YouTube comments as evidence of morale and wishful thinking

Submitted by PezDispenser (Israel), Aug 4, 2017 at 05:14

Dr. Pipes,

YouTube, as you may know, is one of the virtual battlefields where anti-Zionists particularly relish leaving their thoughts (and typically curses) on almost every single Israel-related video, including non-political videos. While it's possible to dismiss the trash talk, I find one type of comment congruent with your point about the need to recognize and crush the Palestinian will as a cornerstone of future US and Israeli policy. Specifically, I noticed countless times where Palestinians and/or their allies write about their rock-solid belief in the soon approaching defeat of Israel. It's not just an eventual defeat, but something they believe is around the corner. This is very telling about the motivation to keep the conflict going.

It is also ludicrous for those of us who see reality, but this is proof of their utter delusion. What's galling is that they have no evidence of Palestinian achievements in any realm (e.g. military strength, economics, etc.) vis-a-vis Israel but they are confident in ultimate victory! How this delusion might eventually be "popped" might be the equivalent to your defeat/ demoralization concept. It mystifies me how so many people can be trapped in this odd group-think. Even the Egyptians and Jordanian leaderships realized their defeats at a certain point and dropped armed conflict in favor of cold diplomacy. That said, you have an uphill battle, since group-think is not unique to the Palestinians - the Democrats will be a tough enough sell.

By the way, as Herzl once said, "at Basel I founded the Jewish State." One day people might say that "in Washington and Jerusalem, you founded the Israeli-Palestinian peace."

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