Wednesday, May 02, 2007
The mask slips in Palestine
I missed this story the first time around, but it has longer shelf life than most news these days. And besides, we should all know what our enemies say when they think we aren't paying attention.
The "Nancy Pelosi" of the Palestinian Arabs had this to say Friday before last:
Sheik Ahmad Bahr, acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, declared during a Friday sermon at a Sudan mosque that America and Israel will be annihilated and called upon Allah to kill Jews and Americans "to the very Last One."
The United States has given the Palestinian Authority more than a billion dollars in aid since 1993. We are the only country on Earth that sends massive amounts of aid to governments whose elected leaders then bend over backwards to insult us or, in the case of the Palestinians, call for our annihilation. Presumably, we only gave this money to the Palestinians to suck up to Muslims with oil and mollify European politicians and American transnational progressives. Even so, it's pretty damned degrading.
Perhaps contrary to conventional wisdom, I think that many Americans who support Israel actually dislike the Palestinian Arabs more than they like the Israelis. Even Americans who do not know the history in detail cannot remember a moment when the Palestinians so much as feigned support for American interests and aspirations. The Palestinian Arabs have sided with our enemies or the enemies of our ally at every opportunity since 1914. During World War I, they fought with the Ottomon Turks against our allies. During World War II, they supported the Nazis against the British. Throughout the Cold War, they sided with the Soviet satellites in the region. In 1990, they opposed the American-led coalition to remove Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. And who has forgotten their spontaneous and palpably joyful dancing in the streets on September 11, 2001? Yes, one might argue that in some of these cases they were motivated more by anti-colonialism than a specific intent to oppose the United States, but the result remains: they lined up against the United States. So while I sympathize with the condition of genuinely innocent Palestinian Arabs, and while I also understand the practical raisons d'etat that might motivate the United States to support Palestinian national aspirations, I believe that Americans have every reason to regard them as an enemy. In that one thing, Sheikh Bahr and I see eye-to-eye.
16 Comments:
By 
, at
Wed May 02, 06:36:00 AM:
I read this yesterday at another source. Stuff like this is the reason I used derision and ALL CAPS to comment on your use of the term "blowback" to a discussion of the Middle East. So being of good nature, I will apologize in advance if this offends another reader as did my previous effort, but again - "BLOWBACK" IS NOT AN OPERATIVE CONCEPT WHEN THE PEOPLE AGAINST YOU WAKE UP EVERY SINGLE MORNING AND GREET THE DAY WISHING FERVENTLY FOR YOUR VIOLENT DEATH. Hope that's clear.
By , at
Wed May 02, 07:45:00 AM:
This question of aid to the "palestinians" has perplexed me (forever, it seems). All "sucking up to the arabs" and "if we don't pay, worse people will pay, like the Mullahs or Wahabis" aside, why don't/can't we just cut them off? What would be the political, economical, strategical, humanitarian, etc. repercussions were we just to stop the money pipeline? It just gets diverted to corrupt officials' bank accounts (Sura Arafat shopping & living in Paris), to weaponry, and to the propaganda machine to keep the spigots flowing. CAN we cut them off (from a Washington political standpoint)?
By , at
Wed May 02, 07:53:00 AM:
Another example of our Palestinian friends is Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Robert Kennedy. He killed RFK because RFK had expressed support for Israel.
By 
allen, at
Wed May 02, 08:41:00 AM:
Oh! Oh! Oh! I am shocked, SHOCKED, and sorely disappointed to find the administrator of this site indulging the grossest sort of stereotyping.
Aren’t you aware that, despite being the democratically elected speaker of the Palestinian “peoples”, this man speaks only for himself in public fora?
“Shame!” I say.
By Purple Avenger, at
Wed May 02, 09:24:00 AM:
And...they've come to view that aid as entitlement -- a notion that needs to be corrected.
By , at
Wed May 02, 10:16:00 AM:
American politics being what they are these days, no candidate can afford to sound too belligerent in public. Heck! With all the PC tendancies of the vocal fringe dominating the pre-electioneering going on, no one can sound even offended, much less belligerent. Not a one of the candidates, maybe on either side, will tell the truth on the Palestinians. Instead, they'll politely field questions on "Israeli disinvestment", Palestinian "rights", the wall, Shebaa farms, leaving the poor Alawites in their native peace etc.
I expect this kind of talk from the Palestinians. What would shock me is any sort of public acknowledgement of it from Hilary or Barack, or even Rudy.
By Purple Avenger, at
Wed May 02, 10:58:00 AM:
no candidate can afford to sound too belligerent in public
Fred Thompson can. He seems to be embracing the world can suck it attitude.
I've found my candidate. The world can indeed suck it.
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Wed May 02, 04:35:00 PM:
"Fred Thompson"
I like Thompson. In the end I will support the Republican nominee. I can't afford to "buy" politicians in two political parties (although the Democrats are often cheaper).
By Assistant Village Idiot, at
Wed May 02, 09:19:00 PM:
Wait, I thought they liked us because of all the presents we've given them. Now you're telling me they want us dead? Who woulda thought it?
By , at
Thu May 03, 12:47:00 AM:
Heres a sheik who should do the DR STRANGELOVE routine right over his own terrorist base let him on thr bomb and drop it over his base
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Thu May 03, 01:32:00 PM:
TH, I see you got a plug at USA Today (On Deadline):
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/05/palestinian_off.html
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Thu May 03, 01:43:00 PM:
To Locker Room
Re: All Caps
That was me, Locker Room. I don't read comments with all caps with the exception of the ones from Bird of Paridise. Consequently, I have no idea what you just said with you capitalized words.
By Dawnfire82, at
Thu May 03, 11:03:00 PM:
Allen: That person speaks for the government of Palestine. The government to which we are sending money. It isn't that hard to make the connection.
By allen, at
Fri May 04, 07:43:00 AM:
dawnfire82,
Thanks for clearing that up for me. By the way, where is the country of Palestine?
By Dawnfire82, at
Sat May 05, 02:41:00 PM:
I said government, not country. The state of Texas has a government, but it is not a country. So does the city of Topeka.
You're welcome for clearing that up for you, too.
By pst314, at
Tue May 08, 09:59:00 AM:
"one might argue that in some of these cases they were motivated more by anti-colonialism"
I would argue that their anti-colonialism is synonymous with "resentment of anyone who interferes with their traditions of keeping the infidels in their place".
