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Eyes Wide Open
by Aaron F.
I must have led a sheltered life up to this point. I was raised by children of holocaust survivors wh taught me that anti-Semitism is out there, that it is strong, that it is rebounding, and that the Jewish people are constantly threatened with extinction. But I never really believed it until recently. I never experienced the slightest bit of anti-Semitism in my personal life until I was about 19 years old and ran into an ignorant woman from Cameroon who believed stereotypes about Jews being cheap. She was completely useless in the workplace so it was easy for me to shrug it off as one incredibly stupid person, which she was.
I still very rarely run into anti-Semitism in my personal life. The crowd I hang out with is a hippie crowd that leans heavily to the left on most issues, however I NEVER hear ANY of them back the Palestinians against the Jews or question the US alliance with Israel. Perhaps it's because a lot of hippies are Jews, or perhaps I just hang out with a bunch of intelligent, well-informed hippies. Sure, all of them want peace and probably wish they knew a little more about why it's so difficult to achieve over there, but none of them jump to the conclusion that the Jews are in the wrong.
I've been of the opinion for a long time that some of the policies that Israel had under Sharon were counterproductive towards achieving peace with the Palestinians. I still believe that to be true. There was an agreement made to withdraw from all of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and while Israel did withdraw from most of it, they also backed and protected Israeli settlers in those lands, nutcases who believe that the Jews are inherently entitled to all of biblical Israel. I have no patience for religious nuts, but I believe in Israel's right to exist, and since I feel that Israel represents me as a Jewish person, I hold Israel to high standards of ethics and conduct. The hypocrisy of Sharon's goverenment's policy on settlers always bothered me and still does. But now that sentiment is irrelevant, overcome by events. Arafat is dead, Sharon is in a coma, Hamas runs Palestine, and animosity & violence rule the day.
Recent events have reinforced another belief that I've always had, that even if Israel DID withdraw all the way from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, there would be plenty of Palestinians and Muslims from other areas who are simply bent on the destruction of Israel and Jews in general, and that attacks on Israeli and American civilians would continue indefinintely until that goal is met. What I did not believe until recently, was that the vast majority of non-Muslim nations also would love to see the destruction of Israel and Jews in general. One need only watch the world media coverage of the Lebanon operation to see how blindly anti-Semitic the world is. Even US media coverage, though headlines are mostly stated as matter-of-fact (i.e., "Israel To Expand Ground Operations"), often focus on the civilian casualties in Lebanon while completely ignoring those in Israel. But in European countries, I see much more skewed headlines (i.e., "Slaughter of Lebanese To Continue").
It is painfully obvious to me that Hezbollah targets civilians almost exclusively, while Israel targets Hezbollah and tries to avoid civilian casualties. It is unfortunate that Israel also targeted Lebanese infrastructure, which caused hundreds of civilian casualties and left a million others without basic needs (power, water, shelter, food, etc). But how many Israeli civilians were killed over the years by terrorist attacks, many directly carried out by Hezbollah? What about the 2700+ Americans killed in one day by a similar terrorist organization? The world mourns the Lebanese and forgets the Israelis and Americans.
The percentage of Lebanese who support Hezbollah has ballooned from roughly 35% to 82% since the Israeli operation began - the Israeli operation that was kicked off in response to a border incursion by Hezbollah that resulted the capture of two soldiers and the deaths of eight others. Did Israel act "disproportionately"? I contend that no act short of an intentional hit on a large number of civilians would be a disproportionate response. I believe the United States would react in exactly the same way if their own solders were captured, in the absence of good intelligence indicating where the captors have taken them. The US does not negotiate with terrorists, and I would not expect Israel to either.
But the world reaction to what I feel is a justified response to a terrorist situation is very worrisome to me. The majority of the world is starting to side with the enemy! Meanwhile, Syria has been ordered to go on heightened military readiness, Iran is inching ever closer to having nuclear weapons, and they have a government just crazy enough to use them on Israel. Even "allies" such as Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, have a certain level of patience regarding Israel and their patience is running thin. The ranks of terrorist organizations are swelling with fanatics ready to die for their cause, which is the destruction of Israel, and ultimately the United Staes. Right-wing hawks and Islamic militants are referring to the present state of things as the start of World War III. I'm not too old or too physically inept to avoid feeling a certain responsibility to take direct action if shit really hits the fan. If this really is the beginning of World War III, I may feel an obligation to go join either the IDF or the US military. I am a peaceful person, and typically have a non-threatening demeanor, but I'm beginning to feel like the survival of the Jewish people, Israel, and basic democratic values are at stake here.
Is anyone else out there scared?
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