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A Collection of News Stories, of Jewish Interest, from around the World
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Q: Where do Middle Eastern Arabs find the most peace, prosperity and democracy?
A: Israel.
This answer is not to imply that Israeli Arabs do not have serious civil rights
and other problems, but the Arabs that chose Israeli citizenship over the alternatives
are usually far better off than their counterparts elsewhere and the Israeli
Knesset has a fair representation of Arabs. Efforts at dialogue and improvements
are conducted by both Arab and Jewish Israelis.
Israel is in a bad neighborhood. The biggest Arab problem is the age-old need
to save face, especially when confronted with skyrocketing Israeli ascension
in any sector worth measuring. Despite Dead Sea chemical distillates being
her sole natural resource, Israel has become a Hercules in every high tech
venue from medicine to aerospace. The ever-pragmatic European Union (no bastion
of Zionism) recently signed accords to massively increase trade with Israel.
Most oil-rich Arab states can be compared to gold-rich Spain in the 16th through
the 18th Centuries: Why bother with mundane things like "work?" Pay someone
else to do it and buy the best of whatever you need in any quantity.
The West is complicit in this largesse, because the situation ever since FDR's
romance with the Saud family is that the realpolitik of supplying oil trumps
any consideration for fair governance.
In many Western societies, including the U.S., Arab immigrants are at the
top of the socio-economic ladder not because of petrodollars, but because of
a superior work ethic and business sense. A new Golden Age of Arab culture
may be sparked by the end of the Oil Age.
Faced with a bastion of technological superiority (and 'that' religion
which is the basis of the leftist nightmare: Western Civilization) in their
midst, the Arabs have indulged in victimhood that gets sympathy from leftys
worldwide. UN resolutions against Israel fall like autumn leaves.
An anecdote sums up the real, versus the illusory. The UN met to determine
the environmental impacts if neighboring states, including Israel, were to
use a particular insecticide.
When the proceedings convened, the Arab delegates rose and indignantly stated
that they were not working with the Zionist Entity and walked off. During a
break, my friend noticed the Arab delegates huddling with their Israeli counterpart
in the back of the room in animated conversation.
When my puzzled friend asked the Israeli delegate what was afoot, he casually
replied that he was briefing his colleagues on the various merits and hazards
of the pesticide.
Were Israel a basket case exporting a few dates and figs, her neighbors would
probably protect her as a theme park of the 'Failed Zionist Experiment.'
By some magical process, Jordanian and Egyptian land suddenly became 'Palestine'
after being conquered by Israel in the '67 War, and they don't want "Palestine" back.
Israel has (to paraphrase Khrushchev) better Jewish nuclear physicists than
anybody else's Jewish nuclear physicists. A non-Arab nation headed by the
biggest nutjob since Schicklgruber may soon attain nuclear weapons. Even the
somnolent EU has is waking up to the Iranian threat. Europe now has more conservative
leaders than anytime since the Bronze Age.
Turkey, Israel, Syria, the U.S., UN and North Korea have become embroiled
in the 'Mystery of the Vanishing Syrian Reactor' and few Middle Eastern
states seem to be overly concerned when they find Israeli Air Force drop tanks
in the back yard after an IAF 'training exercise' 'goes awry.' Most
Arab states are more comfortable with a nuclear Israel than a nuclear Iran
or Syria.
A 3,200-year-old Egyptian victory stela carving says: "Israel is laid
waste, his seed is no more." Reports of its demise are greatly exaggerated.
Happy Birthday, Israel. Carry on.
