Kevin D. Williamson: America’s Other ‘Special Relationship’ Remains Worth Preserving
Friedman is not 100 percent wrong in his argument here — and he is about 80 percent wrong, on average. It may not be that the entire Republican party is pro-Israel, but the GOP is overwhelmingly pro-Israel, and has been with and without Benjamin Netanyahu in office. And it is not the case that the entire Democratic party is anti-Israel, though it unquestionably is the case that the ascendant left wing of the Democratic party is anti-Israel. Representative Omar is bitterly anti-Israel, to the point of trafficking in anti-Semitic tropes. Representative Tlaib is anti-Israel. A whole lot of Democrats who support the BDS movement are anti-Israel.
The Right’s celebratory interest in Israel is easy to understand, even if you think some of it is a little dopey. But why is the Left so intensely interested in Israel? Of course, there are things to criticize about Israel and its government. But it is by any measure of decency and liberalism a top-tier country. I am not aware of a boycott movement directed at, say, Pakistan. Or Turkey. Or Egypt. Or Venezuela. Or Russia. Or Burma. Or China. Or the Palestinian statelet, for that matter.
(I once was accosted by one of those clipboard-wielding cretins in Union Square who wanted me to sign on to boycotting Israel on behalf of the Palestinians. I told him I planned to start boycotting the Palestinians as soon as they managed to produce something worth boycotting.)
There are many countries in the world that merit criticism. Why is the American Left fixated on the Jewish state? Belgium can be pretty rough on refugees. Have you ever heard an American progressive collapse into a weeping fit about Belgium? Israel, though . . .
192
And, really, are Thomas Friedman et al. quite confident that it is Donald Trump and not, say, the people looking to economically ruin Israel as a pet political project, making the U.S.-Israeli relationship a partisan issue? It is easy to see an argument that a thriving Israel accords with U.S. interests abroad. Is there an argument that a diminished and destabilized Israel — or an Israel consumed in fire, as Representative Omar’s rambunctious little Hamas buddies would prefer — is in the interest of the United States?
If there is, I have not yet heard it.
They Praised the Murder of a US Senator’s Niece — and They Organized Tlaib’s Israel Trip
First, they praised the terrorist who murdered a US senator’s niece. Then they were chosen by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) to organize her now-cancelled trip to Israel. Tlaib’s outrageous choice of the pro-terrorist group Miftah to run her trip is a slap in the face of the United States Congress, and deserves to be investigated by the House Ethics Committee.For Most Palestinians, the "Occupation" includes All of Israel
The fact that Rep. Tlaib chose Miftah to organize her trip is no secret; it was widely reported by major news media outlets. The problem is that nobody is explaining what “Miftah” really is. The New York Times, for example, reported only that Miftah is a group “that promotes ‘global awareness and knowledge of Palestinian realities.’”
Ironically, one the “Palestinian realities” of which Miftah reminds us is that the Palestinian Authority (PA) regards Palestinian Arab murderers of American citizens as heroes.
The official Miftah website features an essay by one of the group’s leaders, Ms. Johara Baker, profusely praising Dalal Mughrabi, the murderer of Gail Rubin, the niece of the late US Senator Abraham Ribicoff, Democrat of Connecticut.
Ms. Baker is not some minor figure at Miftah. At the time she wrote her article praising Mughrabi, she was identified as the group’s “Director of the Media and Information Department.” Elsewhere on the Miftah website, she is listed with other titles. Last year, she was one of Miftah’s representatives at a gathering to discuss “Possible Repercussions of the Collapse of the International Order on the Palestinian Issue.”
Mughrabi was the leader of a PLO death squad that came ashore in northern Israel early one morning in March 1978. Gail Rubin, a nature photographer, was walking along the beach. Mughrabi shot her in the head. Then Mughrabi and her gang hijacked an Israeli bus, and carried out what is known in Israel as the Coastal Road Massacre. They slaughtered 37 people. That remains the highest casualty toll in any terrorist attack in Israel’s history.
Ask someone at random what Israel should do to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the answer you're most likely to get is "end the occupation." For most Westerners, this means the West Bank (acquired by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War).
However, for most Palestinians the occupation is not limited to the West Bank, but consists of "historic Palestine," which includes the whole of Israel. For most Palestinians, the occupation began in 1948 when Israel was born, and they won't be satisfied by anything less than the elimination of the State of Israel.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told Palestinian TV in October 2013: "All Palestinian land is occupied - Gaza is occupied, the West Bank is occupied, the 1948 lands [i.e., Israel] are occupied and Jerusalem is occupied."
A June 2019 survey by the Palestine Center for Public Opinion found that only 30% of West Bankers would approve a two-state solution. The majority say "the conflict should not end, and resistance should continue, until all of historic Palestine is liberated."
There is no mistaking the meaning of the chant heard at virtually all pro-Palestinian rallies: "From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free." The river is the Jordan River and the sea is the Mediterranean Sea. In other words, Palestine is Israel.
The Palestinians memorialize the "Nakba" or "catastrophe" to mourn the 1948 War of Independence and the creation of Israel. That is the occupation they seek to end to this day.