Submitted Comments RSS Feed Comments by Gary Katz
Posted in: Debating Israeli-Palestinian issues on 'The Daily Show'
Perhaps Ms. Balzer should've spent time in a Sderot bomb shelter.
Posted in: Bolton: U.S. should quit U.N. Human Rights Council
I wonder if Richard Goldstone will approach matters differently in the future, now that he realizes he was played for a sucker by the U.N.H.R.C., which really should stand for "Unified Neanderthal Human Rights Criminals" (For that matter, Hamas probably stands for "Homicidal Anarchist Muslims Abandoning Sanity.").
Posted in: Cohen: Enough about the Holocaust already
Stuart, I could say there are two types of people: those who pigeonhole everyone into categories and those who don't. But that would be very ironic of me.
Posted in: Cohen: Enough about the Holocaust already
Walid, The only people who cheapen the Holocaust are the deniers like Ahmadinejad. If anything, much of the rest of world didn't learn enough about it, given the genocides that have taken place since: Rawanda, Darfur, etc. I understand your point about a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, but I disagree. Israel is a tiny country surrounded by enemies and potential enemies. Theoretically, the Arabs could destroy Israel with enough conventional weapons, mainly missiles. The fanatics who rule Iran must understand that the price of attacking Israel is too high, even for them and the low value they place on the lives of their own civilians. If Israel forsakes its (suspected) nukes, it increases the chances of an all-out attack: Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria simultaneously, all supported by Iran. Walid, you also overlook the fact that the Arabs don't have to fear Israel attacking them for pure conquest. They only need nukes if they want to destroy Israel. If they leave Israel alone, Israel will happily leave them alone. I would add that, even if Israel and the Arabs renounced nukes, I wouldn't trust half those Arab/Persian governments as far as I could spit. The more repressive and fanatic the government, the more they lie. This has been true for thousands of years, and never more true today.
Posted in: Cohen: Enough about the Holocaust already
Ross, as the Yom Kippur War demonstrated, Israel must be constantly vigilant. If they don't make themselves invincible, they might end up invisible. Having said that, one would think that given their numerous defeats, the Muslims would have an inkling that, just maybe, Allah is not on their side.
Posted in: Cohen: Enough about the Holocaust already
David, you're partially correct. Cohen wants Israel to sign the non-proliferation treaty, so Iran and Arab states can stop whining about a double standard. However, there is strategic value in Israel keeping its nuke status in the dark. Iran might attack Israel if it knew Israel had, say, 10 nukes, or they might have their proxy, Hezbollah, do so. But Iran doesn't know if Israel has 10 or 100 or 500 nukes, so the mullahs become more hesitant in their fanaticism. For all we know, Israel doesn't have any nukes! The "never again" mentality is not outdated, as recent genocides have shown. The Tutsis of Rawanda will testify that our present civilization is perfectly capable of mass slaughter. "Never again" means, in part, "Various peoples may kill off each other, but we are done going like lambs to the slaughterhouse. If you try it again against us, many more of you will die than us. So think it over." Thus, the threat of a retaliating nuclear Israel folds perfectly and logically into its "never again" mentality.
Posted in: What they're watching in Turkey
Blackie, It's because our arguments don't gain power through name-calling; they lose power. It's somewhat analogous to a stand-up comedian who gets laughs with swearing and vulgarity, versus a comedian who gets laughs without any of that. The latter might be more challenging, but, in the long run, you might appreciate the clean comedian's creativity more.
Posted in: Is the problem 1967, or 1948?
I don't think the problem is that Arabs don't want Jews living amongst them. I think the problem is Arabs can't stand Jews ruling "sacred Muslim land." Muslim hegemony is very important to the Muslim psyche. Wherever they ruled over Jews, their conditions for tolerating the Jewish presence included telling little rules like a synagogue must be lower in height than a mosque. Little reminders of Muslim superiority (or Jewish subservience). Therefore, little Israel is like a grain of sand stuck in their eye. Tiny but painful. Israel should offer to abandon its settlements only after all the Christians who were forced out of southern Lebanon get to return to their homes. Or after the Shiites and Sunnis who were ethnically cleansed from their respective neighborhoods in Iraq get to return home. You get the idea.
Posted in: What they're watching in Turkey
Name-calling aside, when I watched the 10 minute film clip, I noticed: 1. The Palestinians are shooting at the soldiers while other Palestinians are darting in front of them. So the soldiers can only fire back through the stone throwers in order to hit the gunmen. This is an unintended or subconscious indictment of Hamas, which hides behind civilians. Undoubtedly, any Palestinian who gets hit from behind by his own people will be listed as a casualty of Israeli brutality. 2. After the boy is shot and the battle moves on, the boy's mother comes outside to cry over his body and curse the soldiers. This of course raises questions such as, why didn't she keep her young boy inside the house while there is a gun battle on her block? Why did she not try to drag him inside even during the battle? When you teach your kids to hate and teach them martyrdom, you should not be surprised when one of them gets killed. Let's also remember that these parents voted a terrorist organization into power in Gaza. Real productive. 3. The film clip shows the mother crying over her son. I'm waiting for the reaction shot of the mother of the soldier who got shot during the same battle.
RSS Feed Breaking News
Updated 11/20/09 @ 11:30AM EDT
- Canada's opposition Liberal Party is crying foul after the ruling Conservatives mailed out flyers extolling themselves as stronger supporters of Israel.
- Israel arrested five Palestinian Authority intelligence officers in the West Bank.
- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel is conducting secret negotiations with Hamas.
- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was welcomed Thursday in Brazil by a state governor who is Jewish.
- Prominent South African Jewish leader and philanthropist Mendel Kaplan has died at the age of 73.
- Canadian Liberals object after Conservatives say they’re stronger Israel backers
- Israel arrests five P.A. officers
- Abbas: Israel talking to Hamas
- Abbas welcomed by Jewish pol in Brazil
- South African Jewish leader Mendel Kaplan dies
- Israel will send ship to NATO anti-terror force
- Obama: New Iran sanctions coming within weeks
- What should we bring? Thanksgiving foods that travel well
- Female Orthodox scholars helping women talk about sex
- Obama half-brother has Jewish roots
- Lieberman: Fort Hood could be terror attack
- J Street confab shows generational divide on Israel
- What really happened at the Reform biennial in Toronto
- Rubashkin convicted on 86 charges
- Obama shifts to Israel’s corner, but tries not to show it
- Pro-Israel fliers confiscated at campus speech
Posted in: Roger Cohen: The Israelis are the problem
11/17/09 12:36 AM
Grossman's point about Israel having all that superior weaponry forgets that Israel is severely limited in how much it can use that weaponry. Israel gets criticized more for inflicting civilian casualties during war than any nation on Earth ever has. I challenge any reader to name any other country that has ever been scrutinized like that, ever. Unfortunately, the more Israel gets bashed, the less incentive the Palestinians have to attain a normal (non-terrorist) society and government. If the world (especially other Arabs and Muslims) stopped coddling the Palestinians, you'd see how fast we'd have a permanent peace.