This is a very confused essay, full of contradictions and false assertions. Let me explain. If Israel is the self-respecting nation and not the ghetto shtetl you say it is in the way it acts, it would indeed lament the loss of Orban because Orban was a friend of Israel. You don't have to like all the policies of a country but if it is on your side, then it is an ally, however temporary. The EU and western European governments are NO allies of Israel, but enemies of Israel. Even the lofty moral principles the EU and western European governments like to toss about are simply covers for their pusillanimity, their indulgence of Muslim extremism, and their paternalistic attempts to control the thoughts and speech of their populations. Orban would have none of that. He did not let Muslims into Hungary and that was good for Hungary. Ditto when he refused to arrest Netanyahu if he showed up there and deliver him to the EU's darling ICC. It is not Israel's business to decide whether a country's government is doing good or bad for that country but whether a country's government is doing good or bad for Israel. Orban's Hungary was good for Israel. Magyar's new government has already caved to the EU, promised to arrest Netanyahu if he shows up, and I'll bet next step is to ruin Hungary with Muslims. If you think the EU is still an ally of Israel and shares its values you are deluded. The EU is not the Europe of Mahler or Musil. That Europe is dead and the EU is living off its embers. I agree with you that Israel should act as a strong independent sovereign nation, especially with respect to its Arab Muslim enemies, and use the current situation to conquer Gaza and Ramallah, expel the Palestinians, and tell its Muslim neighbours near and far that it is up to them to make peace with Israel. No bribes will be henceforth accepted. No concessions given. If they want peace they shall make peace. But no more attacks on Israel will be tolerated. When Turkey makes incendiary and liquidationist attacks on Israel, Turkey can see what a nuclear bomb dropped on their country would look like. If Jordan starts its usual hypocritical slander of Israel, payback should ensue. The Wagf should be removed, the Al-Aksa mosque razed, and any public disturbances met with severe and firm suppression. That's what a self-respecting nation does. It rewards its friends and punishes its enemies. All the supposedly lofty moral values espoused by the EU and western European nations are nothing but intellectual tinsel, and a cover for old rooted antisemitism. Israel will find new friends: Argentina, India, Vietnam. Allies are highly overrated, always temporary, and rarely long-lasting friends. The US and Israel today are firm allies, but America is under attack from within and already likely to go the way of Europe. Then America will no longer be an ally of Israel, but an enemy, as its Democratic Party already is. I finally visited Hungary recently when Orban was still prime minister and found it charming, the people seemed free, the cranes were up all around Budapest building. Not so bad. And Jews felt safe there. I suspect you still think Mahler is alive and well in Europe. He is not. The Jews created modern Europe and Europe killed them for that. It deserves to die its self-imposed death. Orban did not want that for Hungary. I don't want that for Israel either.
Exactly, we apply standards to ourselves that no other self respecting sovereign nation would apply.
The ghetto is not a place. It is a moral posture. It is a state of mind of a demoralized loser.
GREAT, phantastic, most of my own thoughts in a nutshell.
Well done Yonatan
Thanks Jay!
A great read!
Very articulate analysis. Thank you
This is a very confused essay, full of contradictions and false assertions. Let me explain. If Israel is the self-respecting nation and not the ghetto shtetl you say it is in the way it acts, it would indeed lament the loss of Orban because Orban was a friend of Israel. You don't have to like all the policies of a country but if it is on your side, then it is an ally, however temporary. The EU and western European governments are NO allies of Israel, but enemies of Israel. Even the lofty moral principles the EU and western European governments like to toss about are simply covers for their pusillanimity, their indulgence of Muslim extremism, and their paternalistic attempts to control the thoughts and speech of their populations. Orban would have none of that. He did not let Muslims into Hungary and that was good for Hungary. Ditto when he refused to arrest Netanyahu if he showed up there and deliver him to the EU's darling ICC. It is not Israel's business to decide whether a country's government is doing good or bad for that country but whether a country's government is doing good or bad for Israel. Orban's Hungary was good for Israel. Magyar's new government has already caved to the EU, promised to arrest Netanyahu if he shows up, and I'll bet next step is to ruin Hungary with Muslims. If you think the EU is still an ally of Israel and shares its values you are deluded. The EU is not the Europe of Mahler or Musil. That Europe is dead and the EU is living off its embers. I agree with you that Israel should act as a strong independent sovereign nation, especially with respect to its Arab Muslim enemies, and use the current situation to conquer Gaza and Ramallah, expel the Palestinians, and tell its Muslim neighbours near and far that it is up to them to make peace with Israel. No bribes will be henceforth accepted. No concessions given. If they want peace they shall make peace. But no more attacks on Israel will be tolerated. When Turkey makes incendiary and liquidationist attacks on Israel, Turkey can see what a nuclear bomb dropped on their country would look like. If Jordan starts its usual hypocritical slander of Israel, payback should ensue. The Wagf should be removed, the Al-Aksa mosque razed, and any public disturbances met with severe and firm suppression. That's what a self-respecting nation does. It rewards its friends and punishes its enemies. All the supposedly lofty moral values espoused by the EU and western European nations are nothing but intellectual tinsel, and a cover for old rooted antisemitism. Israel will find new friends: Argentina, India, Vietnam. Allies are highly overrated, always temporary, and rarely long-lasting friends. The US and Israel today are firm allies, but America is under attack from within and already likely to go the way of Europe. Then America will no longer be an ally of Israel, but an enemy, as its Democratic Party already is. I finally visited Hungary recently when Orban was still prime minister and found it charming, the people seemed free, the cranes were up all around Budapest building. Not so bad. And Jews felt safe there. I suspect you still think Mahler is alive and well in Europe. He is not. The Jews created modern Europe and Europe killed them for that. It deserves to die its self-imposed death. Orban did not want that for Hungary. I don't want that for Israel either.