Israel's Success Fuels Arab Hatred

NRO: Arab Hatred Of Israel A Symptom, Not Malady, Of Crisis

(National Review Online)  To suggest primordial envy as a cause of the present conundrum is to be written off as a reductionist by the realists and Arabists of the State Department.

Most instead insist that the return of the Golan Heights and the West Bank would at last inaugurate the missing peace in a way the unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and Gaza so far have not.

As with the writings and rantings of bin Laden and Dr. Zawahiri, these experts should perhaps listen to what is actually being said by the prominent Palestinians themselves — not what we keep thinking they should say.

They might examine, for instance, an excerpt from the recent statements of the Palestinian-born Al-Jazeera editor-in-chief, Ahmed Sheikh, who granted an interview this month with Pierre Heumann, the Middle East correspondent of the Swiss weekly Die Weltwoche. He is not a mere propagandist, but a keen and influential observer of the current Arab temperament.

Sheikh: In many Arab states, the middle class is disappearing. The rich get richer and the poor get still poorer. Look at the schools in Jordan, Egypt or Morocco: You have up to 70 youngsters crammed together in a single classroom. How can a teacher do his job in such circumstances? The public hospitals are also in a hopeless condition. These are just examples. They show how hopeless the situation is for us in the Middle East.

Heumann: Who is responsible for the situation?

Sheikh: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most important reasons why these crises and problems continue to simmer. The day when Israel was founded created the basis for our problems. The West should finally come to understand this. Everything would be much calmer if the Palestinians were given their rights.

Heumann: Do you mean to say that if Israel did not exist, there would suddenly be democracy in Egypt, that the schools in Morocco would be better, that the public clinics in Jordan would function better?

Sheikh: I think so.

Heumann: Can you please explain to me what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has to do with these problems?

Sheikh: The Palestinian cause is central for Arab thinking.

Heumann: In the end, is it a matter of feelings of self-esteem?

Sheikh: Exactly. It’s because we always lose to Israel. It gnaws at the people in the Middle East that such a small country as Israel, with only about 7 million inhabitants, can defeat the Arab nation with its 350 million. That hurts our collective ego. The Palestinian problem is in the genes of every Arab. The West’s problem is that it does not understand this.

How strange that Mr. Sheikh, if for the wrong reasons, has inadvertently echoed the neoconservative thesis that only with fundamental reform will come Arab prosperity — a progress that in turn will bolster the “collective ego” enough for Arabs to forget an Israel that seems to “gnaw” at the Middle East.

Elsewhere in the interview Ahmed Sheikh, who enjoys a prominent role in forming recent public opinion throughout the Arab world, is largely prescient about the West’s misunderstanding of the “genes of every Arab.” As we see with the latest return of the surrealists to foreign policy influence, we surely do not understand the depths or causes of Arab and Muslim psychological exasperation with Israel.

Thus Jim Baker & Co. or a Jimmy Carter apparently assumes that Ahmed Sheikh’s dreamlike Arab version of middle class tax cuts, No Child Left Behind, or Open Enrollments for HMOs will usher peace to the region if only Israel would concede what its enemies demand or disappear entirely.

This is utter nonsense, precisely because Arab detestation of Israel is a symptom, not the malady, of the current Arab crisis of the spirit. Ahmed Sheikh himself stumbles onto that truth. To gain the necessary maturity and self-confidence that would mitigate scapegoating Israel, the Arab Middle East would have to make vast structural changes in traditional Islamic society that would usher in freedom, prosperity, and security.

In other words, new Arab consensual societies would have to create the sort of landscape that they see elsewhere in Europe, Asia, North America, and Israel when they turn on their satellite TVs and browse the internet — and also understand that such success came from within, not merely from foreign aid or the accidental discovery of oil beneath their feet.

And what would that landscape look like?

Something along the lines of what the West has been attempting in both Afghanistan and Iraq: freedom of the press, alliance to the state rather than to the tribe, constitutional government, tolerance for diverse opinion and belief, equality of the sexes, an open economy, and government transparency to ensure the protection of capital and investment.

