Back in July I posted this:

“I am a terrible newshound, and find myself grimly gripped by the terrible events unfolding in the Mid East. I am so enormously frustrated and disappointed by Britains lazy, ignorant and predjudiced "intelligentsia". Again and again, the narrative  is that of Palestinian victimisation and Israeli oppression. British public opinion has hugely bought into this , and  considers itself humane and sophisticated for having done so. Don't misunderstand me. I feel enormous sadness and despair for the position of the Palestinians and of course the Lebanese, whose country is being used as a battleground. But yet again, the voices raised in protest are almost entirely not against  the genocidal warmongers of Syria and Iran, but against their primary victim, Israel.”

And this:

“Leaving in half an hour, couldn't resist one swift peek at the news. Now I'm cross again. Where are the "Leave Israel Alone" marches?, ah, that will be the one organized and attended by Jews. Why is the rest of the country tut tutting at Israel but languidly silent on the topic of Hezbollah? They find the energy to go on 11 marches across the country protesting against Israel but appear indifferent to Islamofacism. Aaargh!

Right, thats it. I'M ON HOLIDAY!!!!”

Last night, a drive by anonymous commenter said this:

“It seems odd to me that so many otherwise liberal individuals, who abhor racism and hated the apartheid system, are so blind to the way that the state of Israel operates. No other country in the western world is based on such ideas of racial and religious supremacy. The fact is that if you are an Arab in Israel you are worse than a second class citizen. And if you are unfortunate enough to be a palestinian inhabitant of the occupied territories, at best you are like an inhabitant of one of the Indian reservations in the US, at worst a ghettoised member of a vast prison camp. The fact that you are a Christian makes your one-sided views even more reprehensible. Remember God heard Hagar's tears and he had pity on her...”

Dear Anonymous

Since you haven’t specified a particular offending phrase, I will assume that it is my general “tone” of support, or concern for Israel that irks you.

Allow me to clarify. I wrote my comments at a time when civilian areas within northern Israel were being targeted and bombed by Hizbollah rockets, rockets that were packed with ball bearings, the better to inflict maximal maiming. The same (Iranian) rockets that were used with lethal success on the July attack that killed eight railway workers. Recall that only a few days earlier a Hizbollah commando snuck over the border into Israel, killed three soldiers and kidnapped two more. It was ( or should have been) abundantly clear that Hizbollah were picking a fight. When Israel didn’t bite Hizbollah upped the ante, firing over one hundred rockets daily into Northern Israel.

Can you imagine Anonymous? Here in London, taking to bomb shelters? Sending our children up to Scotland or overseas to stay with relatives?

Yes Anonymous, you are right. I do abhor racism. Dead Jews upset me every bit as much as dead Rwandans or dead Sudanese. I am upset when Jews are killed and my country holds marches saying “ We are all Hizbollah now”. What should Israel have done? Sent postcards to Hassan Nasrallah?

Your comment suggests that because you “believe” Israel to be a state “founded on racial and religious supremacy” that it should therefore put up with having its civilians killed and its soldiers kidnapped.

Basically, Israel can’t win. At the core of your views is, I suspect, a conviction that Israel should not, in fact exist at all. Am I right Anon? If so, that is a whole nuther argument and everything else is a red herring. If that is so, it might save time, and be more honest, if you simply said “Israel has no right to be there. Therefore, don’t criticize Hezbollah (or hamas etc) who are only trying to get the job done. Because Israel shouldn’t be there they should quietly accept their bombing and disappear.”

You said “No other country in the western world is based on such ideas of racial and religious supremacy”

That, is emotional, highly charged nonsense Anonymous. Be ashamed of yourself and go to the back of the class. The State of Israel is based on principles of liberty, justice and peace, upholds full social and political equality of all its citizens without distinction of religion, race or sex. It guarantees freedom of religion, conscience, education and culture. The fact that they find themselves engaged in a protracted war for survival does in no way make them racial or religious supremacists.

I notice that you neatly insert “western” world. Are you willing to apply the same scrutiny to Israel’s neighbours?

You said “The fact is that if you are an Arab in Israel you are worse than a second class citizen.” Actually Anonymous, the fact is that if you are an Arab in Israel you have full voting, healthcare and education rights the same as any citizen. Just ask the Arab members of the Knesset.

The real fact is that if you are a Palestinian in Lebanon, you are most assuredly a second class citizen, and that Anon, is not a matter of hyperbolic emotional blethering but of record.

