Guest Post by Patrick J. Buchanan
For Bibi Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister save only founding father David Ben-Gurion, it has been a week of triumph.
Last Tuesday, President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal as Bibi had demanded. Thursday, after Iran launched 20 missiles at the Golan Heights, Bibi answered with a 70-missile attack on Iran in Syria.
“If it rains on us, it will storm on them. I hope we have finished the episode,” Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said, boasting that Israel’s raids hit “nearly all Iranian infrastructure in Syria.”
The day before, Bibi was in Moscow, persuading Vladimir Putin to cancel the sale of Russia’s S-300 air defense system to Damascus.
Yesterday, in an event televised worldwide, the U.S. embassy was transferred to Jerusalem, with Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner doing the honors in what Bibi called a “glorious day.” Few can recall a time when Israel seemed in so favorable a position.
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The White House and the Republican Party that controls Congress are solidly behind Israel. Egypt is cooperating to battle terrorists in Sinai.
Israel has a de facto alliance with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf royals. And the Palestinians have never been more divided, isolated and alone.
Yet, there is another side to this story, also visible this last week.
As the transfer ceremony of the Jerusalem embassy was taking place, TV split screens showed pictures of protesting Palestinians, 52 of whom were shot dead Monday, with thousands wounded by snipers. Some 40,000 had rallied against the U.S. embassy move.
Even before Monday’s body count, the Gaza Health Ministry said that, over the previous six Fridays of “March of Return” protests, 49 Palestinians had been killed and 2,240 hit by live fire from Israeli troops.
Those dead and wounded Palestinians are not likely to be forgotten in Gaza. And while Israel has never had so many Arab regimes willing to work with her in pushing back against Iran, Arab League Chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit called the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem, a “clear violation of international law.”
Gheit added: “The fall of Palestinian martyrs by the bullets of the Israeli occupation must ring an alarm … bell to any state that does not find anything wrong with the immoral and illegal stance that we are watching.”
Last week, Hezbollah, which arose in resistance to the 1982 Israeli occupation of Lebanon, and expelled the Israeli army 18 years later, won Lebanon’s elections. A Hezbollah-backed coalition will likely form the new government in Beirut.
Michael Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to the U.S. and Bibi ally, said that any attack by Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a standstill in 2006, should bring an Israeli declaration of war — on Lebanon.
While Israel launched some 100 strikes on Syria in recent years, Syrian President Bashar Assad has survived and, with the aid of Hezbollah, Iran and Russia, won his civil war.
Assad and his army and allies are far stronger now, while President Trump, Israel’s indispensable ally, speaks of bringing U.S. troops home from Syria. In polls, a majority of Americans lines up behind Israel in its clashes, but a majority also wants no more U.S. wars in the Middle East.
Also, Sunday, the U.S. sustained another major political defeat.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi lost his re-election bid. Based on early results, the winning coalition was that of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, against whose forces U.S. troops fought a decade ago.
Running second was a ticket led by a Shiite militia general close to Iran. When a new government is formed in Baghdad, the orientation of Iraq seems certain to shift away from the United States.
While the Israelis are the most powerful nation in the region, how long can they keep 2 million Palestinian Arabs confined in the penal colony that is the Gaza Strip? How long can they keep the 2 million Palestinians of the West Bank living in conditions even Israeli leaders have begun to compare to apartheid?
Across the West, especially in universities, a BDS movement to have students, companies and consumers boycott, divest and sanction Israeli-produced products has been gaining ground.
The Palestinians may have been abandoned by Arab rulers and the wider world. Yet, history teaches that people forced to survive in such conditions eventually rise in rebellion and revolution, take revenge, and exact retribution for what was done to them and their own.
Republican leaders often say that we cannot permit “any daylight” between the U.S. position and that of Israel.
But can the country that decried for decades the panicked reaction of an Ohio National Guard that shot and killed four students at Kent State University sit silent as scores of unarmed protesters are shot to death and thousands are wounded by Israeli troops in Gaza?
Bibi and Israel appear to be on a winning streak. It is difficult to see how, over the long run, it can be sustained.
Professor MacDonald’s reply (which should be a feature TBP article) is a scholarly take-down of Jordan Peterson on the Jewish Question. Peterson lectures us to tell the truth, which is very good advice, but we also have a sacred duty to seek the truth even if this truth may offend a particular group and cause negative personal consequences. One can admire Peterson’s courage in taking on the Cultural Marxists and the tyranny of political correctness…but not responding truthfully on the Jewish Question has called into question his truthfulness on other issues. My sense is that Peterson has served a purpose but is now mostly finished after trading truth for a few shekels. Truth is powerful but also fragile and once lost is hard to regain.
https://www.theoccidenalobserver.net/2018/05/10/a-reply-to-jordan-peterson/
A Reply to Jordan Peterson by Professor Kevin MacDonald
Celebrity intellectual Jordan Peterson has written a blog post, “’On the So-Called ‘Jewish Question’,” the inner quotes indicating he doesn’t think this is a real issue—something that only “reactionary conspiracy theorists” would propose. His blog includes a link to Nathan Cofnas’s criticism of The Culture of Critique. No links to my replies—which may provide a clue about his intellectual honesty.
