Some questions for Bernie:Bernie stated:----------...

2008-03-02T11:52:00.000-05:00

Some questions for Bernie:

Bernie stated:
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The larger point Barkat is making—hardly challenged these days—is that the legitimacy of the Zionist project rests with the Jews’ two thousand year old yearning for Jerusalem; that this yearning confers on Jews an “historical right” to the city, and so any move to negotiate shared sovereignty should be defeated. (Among the site’s sponsors: Benjamin Netanyahu, Natan Sharansky, former Chief of Staff “Boogie” Yaalon, and others.)
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(1) Why did those secular Marxist/Socialist pioneers who drained the malarial swamps come here to Eretz Israel in the first place? Herzl wanted to set up a Jewish State in Kenya (the so-called "Uganda Plan"). Of course, if they had done that, the Jews would have set up another Rhodesia that would have gone under as well after a few decades. So what, Bernie, brought them here and not there? They may have thrown out their religious belief, but they knew their Bible, they knew about Jerusalem and Eretz Israel and they came here.

(2) You feel it is imperative that Israel give up sovereignity of the Arab parts of Jerusalem. You denounced Natan Sharansky in an earlier piece of yours for opposing that. Of course, while he was spending years in solitary confinement in the Soviet GULAG, it was his dreaming about Jerusalem kept him going, not a dream about a "globalized high-tech, consumerist" society in Israel.

(3) Um El-Fahem is an Israeli Arab city. Regarding them, Avigdor Lieberman says the same thing you say about Jerusalem...."we don't want Arabs under our jurisdiction". What do you think about that Bernie? Are you in favor of giving up Jerusalem but keeping Um El-Fahem? Do you consider Lieberman a "racist" for wanting to get rid of them?....many of your friends in your political camp say "Lieberman is a racist for wanting to get rid of Ul El-Fahem", yet Yossi Beilin himself said "why should we pay national insurance paymets to the Arabs of Jerusalem!". What is your position, Bernie?

(4) You had an earlier piece that said "Israeli Arabs really, deep down want to integrate into Israeli society and the problem is that we Israelis won't let them". If you do use that as as a justification in your mind for opposing Lieberman's plan to rid Israel of Um El-Fahem, then why can't you do the same thing with Jerusalem's Arabs (who really don't want to live under Palestinian rule in any event, as polls show)? Why not integrate them as well? If "consent of the governed is not a problem in Um El-Fahem, why should it be in Jerusalem? Do the Arabs of Um El-Fahem feel more kindly to Israel than Jerusalem Arabs? (BTW-Israeli Arabs tried to have a memorial service for arch-terrorist George Habash which Israeli Arab Knesset members were to speak at. Do those Arabs favor "integration"? Does there supporting Habash make it more likely that Israeli Jews are going think that Israeli Arabs indeed want integration?)

(5) You made a good point about the continuation of the Psalm about Jerusalem. The Bible says a lot of things that are politically incorrect. What do you suggest we do about it? How do propose to get millions of Jews and a billion Muslims to give up their religious beliefs so that they can adopt your obviously superior "globalized, secular, consumerist" modern society?

These questions are better than questions. They a...

2008-03-02T10:27:00.000-05:00

These questions are better than questions. They are exercises in rational thought and reasoned discourse. Additionally, these exercises in rational thought and reasoned discourse are solid, tangible evidence of why the Jewish people needs more secular sensibilities, like those of the early socialist halutzim, in trying times like ours and theirs.

Comments on Bernard Avishai Dot Com: Connect the Dots #4: Forget Cunning

Some questions for Bernie:Bernie stated:----------...

These questions are better than questions. They a...