constantly that a "twisted" or "perverted" ... "interpretation " of Islam is responsible for all the terrorism in its name and for the anti-semitism of most Muslims.
Well, why doesn't the question get asked, "Why is Islam so 'twistable' and 'pervertable' that thousands of Muslim from over 150 countries rushed to join what they thought was a utopia showing the rest of the world the best way to live - a utopia which they knew was founded on violence and barbaric behavior.
Shouldn't it be a fit topic for discussion that Islam is either a very wicked religion, if the worst people in Islam are the Best Muslims, or it is a pathetically weak religion if it's peaceful message is so readily hijacked in the service of a worldwide barbarism whose most numerous victims (so far) are other Muslims.
Even if the utopia of the Islamic state appears to be starting to crumble, if the ideology/religion which gave it birth remains a prohibited and taboo topic, then we can expect only a remission of the Islamic commandment of world conquest, and that we shall have to face another ISIS threat in the future.
For that commandment is exactly how the impulse to world conquest was resurrected some 70 or 90 years ago after centuries of stagnation, depending on whether you date it from 1928 (birth of the Muslim brotherhood) or 1948 (founding of Israel).
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