Meet even a partial list of all that, and soon an economy would prosper without oil; schools would teach knowledge rather than hatred, bias, and religious superstition; and clinics might have their own competently trained and equipped medical personnel.

Palestine really is the touchstone of the Middle East, insofar as it is a valuable window into the minds and hearts of Middle Easterners. The sources of Arab anger about Israel should remind us of the need both to keep pressuring Middle East governments to reform and to continue trying to stabilize Iraq in hopes that something can emerge there different from the theocracy to its south, the autocracy to its west, and the monarchies to its east.

Finally, there is yet another irony to Mr. Sheikh’s lamentations (which we will apparently soon be privileged to hear, when al Jazeera goes live in English throughout the West): Where alone in the Middle East is there his dream of an Arab middle class of sorts? Where do Arabs have good schools? And where is there adequate medical care?

Ask the over one million Palestinians who live in a democratic Israel.

[feelfree1]

Israel is a failing-State, which depends on terrorist aggression against their neighbors, and billions upon billions of U.S. taxpayer welfare payments, every year, for its survival.

All Arabs are "Semites". Apologists for the failing theocracy of Israel don't seem to understand this.

I am not an Arab, but I look forward to the eventual and inevitable collapse of the Israeli-terror-State. Israel was a bad idea to begin with, and the Israelis have become their own worst oppressors ever since its establishment.

Good riddance!

[getcentered]

Why the NRO continues to publish this type of garbage is beyond me. I would like to inform the writer of the opinion, Victor Davis Hanson, that fighting in Palestine has gone on for MANY HUNDEREDS OF YEARS. To pick a side and say one is right or wrong is like picking one of the gods of the religions used to exploit the populations involved in the current conflicts there. The leaders of the communities in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict are like many of the leaders in the US; they are old and out of touch.


Like the our neo-con leaders who started the war in Iraq, the leaders of Palestinians and Israeli are NOT LOOKING FOR PEACE, THAY WANT TO "WIN".

[bluestardad]

GOD Bless Isreal and America!

[feelfree1]

bluestardad,

Re: "GOD Bless Isreal and America!"

If she does, then she clearly sides with the terrorists.

If there was a God, why wouldn't she bless everyone?

[jeffhorow]

I think Mr. Hanson has it right. It's simple envy of the success of Israel that has the Arabs steamed. In the hundreds of years that there was no Israel before 1948, the land was never as developed, nor was it a thriving democracy and economic force as it is today.

To claim that Israel is an "aggressor state" is just plain stupid. They have to defend themselves daily against idiotic suicide bombers and hateful rhetoric that merely serves to keep the Arabs empowered in power and the poor Arabs impoverished.

The best lesson to be learned is "Leave the Jews alone." If the Syrians, Palestinians, Jordanians, Saudis, Iranians, etc. etc. would leave tiny little Israel alone, they could concentrate on their own problems. They don't even need to establish relations with Israel, if they don't want. Just leave them alone. Eventually, the Jews will assimilate and be gone. That should satisfy all the bigots, Aryans, Arabs, and dimwits in the world.

[feelfree1]

JeffHorow,

Re: "To claim that Israel is an "aggressor state" is just plain stupid."

Really? Israel is brutally occupying land that does not belong to them, routinely murders civilians- mostly women and children, has a chronic history of employing "human shields" (see Israeli Supreme Court Decision of October, 2005), stands in violation of a slew of U.N. Security Council Resolutions, constantly threatens/attacks their neigbors, and has a substantial stockpile of WMD, including nukes.

It does not appear that you are very well informed on this issue. Israel is a failing State, on life support, and they will likely collapse when the billions and billions of dollars of U.S. tax dollar welfare payments come to an end.

Most of the world will breath a sigh of relief when that happens.

