(11-21-2012, 05:06 AM)Leanne Wrote: This is what Julie Webb-Pullman (Mercedes' sister) has to say on the situation in Gaza.
Israel hasn't had my sympathy for some time. I agree, the Jewish people are using propaganda and racial vilification in the ultimate act of hypocrisy.
I am glad to hear that JM's sis is OK as of now, despite all.
I am re-reading 'The Rebirth and Destiny of Israel', by David Ben Gurion, pioneer and at the time of publication, Prime Minister of Israel. I first read it over 50 years ago, having borrowed it from Hastings Library--or stolen it, perhaps would be more accurate. In those days, the gleeful, open talk of colonisation seemed like the stuff of history (the first essay dates to 1915), and Britain still had colonies. Now, reading the same stuff, the intent seems outrageous, and the language used to describe the Palestinians racist in the extreme. But Jewish people knew all about racism: they were the Chosen People, and other people have chosen them to vent their hatred from time to time. In this book, as much as one may sympathise with his picaresque descriptions of the verdant fields and feelings of freedom from the Galuth-- it is, in fact, a confession from one of the chief architects.
It seems that people have little difficulty in holding opposing opinions at the same time. My wife's Jewish grandfather, born in the romantic-sounding Bessarabia, was very strong on the woes which had befallen the Jews in his native Russia, and of course Germany/Poland, due to the evil of anti-Semitism. Then one day, some Indians moved into his road -- and he had not a good word to say!
None of this would have been possible had the Enlightenment not been snuffed out. Now you can believe the Christ is going to show up in Missouri some time soon, and still be taken seriously as a candidate for the US Presidency. I mean, wtf....
