See also Israel.
Ah yes, Judaism. That age-old creed from the lineage of Abraham.
Sweeping
down out of the Zagros four thousand years ago until bumping into the Mediteranean.
Spawn
of Semites and Aramaics.
All those kings mentioned in the Old Testament?
Reasonably
historically accurate (but not without a dab of propaganda thrown in).
They are
confirmed in the cuneiform clay tablets of the Assyrians and Babylonians.
Powerful
in their own time, but periodically overwhelmed by superior numbers.
Their thoughts
and philosophies were powerful enough to survive every onslaught and dislocation.
Even
one of the most efficient murder machines in history- the Third Reich.
The Holocaust
must never be forgotten nor trivialized.
And going on nearly seventy years, they are in possession of their own country
again.
The world, and in particular Judaism's past oppressors, have a concrete
obligation for the security and safety of Israel.
Period. No excuses.
Israel has an obligation to conduct its nationhood without repeating the mistakes
that were made against them.
There are contentious issues about settlements, territory,
and minorities.
Any solutions, now matter how well thought out, will not satify
everyone.
Some will refuse to be satisfied and their hatred runs so deep it is
intractable.
They risk dismissal as a consequence.
This author is not Jewish, nor is he an expert on Judaism.
Some issues are
not religious-based as much as they might be common-sense based.
Settlements?
Those have been on hold for several years. Now they are recommencing.
Won't that generate friction?
That had to have been a given, yet why was it disregarded?
Newly found bravado?
Wouldn't the best course be to expect good behavior to be
rewarded and continue that good behavior?
The counter to that is that no amount
of good behavior gets an appropriate response from the other side.
That may well
be, but someone has to take the ethical high ground.
Everyone descending to the
lowest common denominator yields chaos.
A Palestinian State?
If the Palestinians maintain state-like behavior, there
is no logical argument against them being a state.
If they continue to lob homemade
missliles over the wall and call for the end of Israel, statehood ain't gonna happen.
All
the more reason for Israel to take the ethical high ground and encourage state-like
behavior.
Are tit-for-tat military responses justified by Israel? In some cases
the provocations are too egregious or heinous to ignore.
Murder and kidnapping
or killing civilians. yes. Lobbing a few mortar rounds into the dust on the Israeli
side?
Designed to be a provocation, but should be ignored like a child throwing
a tantrum.
And Israel should avoid civilian casualties as well. Perhaps even more
so as claimant to the high ground.
Maybe if Israel undertook to invest in the
education and commerce and well-being of Palestine, that would markedly decrease
the tension.
It would be money well spent.
China and America periodically growl
at each other, but they also sell each other lots of stuff and no one is going to
upset that applecart.
Return of captured territory?
The other parties struck first. They cost
Israel hundreds of lives and billions of dollars.
If they indemnify Israel for
those losses, then things might reach the table.
That sounds unlikely, so things
will persist in limbo.
A nuclear Iran?
That is not a good idea.
That should be resisted at all
costs. Period.
Are the Iranians bad people? No.
Is their government operating
in the interest of world peace and the interests of the Iranian people? No.
That
makes them a narrowly-focused, repressive theocratic state without fair elections
representing the true will of the people.
(Resist comparing them to America....)
For
that matter, nukes are not a good idea for anyone, anywhere. get rid of them all.
Moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem?
Provacative, foolish and unnecessary.
And expensive.
Might as well paint a giant "bull's-eye" on it while
you're choosing color schemes for the building.
It can be argued Israel has a
right to have Jerusalem as their capital, but it is a city holy to three contentious
religions.
Maybe a bit of diplomacy and patience will prevail.
Waited for two
thousand years. What's ten more?
Look at it this way- collectively Jews are the smartest and best-educated people
in the world (Einstein et al).
They should be able to chart a path that avoids
the blunders of history and sets them apart as having navigated treacherous shoals
and
arrived safely without sacrificing the values of decency and compassion. Do it.