[jacobstruth]

The Arab and Muslim world has experienced immense population growth, far greater than its economic growth. As a result millions of young unemployed are suffering. Thus far the main outlet for this suffering seems to be hatred and blame. It would be beneficial and constructive for populations both in the West and in the Arab and Muslim world to discuss the significance of high population growth combined with low education and limited economic growth. In the Arab and Muslim world the failures of the states and the economies is blamed on the West instead of demographics and lack of investment. The belief that the West is the cause of the misery and poverty in Muslim countries is so widespread that it might have reached a point of no return. -- see more at Groundreport http://www.groundreport.com/articles.php?cid=&id=77

[jacobstruth]

The same economic insecurity and misplaced sense of injustice reigned over Nazi Germany in the years prior to WWII. In today%u2019s scenario megalomaniacs like Mahmud Ahmedinajad and Hugo Chavez are craving to capture the vacuum of discontent in order to elevate themselves to the irresistible pinnacles of world power. Hitler made the same efforts to stir his people to fury against what he called the slaughter of Germans in Poland and in Czechoslovakia and the conspiracies of the Jews and the West. This was the fuel needed to move the German people and others into the belligerent state Hitler coveted.

The same script is played out today with propaganda about Muslims being %u201Cslaughtered%u201D in Iraq and in Palestine. Often the Arab leaders talk about Islam being under attack and Muslims abused all over the world. Yet the same enraged Islamic leaders seem to have no problem with Muslims slaughtering one another in Iraq or the genocide in Darfour. In the minds of those who fall for the propaganda of Islamic Fundamentalists it is the Americans who commit slaughter. The fact that it is in the US%u2019 greatest interest to bring security and prosperity to Iraq is of no consequence to dictatorial logic.


--see more at Groundreport http://www.groundreport.com/articles.php
?cid=&id=77

[jacobstruth]

Ahmadinajad and others may or may not know that Zion to Jews is the same asMecca to Muslims. To be a Zionist is really not much different than for a Moslem to adhere to the belief that Mecca is the spiritual center of Muslims. A reporter may ask the Iranian dictator if Muslims have more right to claiming Mecca as their religious center then Jews have to claiming Mount Zion in Jerusalem. Ahmadinajad demands the deportation of the Jews from Israel "back" to Europe. An interviewer may also ask: should the Jews who came from the Arab world (and Persia) %u2013 about half of the Jews in Israel %u2013 also be sent to Europe? These and other crucial questions fail to be brought to light to confront the dictator of Iran. Thus far he has the upper hand simply because there are no responses to his vicious attacks. - -- see more at Groundreport http://www.groundreport.com/articles.php
?cid=&id=77

[jacobstruth]

Ahmadinajad is currently conducting psychological warfare which is usually the precursor to actual war. Sadly there is no counter offensive to these attacks. The Israelis themselves have no eloquent leaders to speak up at the UN. Nor does the US have leaders to confront the attacks that vilify American society and democracy. Perhaps if Reagan did not take on the Soviet regime with courage and articulate language the Cold War might not have ended as it did. I rather believe that the ex-communist countries would look today more like North Korea. The dictatorships and the terror would have most likely continued until an outside force would intervene. A revolution would have been no more likely than in Cuba, Korea, Iraq or Iran.

[feelfree1]

Many Israeli apologists are trying their best to frighten the American public into feeling threatened by Iran.

Fortunately, it is not working.

The American people are coming to realize that the greatest threat to our "freedom" and "democracy" comes from our own misleaders.

We will not be fooled into supporting paranoid and shameful "interests" of the extremist Israeli leadership.

[jacobstruth]

President Ahmedinajad has written an open letter to President Bush threatening, or at least claiming, that Islam will replace democracy (by Islam of course he means his own version of world power). No media outlet or any leader at the UN has asked Iran%u2019s leader to comment on this or other threats, comments or visions.
It is no secret that the Iranian leader believes in bringing on the end of times so as to hasten the return of the Twelfth Imam %u2013 in his latest speech at the UN he stated openly his prayer for the %u201Creturn of the most perfect one%u201D.
Yet the media never asked Iran%u2019s leader about his visions. No leader or media personality asked him if he subscribes to Khomeini%u2019s doctrine, which dictates the destruction of the Western world. --
so keep feeling free FeelFree1 until another adolf is knocking at your door

[feelfree1]

JacobsTruth,

Your fascistic scare-mongering does not seem to be very effective anymore, beyond the PNAC bobble-heads and Israeli apologists.

