04 Nov A Geopolitical Fable?

“The clarity of double standards is striking.” – The Lonely Realist

Once upon a time there was a land shared by several tribes with a common heritage – Casa. The tribes had been living side-by-side since the beginning of time, planting, nurturing and harvesting, sharing the same hardships and triumphs, struggling with the soil, with the paucity of natural resources, and with wealthier and more powerful colonialists. The fate of each tribe waxed and waned with the times. During some periods, one tribe would prove itself more powerful than the others and rule the lands, while during other times other tribes would take control. Unfortunately, being a small and poor land, powerful nations often conquered Casa, subjugated the tribes, and imposed harsh administrations.

It was during those more difficult times that some members of one tribe – we’ll call them the Rolling Stones – emigrated to other parts of the world. Members of the Rolling Stone Tribe were able to emigrate because their tribe nurtured craftsmen whose skills were sought-after. However, because members of the Rolling Stone Tribe were small in number, looked different and spoke differently from natives of the other lands, members of the Rolling Stones tended to live together and congregate primarily with one another. The Rolling Stones accordingly were treated as outsiders in their newly-adopted lands and, because of their differences and isolation, at times persecuted.

There came a time of global upheaval when distrust of Rolling Stones tipped over, resulting in a genocide in which more than 40% of all Rolling Stones – two-thirds of those not living in Casa – perished. In retrospect, leading nations felt responsible for allowing the genocide to happen. They determined that the Rolling Stones should have the right to establish a haven for themselves. They accordingly set aside part of Casa, where many members of the Rolling Stones had been living for countless generations, as a homeland for members of the Rolling Stones who had survived the genocide. This gave the Rolling Stones the theoretical ability to re-establish their own Casa-based homeland.

The other tribes already living in and around Casa believed that all of Casa was theirs because it had been promised to them by their colonial overlord. They therefore felt themselves entitled to wage war against and overwhelm the relatively small Rolling Stones population. Although comprised of disparate tribes, they far outnumbered and outgunned the Rolling Stones, especially since, for the first time ever, they combined and coordinated their armed forces. The surprising outcome of the resulting Rolling Stones War for Independence was that the Rolling Stones prevailed and, even more surprisingly, enlarged the portion of Casa that had been apportioned to them. Many members of the other tribes fled to adjoining lands, but instead of being welcomed integrated into local populations, were parked in refugee camps. There was bitterness at the shocking defeat and, as a consequence, the displaced Casa-ins and their neighboring allies refused to recognize the Rolling Stone Nation. More importantly, they determined to deny the right of the Rolling Stone Nation to exist.

The foregoing quite obviously is the story of Israel, a nation built primarily by a tribe of rolling stones. Israel now has been a nation for more than 70 years and as such is entitled to defend itself as other nations, including America, defend themselves.

Since 1948, Israel’s neighbors have twice invaded Israel with the intent of destroying it. When Israel prevailed in those two unprovoked wars, it did not subjugate its adversaries or grab the Sinai peninsula or Syria or Lebanon. Its goal instead was to ensure its security, not conquer its neighbors. Although labeled a colonialist, its actions have uniformly been the opposite. When its enemies encouraged terrorist organizations – Hamas, Hezbollah and other Mayhem-ers – to take actions against it, Israel did not declare war on those harboring and supporting its attackers and attempt to subjugate them. It instead defended itself. When its neighbors refused to accept as emigrants those Palestinians who had fled the War of Independence, Israel attempted to negotiate a partition that would give it the security it had strived to attain, to no avail. Palestinian emigrants remain a people without a country, burdened by leaders whose goal has been to eliminate Israel while feathering their own nests rather than build a Palestinian Nation. Although Israel admittedly could have taken bolder steps towards a two-state solution, it would have had to do so unilaterally, without the support of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Hamas or any Arab nation.

Hamas, the terrorist organization that rules Gaza, in October brutally attacked Israeli civilians, engaging in acts that mirrored those of the Holocaust. Israel once again determined to defend itself …, as every nation has the obligation to do. It has been vilified for doing so. What makes Israel different? Is it that Israel is not a nation? Or is it that Israel is primarily Jewish? When Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan, a nation ruled by a military cabal, there was no question but that America had the right to wreak havoc on the entire Japanese population in order to ensure America’s security. When Germany was laid waste by the Allies at the end of WWII, no one questioned the Allies’ right to subject the entire German nation to the consequences of the war its leaders had started. And when the U.S. was attacked on 9/11/2001 by Mayhem-ers little different from Hamas, no one questioned America’s right to find and annihilate Al Qaeda, wherever its members could be found, despite the cost in lives. That’s because no one questions the right of a nation to defend itself …, yet many are accusing Israel of war crimes for doing exactly that. Why is that? It’s because Israel is a Jewish state.

The only defense Hamas has against reprisal for its criminality is by shielding its terrorists under and around schools and hospitals … as well as behind Israeli hostages. This is not a new tactic. It is one that Hamas has followed for the past two decades. Why then is it that Hamas is not being held responsible for the resulting death and destruction?

Since independence, Israel has thrived. It is a democracy unique among its neighbors. Israel started from nothing in 1948 and has attained a standard of living that places it among the top 20 nations of the world. And, yet, it is vilified for defending its right to defend itself, to exist. Today’s TLR therefore is not a Geopolitical Fable. It describes an anti-Semitic Reality, anti-Semitic for the same reasons as vilifying all Muslims for Hamas’s wrongful acts are anti-Semitic. Israel’s actions are the justifiable defensive actions every nation has the right to take. Cries against Israel’s actions therefore are based on the widely-held delusion that Jews/Semites inherently lack moral legitimacy and that the Nation of Israel inherently lacks nationhood rightness. What makes this more shocking is the fact that there are many Americans who unquestioningly treat the Jewish people and Israel as lepers pariahs, as if the people living in Israel, Jews, Arabs, Armenians, Druze, etc., as well as Jews everywhere, somehow and in some way forfeited their right to self-determination and self-defense. This backlash also fails to take into account that Hamas is a Mayhem-er no different from other terrorist organizations …, except that it has dedicated itself to wiping Israel – and Jews – off the face of the earth.

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Finally (from a good friend)