2009 October, 12th

Phil Butler

More news today concerning Israel’s continual thumbing of her nose at the world reached my desk. According to a statement given to an Israeli Haaretz by a Democratic Congressman, The Obama administration is irate over Israel’s inflammatory incitements toward the President, and subsequently the U.S. The same report also suggests that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be personally involved in the fireworks between the administrations. Apparently officials of the Israeli leadership are trying to portray Obama as an enemy of Israel to the American public. The same source warned that Israel is playing a dangerous game if the allegations are true, and damage to the U.S. – Israeli relationship is possible.

The U.S.’s negotiations in the area have not gone well, and given Israels staunch stance on all the issues, no one expects them to get any better. Israel appears to be going ahead with whatever plans they have without regard for any consequence. Jordan’s King Abdullah warned Washington recently of unrest and tension in that country over Israel’s settlement aims in East Jerusalem. According to this report, the Jordanian Embassy in Israel was ordered to submit an official protest over Israel’s plan to build Jewish neighborhoods on land currently belonging to the village of Wlaja, in East Jerusalem. The stagnant negotiations, complicated by Israel’s continued “hard hardheadedness” in the whole affair, is causing increase pressure on the Arab League to suspend the peace initiative of March 2002.

One For All and All For Israel

This situation just gets worse and worse, or at least it seems so to this writer. We are all so curtailed (or at least I am) by a conscious fear we might be considered anti-Israel, or worse still anti-semantic. This is true even if one is the furthest thing from “anti-anybody”, save evil people. The Israeli people have exactly as much right to live in that country as the Palestinians do. Wait, perhaps even less right if we look at the history of Palestine? That area of the world was formally settled sometime during the early Bronze Age (not that this counts for much), and not by Jewish people either. Everyone knows there has been no end to the “wars and rumors of wars” from this volatile area of Earth. Centuries mind you, Centuries, I had to say that twice. Why? Because human beings have some inherent need to dissect God and turn him into their own? Who knows? But I personally think it is all about some inherent need to have contention?

Without drifting off into religious philosophy here, I really want to ask the question sometimes; “Has Israel’s leadership lost their minds?” For one thing, all this pressure and negative press they are getting just validates the Palestinian situation, not to mention the positive PR Hamas gets no matter what they do now. On the one hand, the sovereign right of a country to act within its own borders is viable for Israel or course. On the other hand, dealing death and bad treatment to indigenous people’s seems just as bad as any other examples of human rights violations one can think of. It could be said, with some certainty, that what Israel wants is the eviction of every Palestinian from even the driest patch of worthless desert in that realm. That is the essence of it isn’t it? Does anyone see Israel as a “friendly” country and more?

Betraying One True Friend

Now, just because they “stepped in it” over their heads, and the U.S. President has not dawned the white hat and rescued Israel with some golden lasso and raucous gunfire in the air, Israel thinks we are their enemy? I can think of worse enemies to have, can’t you? I am not speaking for myself here you know? If the world is a community, and a democratic one, then how is it that the whole Arab world, most of the Western world, and just about anyone who eats of the fruit of the Earth has to put up with Israel’s continued bullying? Call me whatever you like, but imagine a world where America and the Arab world are friends and Israel is held to a different kind of accountability. Face it, part of the reason America is tied up in two wars that costs some Americans their futures, and even their very lives, is to make sure someone does not bomb Israel back to the stone age. Am I lying?

Let’s not dilly dally around the bush. Jewish people often get a bad rap because of familiar clichés. But, if the shoe fits wear it, I always say. Most people admire the propensity for many Jewish business people to strike a good deal (for themselves that is). Who of you readers ever “got one over” on a Jewish shopkeeper? Well, in the same way any good Jewish businessman hangs on to a profit, so the Israeli government fights mindfully to make damned sure they do not lose an inch in these negotiations. But, is this good business? Getting Israel to give an inch in these negotiations, or even in admitting a mistake is like prying a ham sandwich out of the mouth of a hobo! Maybe America should adopt this mentality? Fortunately, many American Jews see the light of reason on the horizon. The holocaust has, as one said; “Run its course in justifying Israel’s actions.” People sympathize, but Jews have not been ridiculed to the degree they were in decades.

The Never Ending Conclusion

I am so dual minded in this situation. On the one hand I do not want to offend my Jewish friends, and similarly I do not want to offend my Arab friends. Maybe this is where we all are. I suspect after all that it is as hard to pry a ham sandwich from a Jordanian who is hungry as it is from an Israeli, but of course there are fewer hungry Israelis. The problem here is that we have become too pro-semitic and anti-Arabic. Now President Obama is trying desperately to balance that scale, and we are suddenly “enemies” of Israel? If we were enemies of Israel my friends, I doubt their puny arsenal of nuclear weapons would matter much. From my perspective, it is time for the “real” Israeli people to recognize that it is possible for them to be friends with everyone. Not an easy task certainly, but surely one which is not closer through calling your only true friend an enemy. A right to exist is one thing, but a right to control is a far cry from harmony. What are they thinking? I think they should examine the value in the relationship.

• 2009/08/03 -- Israeli Eviction of Palestinians, Are They Serious About Peace?
• 2009/06/16 -- Israel Needs A Better Policy In Gaza – Not Better PR
• 2009/03/24 -- UN Report Brings Gaza Atrocities Into Sharper Focus
• 2010/01/22 -- Online Sales in December Not So Bleak
• 2009/12/27 -- Gaza One Year Later, No Humanity In Sight
• 2009/12/21 -- Mystery Shrouds Auschwitz Sign Theft
• 2009/09/30 -- The Pitiful State of Israel, Goldstone Reports to the UN

About the Author

Phil Butler is editor-in-chief of Everything PR and senior partner at Pamil Visions PR. He’s a widely cited authority on beta startups, search engines and public relations issues, and he has covered tech news since 2004. Phil wrote in the past for ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, Profy, SitePoint, Search Engine Journal, AltSearchEngines. Follow Phil on Twitter or send him an email at phil [at] pamil-visions [dot] com.

See All Posts by This Author