Iran is nowhere near being the biggest threat to be and to Americans in general. The greatest threat resides in our illegitimate pResident, his appeasers, and the lapdogs and apologists of Israeli State-terorism.

[hsmagst]

Lets see now; When was the last time I read about an Isralie suicide bomber walking into a market and killing civilians ...mmmmmmmm......never! Has Isreal taken action after a kidnapping or a bombing? Of course and just as they should.

What country in the middle east is a food exporting nation.....last I read it was only Isreal.....in fact Isreal has perfected drip irrigation to the point they have turned desert into lush orchards unlike the rest of the middle east. They have even offered to share the technology with their neighbors but have been turned down flat.....an Arab couldn't possibly learn anything from a Jew. Isreal is a shining example of what can be done in the middle east but will always be hated by the backward arab nations.

[notblue]

Anyone who feels the president of the U.S. is a greater threat to the world than the president of Iran is simply not living in the realm of reality and common decentsy. There is no other country that has given more for the cause of freedom, basic human rights and dignity than the United states of America. Those that don't agree with that basic truth needs to move to Iran.

[feelfree1]

hsmagst,

Here is a film for you to aquaint yourself with some of the disgusting barbarity of the Israeli terror-State:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOpB1x5Qzyg

The film highlights some of the atrocities committed against the civlians of Lebanon, during the recent Israeli invasion of that country.

[sharncedar]

notblue gives us typical Bush logic, a series of unconnected non-sequitors strung together as if they were a syllogism Let's look closer.

"Anyone who feels the president of the U.S. is a greater threat to the world than the president of Iran is simply not living in the realm of reality "

fair enough, that's an opinion.

"There is no other country that has given more for the cause of freedom, basic human rights and dignity than the United states "

True in the 20th century. But how does that relate to Bush? He hasn't given anything at all to anyone, just dodged the Vietnam war and snorted cocaine. He takes, not give. So how does that relate to the first statement?

"Those that don't agree with that basic truth needs to move to Iran"

Again, how does that relate to Bush. Bush is not the United States, he is not even loyal to the United States. He has been quoted as saying his Mexican illegal "mother" was as close to him as a mother. So even his childhood belongs to another country.

notblue illustrates well the odd, nonsense thinking that leads people to follow Bush.

[feelfree1]

notblue,

Re: "Anyone who feels the president of the U.S. is a greater threat to the world than the president of Iran is simply not living in the realm of reality and common decentsy."

Anyone serving as an apologist for the illegitimate Bush-puppet-regime, and for their global torture and mass-murderous crusade, has no place lecturing anyone about "decency".

[tejasdemo]

When are all these idiot pundits going to stop calling all killing in the middle east a "crisis" ?

It is the way these people live. It is not a temporary " crisis".

Maybe if we simply left the entire area they might figure out that working it out amongst themselves is a good idea. Nothing else works at all. Ever.

[feelfree1]

Re: "Perennially beleaguered Israel, for instance, was hit all summer long with rockets from Lebanon and Gaza, as the world watched and kept score in an absurd new game of proportionality: Israel was to be blamed because its hundreds of air strikes against combatants were lethal, while Hezbollah was to be excused for shooting off thousands of rockets aimed at civilians because of its relative incompetence."

The fact of the matter is, of the 150 some Israelis killed by Hezbullah fighters during the recent Israeli invasion of Lebanon, 2/3 of those killed were Israeli military casualties.

By contrast the vast majority of the more than 1300 people killed in Lebanon, at the hands of the Israelis, were civilians, and most of those were women and children.