Indeed, one must wonder about the seriousness of someone who thinks he can settle an issue that has gotten the attention of some of the most celebrated thinkers in Western history with an 1100-word blog post.
Peterson has become popular because of his courage and knowledge in opposing political correctness. He stands up for men and for individual responsibility. To his credit he achieved celebrity status via social media, not as a creature of the mainstream media. Much of his stature rests on his use of scientific data in his arguments. I and many others certainly appreciate this approach; he is particularly cogent in discussing sex differences and gender politics. There is not enough of this in public discourse.
However, my confidence in Peterson’s trustworthiness was shaken by his shoddy treatment of the Jewish Question, including name-calling directed at my own work. This is part of his broader offensive against identitarians, people who defend their group interests. For Peterson there are only individual interests (a bit strange for someone who approves of evolutionary biology, a subdiscipline that encompasses kin selection theory and, for humans, cultural group selection). For Peterson to admit there is a Jewish Question would be to concede the reality of group interests—not only families but religions, ethnic groups, and nations.
In the West, failure to acknowledge group interests is suicidal for its traditional European-derived populations. As a result of the imposition of massive non-White immigration and multiculturalism by elites unresponsive to popular attitudes, the traditional populations of these societies are slated to become minorities in lands they have dominated for hundreds, and in the case of Europe, thousands of years. In the West, these migrants have typically established identitarian groups intent on pursuing their group interests and with increasing power to do so as the traditional European-derived populations (which uniquely produced individualist societies) dwindle. While I would love to live in a European-derived individualist society, under such circumstances it is suicidal to pursue an individualist strategy as things are now. And unless there is drastic change, it will only get worse in the future.
(snip)
Are the Palestinian casualties not attempting to break through the Israeli border? Could not Germany have massed their unarmed troops on the Allies border and then claim war atrocities against France, Britain and Poland?
Mr. Buchanan is an intelligent man and probably knows, what I think is a justifiable defence of a country; so I think I’m missing something. Can an international spokesperson really define the terms where a country can set up its capitol?
My perspective on America’s foreign policy over the past eight years is we sided with Iran and dropped our former allies and through the CIA, created ISIS. It seemed strange to me that we would side with Iran as some in the country shout “death to America,” and send pictures back of disgraced Navy servicemen and women, yet we send them pallets of money and bend over backwards to kiss their butts.
There are some who have “insider knowledge” of why we should befriend Iran, mainly because Iran is Shia and this is supposed to mean they are our friends, but I think there is a deep state in Iran in just the same way there is a deep state here in the good old USA and as such, I really don’t know what I don’t know and therefore cannot choose a side, only some things I do see as troubling to me and maybe in the end, just pray for peace and stability in the region.
They were not trying to cross the border, your total nonsense of them crossing the border and invading Israel, with what ,slingshots and batons , comparing them with the German Wehrmacht, are you nuts? and saying the US sided with Iran , what planet do you live on , where do you get your news from. I bet you would sacrifice every American for Israel because Israel is more important to you than your owe country.
Not sure if I’ll post this, I’ll write and decide if it stays. Your just a little confused, first you say they did not attempt to cross the border (they did), then you say they did with sling shots and batons (explosives were part of the mix). My point was that if a group of thousands want to force themselves into a country without weapons, does this mean the country being invaded must surrender to the invaders? My point being the German troops were foolish to use weapons if all they had to do was march unarmed into Poland, France and England and cry foul after taking a few casualties.
In my world, I have watched Obama kiss the asses of the religious leaders of Iran, even as their military humiliated our troops with pictures of their surrender, along with the daily chants of death to America we have all heard many times over.
No, I would not elect to send our troops to fight for Israel, they seem to be pretty good at it themselves, but would welcome their spending the billions they will need in military equipment to defend themselves. Have I missed anything?
Since you asked, I would hope for a withdrawal of all American troops from any country with sand in it and let them have at each other till there is a victor. Then and only then will there be peace in the Middle East. Am I still crazy?
Old piddy pat might now be so far from the halls of power that he must rely on the drooling offal that is offered today by the main stream media, or perhaps he is much closer than any of us realize. He drones on and on in a hit piece that seems to suggest that he doesn’t think that israel has much of a chance to extend it’s winning streak but he starts with an obviously blatant lie about Syria attacking israel first. Even us mushrooms here in the merkin heartland know that israel just decided to sneak a cheap shot in while trump was whacking off with his little hands.
I watched that dog and pony show with Jared at the consulate/embassy, and thought I was watching a twilight zone episode, or maybe a remake of 1984. Everything that little turd said was exactly the opposite of what can be construed as the truth.