Palestinians in Lebanon are marginalized, repressed and discriminated against in every meaningful way. Socially, politically and economically. Attempts to integrate Palestinians into Lebanon are actively resisted. They are kept apart from the Lebanese population, and cannot access secondary or higher education. Those lucky enough to get a work permit still don’t qualify for social security or insurance benefits, or a regular wage increase. Employment is governed by sectarian rules. Palestinians are excluded from more than 72 professions; they are thus forced to work in the informal sector with low wages, insecurity and no benefits.

I could go on to list the building restrictions which are imposed on them and result in severe overcrowding and very grim, insecure living conditions, but I want to come on to your closing salvo.

You said “The fact that you are a Christian makes your one-sided views even more reprehensible.”

 No Anonymous, it is your views which are all on one side. Injustice, regardless of the victims race, whether “on the ground” or “virtual” through defamation and misrepresentation is reprehensible, and anyone with a moral conscience ought to feel likewise. I suggest it is you who are blinded to the truth.

In your comments, you are so provoked by my very modest expression of concern that you make huge assumptions as to my views generally (“Remember God heard Hagar's tears and he had pity on her...”) Erm, I guess you are suggesting her that I, on the other hand, am pitiless towards the Arabs. Exactly where in my post did you get this? The fact is that Arabs pay the highest price for the madness of their leaders. Leaders who, for the most part, they get no say in electing.

I don’t have oceans of sympathy for the Jihadists who bomb Pizza parlours, or Mullahs, who would ( as I said in a previous post) have me in my own ready to wear tent quicker than you can say Dhimmi.. I have nothing but sympathy for the millions of honest, innocent Muslims/People of Hagar who are among their most numerous victims. Nothing I have said suggests otherwise, other than your own lazy prejudiced assumptions.

If I can remind you of what I said in an earlier post: “I feel enormous sadness and despair for the position of the Palestinians and of course the Lebanese, whose country is being used as a battleground.” I just don’t believe that it is all the fault of Israel. I think that those who do, and who, like you, object to my very moderate and uncontroversial concern for a people under rocket fire by a group committed to their utter annihilation, are lazy or willfully ignorant.

And why, exactly, do you find my concern for Israeli civilians more reprehensible because I am a Christian? Should Christians be blasé about such civilian deaths?

Let’s clear this issue up (since you raised it).

As a Christian, I understand that the bible testifies to Gods love for our physical world, and for all mankind. This is a love that we must share. Therefore, the Christian is bound to be profoundly interested in the state of politics, in her country, and in the world. At the same time, she understands that merely reforming this world is never going to resolve its problems, Gods kingdom must break in from outside.

When we remember that God loved us and sent his son to die for us, while we were sinners and hostile to him, we should be humbled and desire the same mercy and compassion for our enemies At the same time, and in no contradiction to this principle, we are moved to speak he truth and challenge injustice in the world.

I hope Anonymous, that this may clear up any misunderstanding you have regarding my views.

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Comments

Sep. 27, 2006 - Hey Claire!

Posted by deedeeuk

Well said! Amen! By the way, I haven't forgotten about the recipes, I just haven't been home! Hopefully I can send them to you tomorrow!

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Sep. 27, 2006 - oh my!!

Posted by ReneeM

Good heavens!! That was excellently put!!

Thank you sir Anonymous for bringing this out of Clare!

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Sep. 29, 2006 - YOU GO, GIRL!!

Posted by Buckeyeblog

WOOHOO!!! That could not be MORE right on!! You probably needed a nap after venting all of that. :-)

Hey - thanks for returning to my blog! I always enjoy hearing from you.

God bless you across the Pond!

Kim Wolf<><

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Oct. 1, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by HeartnSoul

Hi Claire, glad to see you back. That was so wonderfully put! I wish my brain would work that well. It is interesting how some would seek to deceive with word twisting. We must be prepared and keep to the true Word so we won't fall in the trap.

blessings
Denise T
also /homeschoolamericana

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Oct. 1, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Debismumto4

Hi Clare

Firstly it's great to have you back blogging. Your comments to Mr/Mrs Anonymous are extremely well put. Thanks for taking a stand on this subject.

Thanks too for your advice re Maths. I will check it out. I think alot of the problem is that my stress over maths is getting passed to my oldest and she has a mental block. She does really well with mental arithmetic that is related to what she has been learning but purt a worksheet in front of her she seems to get total memory loss. I think that if I find something that shows me how to teach it I will relax and the knock on effect will be positive.

