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Go Home It's Israel's Fault

THE SPINE APRIL 9, 2008

It's Israel's Fault

BY MARTIN PERETZ

Here's a strange headline:

"Israeli civil defense drill raises regional tension"

It's from Tuesday's Financial Times. But notice it's not Hezbollah's ongoing threats from the north that "raises regional tension." Nor is it Ahmadinejad's very plausible nuclear sabre rattling from the north east. Nor, finally, is it Hamas' ongoing rocketry and missile targeting and artillery and machine gun fire across the frontier from Gaza into Israel that is culpable (or infiltrating into Israel itself like the infiltration today in which two civilians were killed and two wounded at Kibbutz Nahal Oz that raises regional tension.)

No, all of that is normal. What agitates is that Israel is taking this seriously and had the biggest emergency drill in its history.

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12 comments

"No, all of that is normal. What agitates is that Israel is taking this seriously and had the biggest emergency drill in its history."

Marty, don't you know by now that the British press is biased against Israel. Some of their outlets have printed or broadcasted stories that are antisemitic by anyone's definition.

I am not suprised, then, that the FT would come up with such a headline.

I wish NPR would dissociate itself from the BBC which is one of the worse offenders.

- jacksondyer

April 9, 2008 at 3:29pm

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Humbly:

I didn't read the article, and I agree about the blame Israel factons in much of the press, but I think it is safe to say that anything anyone does in the Middle East, especially now, raises tensions.   I understand that it isn't the point, but the headline is most likely literally true.

- boneill

April 9, 2008 at 4:14pm

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How can Marty and I agree so much on Israel and then disagree so much about who would be better for Israel -- Clinton or Obama?

I mean, it is crystal clear that Hillary Clinton would be a stalwart defender of Israel.  Call it what you will, but I'll just say it:  I'm happy Israel has an effective lobby.  It's the only Democracy in a region of tyrants.  And we damn well should support them at all costs!  

At the same time, I know Obama doesn't agree with me.  I know it!  His advisors, his associations, his church... Where there's smoke, there's fire...

- nturner

April 9, 2008 at 5:45pm

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"...but I think it is safe to say that anything anyone does in the Middle East, especially now, raises tensions."

If so when was the last time you saw a headline: Syrian moves in Lebanon raises tension, or Hamas' firing of rockets raises tensions?"

- jacksondyer

April 9, 2008 at 6:24pm

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I am interested in your reasoning as to why any of the political candidates for U.S. president would be good for Israel.  They all support a two-state "solution."  ("Solution" emphasized because in the eyes of the people who care about Israel, a two-state solution is no different from the "Final Solution")  

If there is a candidate who really cares about the survival of Israel, I would like to know who it is.  (Needless to say, for Israel to survive, it would have to survive as a Jewish state.  Anything else, it wouldn't be Israel.)

- jerrywander

April 10, 2008 at 5:59am

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"I am interested in your reasoning as to why any of the political candidates for U.S. president would be good for Israel.  They all support a two-state "solution."

And yet poll after poll shows that a majority of Israelis also support a two-state solution.  Imagine that.

- citizenghost

April 10, 2008 at 6:37am

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God, Jerry, you put the paranoid into Jew.  

- MOLLYSIMON

April 10, 2008 at 12:53pm

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How to Secure Israel

Demilitarized land for peace is the key to a settlement

www.foreignaffairs.org/.../how-to-secure-israel.html

[The essential argument holds: no set of realistically achievable geographic borders produces safety for Israel. Rather, the security requirement is that any of the territory taken in the Six-Day War and given back as part of a peace settlement should be effectively demilitarized. Of course, the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt long ago in exactly this way, resulting in relative quiet along Israel's southern border and creating a fundamental shift in the regional balance of forces. This opportunity was not skillfully exploited, so the result has been a "cold peace." But it is nevertheless peace and has served the interests of both sides.]

- AaronBBrown

April 10, 2008 at 1:28pm

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Take heart fellow members of the tribe - its adversity that makes us strong. If it wasn't for the pharaoh who 'did not know Joseph' we would still be plowing fields in the land of Goshen. I am sure that the West Bank and Gaza will be as effectively demilitarized as Lebanon is now south of the Litani river.

- solbrak

April 10, 2008 at 6:33pm

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nturner... it ain't gonna be Clinton... so get comfortable with Obama despite his pastor or embrace McCain with his volatile temper and finger on the nuclear trigger...Obama is a thoughtful man... Clinton is at best weird and WEIRD...but that is flogging a dead mule.

- Annabella2

April 10, 2008 at 10:33pm

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not true.  would a democracy punish a whole people, kids and all, with such blockades?  would a democracy build a wall so high that it affects an entire set of peoples daily lives, then insists the world call it a fence? why does israel have the bomb anyway - seems out of proportion for such a tiny country, a lush haven next to devastation.  clinton is a chameleon -  after her famous kiss and the mistake, she would recognize the kingdon  of ant s if it was necessary for her to win something.  she is totally untrustworthy in this, as she is in so many of her behaviors. in the us we all have our homelands to protect, so i understand american jews, but sometime  it becomes just too obvious what money can buy.

- check

April 11, 2008 at 4:09pm

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Life must go on in Gaza and Sderot

This blog is written by 2 friends. One lives in Sajaia refugee camp in Gaza and the other lives in Sderot, a small town near Gaza on the Israeli side. There is ongoing violence between Israel and Gaza which has intensified greatly since October 2000. Many have been killed and many have been injured. The media coverage on both sides has been extremely biased. Our Blog is written by 2 real people living and communicating on both sides of the border.

gaza-sderot.blogspot.com

- AaronBBrown

April 12, 2008 at 3:50pm

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