So, it is safe to say, that it is the Israelis who demonstrated "incompetance" in this conflict, at best, and willful mass-murder of innocent civilians, at worst, as was the case of the 4 U.N. civilian observers who were knowingly and intentionally executed by the Israelis.

Does CBS "fact-check" any of the garbage continuously spewed forth by the morons at the "National Review Online", or do they simply print whatever nonsensical garbage that these fools dream up?

[rharrin1]

FeelFree1

Are you a towel head?
Terrorists shooting and hiding behind women and children are the reason for their deaths, or should the Israelis say look civilians we can't fire.
I suggest you you remove your head from your *ss maybe you'll be able to see.

[feelfree1]

rharrin1,

Re: "Terrorists shooting and hiding behind women and children are the reason for their deaths..."

Israeli apologists have often offered this pathetic excuse for their miserable performance. However, the truth is that the only group that we know, FOR SURE, to have a chronic history of using "human shields" to hide behind, are the Israelis themselves.

The Israeli Supreme Court finally banned the Israeli policy of using "human shields" in October of last year.

www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/oct05/1.php

However, he Israeli leadership has demonstrated its contempt for the rule of law and for common decency, so there is no reason to think that the Israelis are complying with the "human shield" ban. What's more, there have been several subsequent reports that this Israeli tactic continues.

Not only would the Israeli claim that their "enemies" are hiding behind "human shields" fail to justify their reckless slaughter of civilians, even if the claim was true, but the Israelis have no room to criticize anyone for employing a tactic which they have a history of embracing themselves.

Try again.

[feelfree1]

Re: "Meanwhile, some members of the Iraqi Study Group apparently think that since Israel%u2019s neocon surrogates got us into Iraq, their puppet master must pay the price for getting us out."

At least they got one thing right.

[hsmagst]

To FeelFree1: Israel%u2019s invasion couldn't have had anything to do with the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers could it? You know, the ones that were taken when the tunnels were dug into Israeli territory? None of what you are trying to claim as an Israeli atrocity would have occurred if the soldiers weren%u2019t kidnapped. Maybe cause and effect is a foreign concept to you.

[on_alert247]

FeelFree1,

I'm not fooled by your language painting Israel and US as the worlds real terrorists and hate mongers.
Is it not true that free societies are pluralistic, prosperous and democratic? Does this describe Saudi Arabia, Iraq under Saddam or Iran? Perhaps Afghanistan under the Taliban, Pakistan or Somalia? No? And why is there such vile hatred and barbarism taught in the schools, the Mosques and cultures of these countries? I've traveled to many countries and daily work with people of many cultures and I have never, ever witnessed such hatred as I see in cultures that are dominated by the religion of Islam. There is nothing more I need to know about the cause of middle-east conflicts.

[crazyivan32]

Feelfree1 - Do you live in the U.S.?

[diver143]

Here is a short clip that shows the conflict between the two rivals in Israel. Brace yourselves.

http://seconddraft.org/streaming/pallywood.wmv

Ray

[diver143]

Here are some reports about the war between Israel and Lebanon this past summer. One can't help but empathize with those poor Lebanese.

Ray

[dixxson-2009]

Did someone say say something about HEZBOLLAH kidnap murder and torture. Sounds like the US and Israel. Wonder where his mind has been the last
century. I saw numerous people escape and released
from {TERRORIST)return looking better and not one mentioned torture or maltreatment. Not so of Bush's GRIMM INQUISITORS!

.

[diver143]

Oops...

I neglected to include the link to the story about the hapless victims in Lebanon this past summer.
It is as follows:

http://www.aish.com/movies/PhotoFraud.asp

Ray

[jacobstruth]

The scariest thing is when I read someone like FeelFree1 who is not capable to distinguish between right and wrong. In his/her im becile mind the wrongs that Israel committed (which were far less intentional then circumstantial) seem to make the arabs or Iranians soemehow better. FeelFree1 is mentaly uncapable to fathom the evil that is being nursed by Ahmadinajad, an evil coveted by the mullahs and the Khomeiniists regardless if the Jews were in Israel or not.
Sorry FeelFree1 I cannot call you anything less than an im be cile. Read some history, especially the rise of fascism and communism

[crazyivan32]

"Where alone in the Middle East is there his dream of an Arab middle class of sorts? Where do Arabs have good schools? And where is there adequate medical care? Ask the over one million Palestinians who live in a democratic Israel."