Have a great rest of the weekend

Love Deb

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Oct. 3, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous

Just driving through again, unfortunately very quickly so I can't respond to all your arguments in detail. However I would say that I am actually an ardent supporter of the state of Israel. However it is because I am a supporter that I expect that nation to have high standards and I am not blind to its faults (cf Jeremiah in the Old Testament). I am also hard on my own nation when I feel it is doing the wrong thing. Loyalty and patriotism should not make you blind to injustice and oppression. It is possible to be a supporter of Israel and yet on the other hand try to understand the Arab point of view. I would quickly make the following points:

(a) Basically this is a conflict that has been going on for nearly 60 years. To look at Hezbollah's recent actions in isolation is like looking at the British/American bombing of Dresden without looking at the background of the second world war. At its heart is the Arab grievance that their land and their capital city was taken without their permission and without consultation and given to people from different continents. How would you like that if that happened to you - to South East England and your precious London? I wish that the Arabs would accept the facts of history and move on, but their grievance is at least understandable. Furthermore you have to look at least at the events of the last few years - Israel has been in illegal occupation of the territories of the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights for nearly 40 years. This is in direct contravention of numerous UN security council resolutions and international law. I think that most balanced commentators now accept that if Israel completely withdrew (a genuine withdrawal, not a sham one like the recent one in Gaza) from these territories it would solve the Arab-Israeli problem. Instead throughout these years, Israel has been following a deliberate policy of settlement and confiscation of Arab land. From the start of the occupation in 1967, it has been Israel's policy to create "facts" on the ground that will make it impossible to hand back the territories in any viable form to the Palestinians.

(b) Just because the Israeli government website says that everyone in Israel has equal rights does not necessarily make it so. The old apartheid regime in South Africa used to produced reams of evidence to show how well off the blacks were - compared with other black African countries. I wonder whether you have ever visited Israel and the occupied territories? If you had, you would see the oppression and racial prejudice for yourself. The 1 million people who live in the West Bank and the Gaza have never had the opportunity to vote in an Israeli election. They cannot get passports, if they wish to travel abroad. It reminds me of the bantustans in apartheid South Africa. The West Bank is littered with literally hundreds of Jewish only settlement areas and Jewish only roads - so much for equality for all! (I haven't mentioned the crass insensitivity of the Israeli army - the house demolitions, the humiliating searches at the endless checkpoints. When I visited the mosque at Hebron, Israeli soldiers just marched in wearing their dirty boots - there was no respect at all).l

(c) the behaviour of the Israeli government towards other countries in the region and elsewhere. This is understandable given that most of these countries are opposed to Israel's right to exist. But you do wonder - why for example does Israel feel it is OK to divert virtually all the waters of the river Jordan for its own irrigation projects leaving the kingdom of Jordan with practically nothing - this is why the Dead Sea is shrinking at an alarming rate. Is this the action of a country that wants to live at peace with its neighbours? In the recent conflict with Lebanon - the actions against Israel were being carried out by a terrorist group in a part of the country where the Beirut government has little control - yet Israel's response was to bomb Beirut and other areas all over the country. It's a bit like if the UK were to bomb Dublin and impose a blockade every time the IRA did something in Northern Ireland.

Anyway, I do need to drive on, I've stopped here longer than I should have anyway! I would recommend a book called "Whose promised land" by Colin Chapman.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Whose-Promised-Land-Continuing-Palestine/dp/0745951112/sr=8-1/qid=1159896020/ref=sr_1_1/026-1286269-6297219?ie=UTF8&s=books

I think anyone who is genuinely interested in understanding both sides of the argument would find it helpful.

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Oct. 4, 2006 - Hmmm, this is going to be like plaiting fog

Posted by BattlementsofRubies

So many straw men, so little time...
Your comments here are so littered with fallacies and illogical extrapolations that I hardly know where to begin.
Statements like
"most balanced commentators now accept that if Israel completely withdrew (a genuine withdrawal, not a sham one like the recent one in Gaza) from these territories it would solve the Arab-Israeli problem."
And
"From the start of the occupation in 1967, it has been Israel's policy to create "facts" on the ground that will make it impossible to hand back the territories in any viable form to the Palestinians."
And
"It's a bit like if the UK were to bomb Dublin and impose a blockade every time the IRA did something in Northern Ireland. "
Are so full of muddled thinking, baseless assertion and all round dottiness I could waste an entire evening deconstructing each one.
The comment about most balanced commentators was a gem. With a host of balanced commentators behind you nodding their heads, well who am I to argue?
I can't address this right now as I have to read "A Prayer For Owen Meany" before I meet with my book club in a weeks time, and I haven't even started yet. Also I have a head cold and the small matter of 4 children to see to.
In the mean time, I'm still in the dark as to what offended you about my comments in the first place. You said my views were reprehensible remember? Thats a strong word. Before widening the debate it would be great if you could deal with the initial puzzle. That is, what you, an "ardent supporter of Israel" found so "reprehensible" in my comments .I am still in the dark there...

