7 thoughts on “History Lesson”

  1. Well, it does rather prove that Muslim Jew-hate and murder does predate the existence of Israel, doesn’t it?
    There is another post on Insty, to the effect that Jew-hate in the US right now is a mile-wide, but only an inch deep, and mostly confined to a scattering of specific places, and among a certain recent immigrant demographic. It would appear from polls that most Americans support Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza … and that Americans are also pretty much out of patience with Palestinians. I also gather that some pro-Israel small media have been having a lot of fun, asking the pro-Pally protesters what exactly is the name of the river and the sea to which they refer, when they chant “From the river to the sea…” It would appear most of the pro-Pally student chanters wouldn’t have a clue if a clue sat down in their lap and blew in their ear…

  2. Sgt Mom – and a number of them are Palestinians with green cards. I was reading in the WSJ that this Palestinian Authority is almost as bad as Hamas – giving monetary awards to the families of “martyrs” – ie terrorists killed.

    And don’t forget during 9/11 how many of them celebrated.

    As far as the Graf Zeppelin, never will forget an opening passage in Laura Hildebrand’s book Unbroken, about Track Star Louis Zamperini, who endured 57 days at sea on a raft and then a Japanese POW camp.

    Anyway in describing this Zeppelin coming to Los Angeles over his hometown of Torrance, she describes it as a solar eclipse, where it blocked out the sun for some time before it passed…

  3. 19129? So that would be the British Mandate…. Brits were pretty pro-Arab, especially the local administrators. Between their experience with the Turks and then the Brits, if I were Ben Gurion I would also have trusted no one when it came the safety of the Jews in the Holy Land.

    The problem with the Pro-Hamas crowd isn’t its size but the terrain it occupies. There is a large Arab population in the critical state of Michigan and Tlaib and others have been vocal about using that leverage on Biden. Also pro-Hamas (or more accurately anti-Israel) sentiment is fairly prominent among the younger, highly educated crowd. There was an article in Forbes (https://twitter.com/BGOV/status/1750206335965081806) regarding Congressional staffers being outspoken regarding the Gaza War. Position and organization/cohesion provides a much greater effect than overall numbers would suggest.

    You know who isn’t squawking much? The Arab countries. Sure there are some complaints but I don’t see many of them shedding tears over Gaza (or the Palestinians). Hamas being an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood is an existential threat as well being a proxy of the re-emergent Persian Empire while Israel is seen as an ally, at least on the down-low. Perhaps the best way to view the Gaza War is simply the round of a much larger conflict between Arabs/Israel and the Persians.

    It seems people prefer Jews merely as victims and sort of like Northern Ireland, just better off for everyone if they disappeared. What’s an appropriate line here… maybe update “Better Tried by 12 Than Carried by Six” to “Better to be Condemned by Politicians Than Studied by Archaeologists” ?

  4. Sgt. Mom
    I also gather that some pro-Israel small media have been having a lot of fun, asking the pro-Pally protesters what exactly is the name of the river and the sea to which they refer, when they chant “From the river to the sea…”

    Not just small media. From the WSJ: From Which River to Which Sea? College students don’t know, yet they agree with the slogan.

    When college students who sympathize with Palestinians chant “From the river to the sea,” do they know what they’re talking about? I hired a survey firm to poll 250 students from a variety of backgrounds across the U.S. Most said they supported the chant, some enthusiastically so (32.8%) and others to a lesser extent (53.2%).
    But only 47% of the students who embrace the slogan were able to name the river and the sea. Some of the alternative answers were the Nile and the Euphrates, the Caribbean, the Dead Sea (which is a lake) and the Atlantic. Less than a quarter of these students knew who Yasser Arafat was (12 of them, or more than 10%, thought he was the first prime minister of Israel). Asked in what decade Israelis and Palestinians had signed the Oslo Accords, more than a quarter of the chant’s supporters claimed that no such peace agreements had ever been signed. There’s no shame in being ignorant, unless one is screaming for the extermination of millions.
    Would learning basic political facts about the conflict moderate students’ opinions? A Latino engineering student from a southern university reported “definitely” supporting “from the river to the sea” because “Palestinians and Israelis should live in two separate countries, side by side.” Shown on a map of the region that a Palestinian state would stretch from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, leaving no room for Israel, he downgraded his enthusiasm for the mantra to “probably not.” Of the 80 students who saw the map, 75% similarly changed their view.
    An art student from a liberal arts college in New England “probably” supported the slogan because “Palestinians and Israelis should live together in one state.” But when informed of recent polls in which most Palestinians and Israelis rejected the one-state solution, this student lost his enthusiasm. So did 41% of students in that group.
    A third group of students claimed the chant called for a Palestine to replace Israel. Sixty percent of those students reduced their support for the slogan when they learned it would entail the subjugation, expulsion or annihilation of seven million Jewish and two million Arab Israelis. Yet another 14% of students reconsidered their stance when they read that many American Jews considered the chant to be threatening, even racist. (This argument had a weaker effect on students who self-identified as progressive, despite their alleged sensitivity to offensive speech.)
    In all, after learning a handful of basic facts about the Middle East, 67.8% of students went from supporting “from the river to sea” to rejecting the mantra. These students had never seen a map of the Mideast and knew little about the region’s geography, history or demography. Those who hope to encourage extremism depend on the political ignorance of their audiences. It is time for good teachers to join the fray and combat bias with education.

  5. As i mentioned another blog haj amin husseini who was circassian was the key element behind the nebi musa riots as well as hebron
    His brother kamal who preceded him didnt have such animus this was pre balfour but still

  7. They have, for the most part, been deprived of the basics. To wit:
    “Tis better to keep ones mouth shut and have others think you a fool
    than to open it and remove all doubt.” paraphrased.
    It is almost astounding how many are able to form defined positions and opinions without even being aware of the basic facts that are the core of the concern.
    The ‘institutions of higher learning’ are not such as advertised and claimed.
    Graduates should ask for a refund. When a young person, even public schools attempted a reasonably decent education, the nuns cared as if the students were their children and it was incumbent upon them to inculcate even the most reluctant dullard. No more.

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