http://www.extrememortman.com/cable-tv/the-company-israel-keeps-according-to-jeff-greenfield/ Just When You Thought it was Safe to Take Politics Seriously Again Wed, 7 Jan 2009 00:41:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.1 http://www.extrememortman.com/cable-tv/the-company-israel-keeps-according-to-jeff-greenfield/#comment-584 Wed, 16 Aug 2006 01:40:08 +0000 http://www.extrememortman.com/cable-tv/the-company-israel-keeps-according-to-jeff-greenfield/#comment-584 Actually, the worst thing that can be touted is that the "conflict" is one of waring religions: Israel needs to avoid that pitfall above everything else. The "conflict" is not one of Israel trying to spread Judisim vs. their "Arab" neighbors trying to spread Islam: Israel is not trying to "spread" Judisim. It seeks and deserves to be a peaceful, legimate state, not a religious mecca. On the other hands, the "Arabs" DO seek to spread Islam, like a bad case of poison ivy. Actually, the worst thing that can be touted is that the “conflict” is one of waring religions: Israel needs to avoid that pitfall above everything else. The “conflict” is not one of Israel trying to spread Judisim vs. their “Arab” neighbors trying to spread Islam: Israel is not trying to “spread” Judisim. It seeks and deserves to be a peaceful, legimate state, not a religious mecca. On the other hands, the “Arabs” DO seek to spread Islam, like a bad case of poison ivy.

]]> http://www.extrememortman.com/cable-tv/the-company-israel-keeps-according-to-jeff-greenfield/#comment-583 Wed, 16 Aug 2006 01:31:27 +0000 http://www.extrememortman.com/cable-tv/the-company-israel-keeps-according-to-jeff-greenfield/#comment-583 Not to mince words, but the Jews right to live and prosper in a state of their own in Israel is not just due to its G-d given right. To say that lends credence to Jews as usurpers in a land for which they have no other connection than a book. The facts that Greenfield ignores by making this statement are how did Jews come to live in Israel. A few answers: (i) They never left entirely, so their connection to the land was not severed and (ii) when they made mass aliyah in the late 1800's and early 1900's, they purchased land, built on non-developed/non-inhabited land and had a majority of Jews living in the area that became Israel. Also, it should be noted that Arabs flocked to the areas surrounding the Jews' economic creations - Jews made the land attractive to live in - Tel Aviv was an uninhabitable swamp before Jews built it. Jews gave birth to this land as much as they returned to it. Jews have built the most creative and flourishing civilization in the Middle East - for that alone, they deserve the land they built. The Biblical birthright is just icing on the cake of the argument. The fact that the Arabs have done nothing productive with Gaza or the West Bank in the 30 years before Israel controlled it or since the 67 war is a persuasive argument that the Arabs have neglected and abandoned (if not physically abandoned) the land that they reside on. And, for the record Mr. Greenfield, neither the Koran nor Allah ever promised the land of Israel to the Arabs - so it is not a case of the Arabs thinking that G-d gave them the land. Not to mince words, but the Jews right to live and prosper in a state of their own in Israel is not just due to its G-d given right. To say that lends credence to Jews as usurpers in a land for which they have no other connection than a book. The facts that Greenfield ignores by making this statement are how did Jews come to live in Israel. A few answers: (i) They never left entirely, so their connection to the land was not severed and (ii) when they made mass aliyah in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, they purchased land, built on non-developed/non-inhabited land and had a majority of Jews living in the area that became Israel. Also, it should be noted that Arabs flocked to the areas surrounding the Jews’ economic creations - Jews made the land attractive to live in - Tel Aviv was an uninhabitable swamp before Jews built it. Jews gave birth to this land as much as they returned to it. Jews have built the most creative and flourishing civilization in the Middle East - for that alone, they deserve the land they built. The Biblical birthright is just icing on the cake of the argument. The fact that the Arabs have done nothing productive with Gaza or the West Bank in the 30 years before Israel controlled it or since the 67 war is a persuasive argument that the Arabs have neglected and abandoned (if not physically abandoned) the land that they reside on. And, for the record Mr. Greenfield, neither the Koran nor Allah ever promised the land of Israel to the Arabs - so it is not a case of the Arabs thinking that G-d gave them the land.

]]>