I normally leave the political commentary to others in the blogosphere. It's not that politics don't enter my world, but more that I don't feel the need to share my opinion on it very often. Today, I'm departing from this Cara's World policy, because I feel like it.
We just celebrated Israel's 57th birthday as an independent Jewish state. Jews across the world mark the happy day in various ways. (I went out to a Yom Ha'atzmaut party, though I think it would have been more appropriate to cock a snook at all those out there who still wish to shove me and my people into the Red Sea.) Why do we celebrate? Because for the past 57 years, we've had a country and an army of our own, and every Jew has a place to call home.
Of course, we can't expect our enemies to celebrate with us. What we call "Independence Day", they refer to as "Nakba" or "catastrophe". They've spent the past 57 years trying to strip us of our independence. The international media loves to forget this. With their usual selective hearing, they often publish whatever makes the Jews look bad and the Arabs look good. They've done it again.
Today's newspapers have articles about settlers protesting disengagement and all the havoc they are causing. The papers do not have articles about Abbas (also known as The-Guy-that-Israel-is-Expected-to-Negotiate-With) referring to the establishment of the State of Israel as "the Nakba". Other gems include the statement that "On that day, a crime was committed against a people, who were uprooted from their land and whose existence was destroyed and who were forced to flee to all areas of the world." Qurei (a.k.a. Another-Guy-that-Israel-is-Expected-to-Negotiate-With) was quoted as saying, "our wound is still bleeding 57 years later." Clearly these are men who respect Israel, and are therefore reliable partners for negotiation. Yes, I can see why Israel is expected to trust them. (Note for the stupid people: that was sarcasm) Oh, and by the way, I'm pretty sure that the State of Israel was created precisely because the Jews had just suffered horrible atrocities which attemtped to destroy their entire people and scattered them to all areas of the world. I'm also pretty sure that the Arab countries tried to finish the job the day after Israel was created. So forgive me if I cannot see the establishment of a Jewish state as a "crime".
What does the American media say about these statements? And I quote:
"______________________________________"
That was the sound of silence. They pick out the happy-sounding quotes, where Abbas obligingly tosses out words like "peace," "security" and "stability". The NYTimes uses the headline "Abbas Says Redress for Refugees Is Key to Peace". Now, that particular article does mention Qurei's statement, and then attributes it to the security fence. Call me skeptical, but I don't think that's exactly what Qurei was referring to.
The real catastrophe is not the existence of a Jewish state. The catastrophe is that so much of the modern world is deliberately wiping its memory clean of any recollection of the necessity of having a Jewish state.
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