Oh Yeah, This Will Work

The news from Israel could be better.

First off, Leah Friedman is off her ventilator, but it is not yet clear how much brain damage she suffered when she went into respiratory arrest. So keep those prayers coming.

The local representatives of the Religion of Peace are doing their part to provide comfort at this trying time. Leah, who supports the reestablishment of Eretz Israel, has received five death threats by email and some others by phone. You have to congratulate Muslim terrorists on their uncanny ability to demonstrate their umatched cowardice by finding the weakest, least threatening victims on the face of the planet. In that regard, it’s hard to top an eighteen-year-old girl in a coma. Although they did beat and hang the dead bodies of American contractors in Iraq; that was even less brave than what they’re doing to Leah. It’s odd how often the people who clamor most for respect are among the least deserving.

One of the peculiar characteristics of thugs is that they try to make themselves appear manly and intimidating by means of shameful attacks on people who have no chance of fighting back. The elderly, women, children, and so on. Somehow they don’t realize it makes them look weak and small and underdeveloped. Like little boys. Which is what they remain, until the day they die.

Leah’s parents took her photo and email address off her blog. The damage is already done, but maybe her story will serve as a warning to other people who blog and who may be inviting reprisals without knowing it. If you’re a woman, you should never reveal your entire name and location on a blog, unless you carry a gun and you’re willing to face the consequences of your openness. And children just shouldn’t blog. Not unless every bit of their personal information is kept out of it, and their parents approve everything they put on the web. In my opinion, no one under the age of eighteen has any business whatsoever using the Internet without an adult standing behind him at all times.

Second, via Sondra, left-wing bloggers are going to Israel on a fact-finding mission. That’s like sending a rabbi to certify a kosher pork-processing plant. And you don’t need to go to Israel to learn the facts. These lying creeps already know the facts. They just don’t care. According to Ynet news, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been working hard to arrange this. It’s distressing to learn that the government of Israel is that foolish and uninformed.

Here is a politic and understated quotation from the article:

While Israel enjoys relatively balanced coverage in American mainstream media, there are numerous blogs identifying with the liberal left who are unwaveringly critical of Israeli policies, often referring to Israel as an apartheid state which, among other things, is responsible for Washington’s decision to go to war in Iraq.

“Relatively balanced.” Like a car on two wheels, which hasn’t quite reached the tipping point.

This trip is a mistake. The Israelis clearly have no understanding of the American left. That’s probably because so many Israelis are leftists and suffer from the ridiculous, idealist notion that other leftists are their brothers. They ought to keep two famous Georges in mind. The first is George Santayana, who made the famous remark about repeating history. The second is George Bush, who reached across the aisle repeatedly and always retrieved a bloody stump for his efforts. These bloggers are going to continue to attack Israel unfairly and dishonestly, because they are not driven by facts. They are driven by fashion and a perverted secular faith. The only difference between their pre- and post-visit coverage will be that they will be able to claim more legitimacy after returning home, because they went and saw the elephant for themselves.

Israelis are downright stupid about America. In polls, they say they think the Democrats will be better to them than Republicans. They would generally prefer to see liberals elected in the United States. This is one of the few areas in which they are in complete agreement with Osama bin Laden and other Muslim terrorists. Maybe it’s something they can build on. Maybe if they gave away more land, the Islamists would come to the table and celebrate this common view with them.

Jewish liberalism is probably the single greatest threat to Israel’s existence. In this respect it has completely supplanted Baal, Tammuz, Ashtoreth, Dagon, and the golden calf. Who needs an idol made of wood or gold when you have Karl Marx? And who needs strong enemies without, to conquer you in battle and take your land, when you have stronger enemies within, willing to give it back no matter how many times you buy it with blood?

Jews seem willing to forgive leftism no matter how many times it fails or how much it costs them. It failed in the USSR, but that’s because they didn’t do it right. It is costing them the battle against their genocidal, land-grabbing enemies, but that’s okay, because eventually, the Muslims will see that the Jews are decent, reasonable people, and they’ll want to coexist in peace. The way you would expect followers of a murdering gangster to do. The way they’ve always coexisted peacefully with each other.

You know what they ought to call the conflict between Israelis and Muslims? The Warm War. It’s too friendly and loving to be a cold war. Israel and the Bush administration are cozying up to Islamism and cuddling it, spoon-feeding it concessions and ignoring its dirty diapers.

I hope Israel learns from this futile and unbelievably naive experiment. I hope they learn something from the vitriol that continues to spew after these bloggers go home. But they won’t. Not any time soon.

A famous anecdote–mentioned in a recent Hal Lindsey column–says that Frederick the Great once asked his cabinet for a proof of the existence of God. And one of them said, “Have you considered the Jew, your majesty?” He was referring to the fact that Jews survived in spite of persecution. You might as well say, “Have you considered Israel?” One dumb decision after another, yet still she survives.

I guess the blogger trip is not that big a deal. The Jews survived Hitler, and they can survive Markos Zuniga.

Here’s a question: when is Israel going to pay conservative bloggers to travel to Jerusalem and come back and write fairly about Israel’s problems?

Oh, that’s right. They don’t have to. We do that already.

Interesting fact, before I go. Yesterday I learned that On Wings of Eagles, a program implemented by the conservative-Christian-funded International Federation of Christians and Jews, has moved over 300,000 Jews to Israel. That’s 5% of the population. One in twenty Israelis.

Hope that means as much to Israelis as a nearly fair blurb on Atrios.