This is a perfect summing up. It reminded me that during the Am. Civil War, the most prized possession in the C.S.A. was a Union gold dollar. That must have really bugged Jefferson Davis.

The Union forever.

[feelfree1]

on_alert247,

Re: "I'm not fooled by your language painting Israel and US as the worlds real terrorists and hate mongers."

There is no need for painting. The truth is self evident for those who choose to investigate.

[feelfree1]

hsmagst,

Re: "enough reason to slaughter (civilians in Lebanon) along with any combatant as far as I am concerned."

Your advocation for the mass-murder of civilians indicates that you have surrendered any moral athority to call anyone else a terrorist.

You are not alone. The Israeli leadership shares this dubious distinction, right along with you.

[feelfree1]

crazyivan32,

Re: "Feelfree1 - Do you live in the U.S.?"

Yes.

[feelfree1]

scouser9999,

Re: "Yeah, cut of that 5 billion welfare check they recieve from America each year along with most sophisticated American weaponary and lets see how they would engage the enemy. My guess is even more ineptly than they did last time."

Very good point!

[feelfree1]

JacobsTruth,

Re: "Sorry FeelFree1 I cannot call you anything less than an im be cile."

O.K., but if you can provide any coherent challenge to any of the points that I have made here, rather than resorting to name-calling, I'm sure that someone here might be interested in your thoughts.

Better luck next time.

[nynative1340]

"...a collection of every crackpot anti-Semite the world over...?" Hanson is a fool. Arabs are Semites, too.

"Where alone in the Middle East is there his dream of an Arab middle class of sorts?" Well, duhh!! If the top 2 percent of the population control 90 percent of the wealth, as the rich oil Sheiks do, THERE IS NO MIDDLE-CLASS!! AND THE POOR SUFFER TERRIBLY!!

Not much different than here in the U.S. where the top 20 percent control 80 percent of the wealth and the middle-class is slowly disappearing.

[alpha157]

why all the concern about the poor unfortunate israelis? their reaction to the hezbollah cross border excursion this pas summer was only a delayed reaction to their failed occupation during the 80's. flattening an entire country over the deaths of a few soldiers was entirely unacceptable. this is the same rash behavior that the zionists in israel always exhibit when incorrectly believe that the way to negotiate any thing is through fear. this time it blew up in their faces and they will forced to pay the price for this for generations to come. they have lost whatever sympathy the world had for them, and whatevet thread of hope that was remaining that they could maintain any influence or control over their northern defense perimeter in the distant future.

[crazyivan32]

feelfree1 - Why do you live in the US, a country you clearly hate and have nothing but contempt for?

[feelfree1]

crazyivan32,

Re: "feelfree1 - Why do you live in the US, a country you clearly hate and have nothing but contempt for?"

I have a lot of friends and family here, and I am inspired by the ideals as outlined in our fundamental documents and framework, such as the U.S. Constitution.

I feel an obligation to stick around and help regain control of our runaway big-Corporate government, to help reclaim some of our collective dignity, and to hold the extremists responsible for propping up the criminal Bush regime, to account for their deeds.

It appears that it is the fascistic-leaning Bush bobble-heads, whose welcome is wearing out.

Where do you think you might go?