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Oct. 5, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by BattlementsofRubies

"I am not blind to its faults (cf Jeremiah in the Old Testament). I am also hard on my own nation when I feel it is doing the wrong thing. Loyalty and patriotism should not make you blind to injustice and oppression."

Great! Top marks to you and Jeremiah. But wait, are you merely mentioning this to establish your credentials as a "good egg" or do you mean to say that I on the other hand am blind to these matters?

"To look at Hezbollah's recent actions in isolation is like looking at the British/American bombing of Dresden without looking at the background of the second world war."

Or you could rephrase "To look at Israels recent actions in isolation is like looking at the British/American bombing of Dresden without looking at the background of the second world war." Although of course, Israels actions, while in no way diminishing the awfulness, was infact, vastly more restrained than the horrors of Dresden. BTW, did you know that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem got on swimmingly with Hitler and formed an axis with the Nazis?

"At its heart is the Arab grievance that their land and their capital city was taken without their permission and without consultation and given to people from different continents. How would you like that if that happened to you - to South East England and your precious London?"

Well the two scenarios are not like for like. London "belongs" to the UK. Palestine never "belonged" to the Palestinian state, because there never was one.It was under Turkish Ottoman rule and then the British Mandate. Palestine wasn't stolen by the Jews and made into Israel. It was part of a larger carve up ( remember Transjordan?) It seems to be largely forgotten now, that Jordan was ever part of Palestine. Almost 80 % of the Mandated territory of Palestine was given to Jordan. Israel was a legal creation of the UN. I am not expressing an opinion on this here, merely stating some historical facts.

"They cannot get passports, if they wish to travel abroad"

Yes, they can. We had two builders recently who were Palestinian and held Palestinian passports.
http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/services/asylum/ric/documentation/Palestine.htm

"I haven't mentioned the crass insensitivity of the Israeli army - the house demolitions, the humiliating searches at the endless checkpoints. When I visited the mosque at Hebron, Israeli soldiers just marched in wearing their dirty boots - there was no respect at all"

Show me a sensitive army ( maybe the Vatican's Swiss Guard?). As for the checkpoints, you mean the same checkpoints that, on occasion, thwart suicide bombers? My mother is a catholic from the North of Ireland. I well remember being stopped at army checkpoints. Believe me, crass insensitivities are not the preserve of the IDF. However, at the same time I recognised that these same crass soldiers were, in fact, dealing with a mortal enemy. How were they to know that we "came in peace"?

"why for example does Israel feel it is OK to divert virtually all the waters of the river Jordan for its own irrigation projects leaving the kingdom of Jordan with practically nothing - this is why the Dead Sea is shrinking at an alarming rate. "

Well, that is certainly a knotty hydrological problem, but it won't do to lay ALL the blame at Israels door as you have just done. Lebanon and Syria do the same.

"In the recent conflict with Lebanon - the actions against Israel were being carried out by a terrorist group in a part of the country where the Beirut government has little control - yet Israel's response was to bomb Beirut and other areas all over the country. It's a bit like if the UK were to bomb Dublin and impose a blockade every time the IRA did something in Northern Ireland."

Hizbollah has two MINISTERS in the Lebanese government. After the 2005 elections they ( Hizbollah) won 14 seats in the 128 member Lebanese parliament. Incidentally, Hizbollah are Shiites ( unlike Sunni Hamas) They seek to create a Muslim fundamentalist state in Lebanon based on that of their sponsors Iran.
The IRA were headquartered in the six counties in the North of Ireland , it would plainly have been bananas to bomb Dublin, so its not a bit "like that" at all.

"I would recommend a book called "Whose promised land" by Colin Chapman.
I think anyone who is genuinely interested in understanding both sides of the argument would find it helpful."

Thank you. Perhaps in a spirit of mutual "seeking understanding" I could respectfully offer my own recommendation. Here:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/media/pdf/BigLies.pdf#search=%22big%20lies%20david%20horowitz%22

And here:

http://www.honestreporting.com/

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Feb. 10, 2007 - Arab post

Posted by Adam

Way to go! Well said Clare!!

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