The One
There is one country in the Middle East that does not torture prisoners of any stripe for any reason. This country does not hold prisoners secretly, render them, and offers universal habeas corpus - meaning that they must charge a prisoner or released them. This country offers universal suffrage to citizen of all races and creeds - all adults can vote, all adults can hold political office.
One country.
And yet, this is the only country that "enlightened" British academics want to boycott. They are floating yet another motion that will bar the academics of this country from participating in any scholarly venture with them - from writing papers to presenting at conferences.
Did I mention that this is the only country in the Middle East that practices academic freedom?
I don't have to tell you that the country in question is the New Iraq, with a stable, civil society and a mature...
No, that's not even funny. It's Israel, of course.
I will not, at this time, get into how entirely specious their arguments are about the "plight" of the Palestinians. I will note how lucky the Palestinians are to have enemies like Israeli Jews - no other 'oppressed' people have such an effective fund-raiser for an enemy.
Jews - yes. That's what it comes down to. Uh-oh - knee jerk reaction on its way: "you can't criticize Israel without being called anti-Semitic."
That old canard has been answered before, better than I can answer it, but I will say this: you can't exclusively criticize Israel without being anti-Semitic.
If a thousand kids are chewing gum in class, and you take little Hymie - and only little Hymie - by the ear and send him to the principals office for chewing gum, you are an anti-Semite. It's that clear. And all these Brits and their fellow travellers who want to ban Israeli academics - and Arab-Israeli ones (the only scholars in the Arab world with the freedom to study what they want and report what they want) - are not making similar motions about Yemenis or Saudis or Egyptians.
Even though those countries offer exactly zero of the human freedoms offered by those Jews. So what is it about Israelis that calls for them to be so clearly singled out? Is there anything other than their Jewishness that can explain it?
I've always found that Israelis don't wear ties very often. Could this be an elaborate dress code violation? Could slobbish Israelis have accumulated that many demerits in 60 years?
Not likely. The most grievous thing Israeli's have done since the founding of the country in 1948 is this: they survived.
How much happier would the countries of the world be if they could pay lip-service to mourning a Jewish state extinguished in its infancy, rather than have to deal with so many living Jews defending their rights and their borders so extravagantly. They didn't just lie down and die, so they must be boycotted.
Because surely, North Korea and Iran and the rest of the world's bad guys get enough special attention - no need to get into an academic snit over that bunch.
You would hope that the fact that Jews thwarted their own genocide in 1948 and afterward would be a good thing. The fact that Israel has agreed to every peace overture ever made to it and the Palestinians have refused an equal number would mean something.
But we're living in Al Gore's irrational world now. None of that matters. Israel is unforgivably Jewish, and so will always turn up on a boycott list in Europe.
But even though it all started like that in 1933 Germany, at least we have Israel now. So, British academics, boycott away - just don't fool yourselves into thinking this is motivated by anything but base bigotry.
One country.
And yet, this is the only country that "enlightened" British academics want to boycott. They are floating yet another motion that will bar the academics of this country from participating in any scholarly venture with them - from writing papers to presenting at conferences.
Did I mention that this is the only country in the Middle East that practices academic freedom?
I don't have to tell you that the country in question is the New Iraq, with a stable, civil society and a mature...
No, that's not even funny. It's Israel, of course.
I will not, at this time, get into how entirely specious their arguments are about the "plight" of the Palestinians. I will note how lucky the Palestinians are to have enemies like Israeli Jews - no other 'oppressed' people have such an effective fund-raiser for an enemy.
Jews - yes. That's what it comes down to. Uh-oh - knee jerk reaction on its way: "you can't criticize Israel without being called anti-Semitic."
That old canard has been answered before, better than I can answer it, but I will say this: you can't exclusively criticize Israel without being anti-Semitic.
If a thousand kids are chewing gum in class, and you take little Hymie - and only little Hymie - by the ear and send him to the principals office for chewing gum, you are an anti-Semite. It's that clear. And all these Brits and their fellow travellers who want to ban Israeli academics - and Arab-Israeli ones (the only scholars in the Arab world with the freedom to study what they want and report what they want) - are not making similar motions about Yemenis or Saudis or Egyptians.
Even though those countries offer exactly zero of the human freedoms offered by those Jews. So what is it about Israelis that calls for them to be so clearly singled out? Is there anything other than their Jewishness that can explain it?
I've always found that Israelis don't wear ties very often. Could this be an elaborate dress code violation? Could slobbish Israelis have accumulated that many demerits in 60 years?
Not likely. The most grievous thing Israeli's have done since the founding of the country in 1948 is this: they survived.
How much happier would the countries of the world be if they could pay lip-service to mourning a Jewish state extinguished in its infancy, rather than have to deal with so many living Jews defending their rights and their borders so extravagantly. They didn't just lie down and die, so they must be boycotted.
Because surely, North Korea and Iran and the rest of the world's bad guys get enough special attention - no need to get into an academic snit over that bunch.
You would hope that the fact that Jews thwarted their own genocide in 1948 and afterward would be a good thing. The fact that Israel has agreed to every peace overture ever made to it and the Palestinians have refused an equal number would mean something.
But we're living in Al Gore's irrational world now. None of that matters. Israel is unforgivably Jewish, and so will always turn up on a boycott list in Europe.
But even though it all started like that in 1933 Germany, at least we have Israel now. So, British academics, boycott away - just don't fool yourselves into thinking this is motivated by anything but base bigotry.
posted by fiduciary at 11:17 AM
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