“America keeps it’s promises”
it takes a lot of hutzpa to say shit like that in public.
You can’t say the Jews didn’t learn something from the Holocaust. They learned how to keep a group of people (Palestinians) in what amounts to a concentration camp (Gaza). And they also learned how to steal land and everything else from the Palestinians, just like the Nazis did to the Jews.
And we are helping them do it. Are we a great country or what?
In fairness the jews had already perfected mass exterminations, in their Soviet Union, during the 20 years preceeding WWII.
Demography is destiny. Even within Israel, who are the people multiplying? Two groups, the Israeli arabs and the orthodox community. So the future of that country is one in which every last baby cranked out is going to be on either one extreme or the other of the spectrum.
What about the majority of centrist Israelis? They’re not having kids, their one kid eventually migrates to the vibrant Tel Aviv gay scene, goes clubbing, does drugs, etc.
Demography alone will produce war in that area, and we need to stay away from it.
Nope, don’t know where you get your info but the average birthrate for non orthodox jewishh woman is but the official statistic is around 2.8 kids per woman. It is true that the ultra orthodox have 6.9 kids pper women, but they are only 11% of the population and many of them become secular when they grow up and are exposed to the real world. I would not worry about Israel becoming Ultra-Orthodox very soon. Also, the Ultra-Orthodox are not a monolith, politically they may be much less militant than the centrist secular Israeli.
The only truth is that the USA should stay away from the area, and stop helping both us and our enemies.
Peterson is a Zionist with the facade of an Intellectual like Cosby is a Rapist with the facade of a Comedian. Israel is a pit that the Jews and NeoCons keep digging deeper that will become their grave (Ecc 10:8). They will pull their own Temple down. The Jews are like Hitler’s speeches about defending Germany (from 1940 onward, never mind that they had invaded Poland in 1939). Hypocrite Bebe tells Congress that Iranians are trying to get A-Bombs and ICBMs; that is why he is attacking them almost nightly. Did Jews invade Palestine in the 1940s in self-defense or OJ go to Nicole’s house and murder her in self-defense? The Wolf is crying Wolf.
The Holy Bible says, Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.
Sometimes.
And other times even God hates the Joos.
“This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘As my anger and wrath have been poured out on those who lived in Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be a curse and an object of horror, a curse and an object of reproach; you will never see this place again.'” ——–Jer 42:18
There are many more such verses. Like the times God cursed Jerusalem with famine so severe that the inhabitants had to eat their own children.
But, I understand why you would only want to talk the blessings part. It fits your agenda.
It’s convenient to quote scripture to fit ones personal agenda.
We can pray for peace but war seems to be on the menu.
So why doesn’t Hezbalah recruit manufacturing companies to settle into the gaza strip so as to provide work opportunities and money for the people that they represent? John
The Jews have Gaza blockaded; would you invest just to see your investment bombed by Israel?
You wanna know what I think is interesting? No? Ok, well I’ll tell ya anyway.
I think it’s very interesting that Israel is turning 70 right smack in the middle of a 4th Turning.
I don’t know want to think of the numbers that keep repeating over and over in the bible but 70 is a very interesting number. It’s just under the full 80 years or so needed for a full cycle of turnings.
70 is how many nations there are in the table of nations in Deuteronomy 32.
It’s how many disciples were sent out by Jesus in Luke 10.
The real farce was the FAT ASSED SACK OF SHIT DIVORCEE JOHN HAGEE giving a final “prayer” at the ceremony which sounded more like a pre battle disparagement of enemies. Real Christian…
How long will the lie of Israel acting in self defense be perpetuated? Israeli snipers opened fire on unarmed people who were posing no threat to them. This was a brutal celebration of the brutal theft of the lands of Palestine 70 years before. The Palestinian people have been victims for 70 years of the most brutal race driven apartheid since Nazi Germany did much the same thing to the Jews.
Donald Trump will be remembered in history for instigating this massacre and the blood of all the victims are on his hands. The United States has irreparably damaged its own reputation by blocking a UN human rights investigation of this massacre and shown the world that justice means nothing to the United States Government.
Massacre shmassacre- if Israel wanted to kill Gaza Arabs, it could just stop water and food delivaries into the strip.
IDF soldiers shot at mobs of thousands of frenzied people, all running towards the fence, with Israeli settlements no more than 1-2 miles beyond the fence. Had these mobs broken through, they would have murdered and burned all that they saw. If 40,000 drug-hyped M-13 members tried to break into the USA from mexico over a 30km stretch of fence, how would you expect the US to stop them other than live fire? oh, and they also threw fire bombs, shot live fire at the soldiers from inside the mob and threw rocks from slingshots (a deadly weapon, it has killed many people in various attacks).
By the way, the day after the break attempt and the Gazan casualties, no more than a handful of “protesters” tried the fence- IDF’s hard stance saved countless lives on both sides in the long term.