[leochel-2009]

In his book former President Carter says that Israelis have never granted autonomy to Palestinians. Who are "Palestinians"? A mixture of peoples from Egypt,Syria,Cyprus,Jordan etc who appeared on the scene AFTER the Jews arrived. They didn't want the land before. It was a wilderness. But they envied the way God blessed the Jews. It has never been the remit of Israel to hand over land to the "Palestinians" because the land was a gift from God. This is why Carter's reference to Israel's so-called non-compliance with "international" law is illogical. Who are the United Nations anyway? Mostly small nations uninterested in impartiality. In another place Carter talks of peace moves requiring to be approved by the Arabs. Why? Israel is a theocracy rather than a democracy. Her boss is God [JudaioChristian].
Has Carter ever lived in Israel as a private citizen? When I was there I saw no persecution of "Palestinians". Rather, I was impressed by how tolerant they were --a lesson to us all!
Actually appeasement doesn't work. It didn't work prior to WW2 with the then German leader and it doesn't work today. Generosity is mistaken for weakness and encourages further demands or aggression. Carter is carrying political correctness to the nth degree.

[feelfree1]

leochel,

Re: "Israel is a theocracy rather than a democracy."

You got that right! One that worships the U.S. dollar!

Israel is a perfect example of what can go wrong when Church and State are intertwined!

[kkilmer]

I really was impressed with your column. The posts above don't sound like they actually read your column. Emotions run deep!

How do you convince a culture to change to our culture with its accompanying hard work, (maybe too hard) and commitment to the individual. In the middle east, family and tribe are more important than the individual.

Also, how do you convince a culture that letting women have more freedom is good for that culture, when in the short term, there will be lots of men that do not think their lives getting better at all and probably worse, at least by the standards they value now. And even more, how do you undo generations of learned hatred?

[crazyivan32]

feelfree - You say: "I am inspired by the ideals as outlined in our fundamental documents and framework, such as the U.S. Constitution."

How can this be when you deny the same rule of law, plurality, and equal rights that is present in Israel? I see America and Israel as VERY similar in their forms of government, something that is at the root of Arab hatred for both countries. How can you deny that Israel has flourished, much like the US, under very difficult circumstances, and has made itself a center of science, medicine, arts, culture, mathematics, etc...while the Arab world is utterly stagnated. And that that stagnation is due in large part to theocracy, autocracy, self-loathing, lack of opportunity, and blind hatred, and the absence of the very things that Israel (and the US) have embraced: the rule of law, plurality, freedom of religion, and empowerment of women?

[on_alert247]

I agree with you crazyivan32. You made a point that despite the efforts of several others posting here cannot be comprehended by FeelFree. FeelFree either is a Muslim or far-left social democratic. Both are anti-Semitic and cannot distinguish the difference between an Imam, President of a country or militant leader calling for the extermination of Jews and non-believers from our President. There is a blind hatred at work in both groups readily apparent in their verbiage. The first can be explained by Islam, the latter I don't know. I've only personally known one person like FeelFree. He was extremely cynical and preferred reading to socializing. He never really got out into the world to confront the demons he so convincingly created in his mind. Too bad FeelFree cannot sit in on policy decisions made in Congress or the Knesset where he is forced to confront reality and would be held to account for his words.

[ronniehm]

"Israel's Success Fuels Arab Hatred"

Aardvarks fuel arab hatred.
Accordions fuel arab hatred.
Acorns fuel arab hatred.
Adhesive fuels arab hatred.
Adjectives fuel arab hatred...

Forget it. Get your own dictionary.

[honestsam]

To 'feelfree1' welcome back from Iran. Unfortunately, you will be consumed by your hateful instincts against Israel. Someone who calls for the destruction another sovereign state can never feel free.You see people like you who sees Israel as a stumbling block has always ended up crushing their feet against it.

[honestsam]

The author was absolutely right, mediocrity or absolute failure breeds hate and this is very evident in the Arab world.

[grumpas]

Give me a break leochel!!!! The nonsense you are spouting comes from a book written by Jews for Jews! I would hardly call that proof of anything! At least Carter is smart enough not to entertwine religion and politic's! He still knows what the constitution is and a Separation of Church and State that is more than I can say for most of you! The Separation of Church and State is what has made this country great! We haven't had (up until George Bush came along) any of the blood-letting that goes with religion getting to deeply into politic's! I hate to see this country go that direction where we are a state sponsored religion.