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Tuesday, January 6, 2009 12:00 AM

Discussing Israel/Gaza on right-wing talk radio

I had an unexpectedly substantive discussion of the Middle East and the "Islamic threat" on "The Hugh Hewitt Show" last night.

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  • Tuesday, January 6, 2009 06:06 AM

    Thanks and a Couple of Minor Nitpicks...

    Great interview Glenn and credit to them for inviting you and allowing you to speak at length without too many interruptions.

    A couple of minor nit-picks, where you may have challenged their assumptions:

    HH: Now of course in Israel, the government is not run by those extremist elements, to whatever extent they exist, and I just don’t know. I know that Kahane was an extremist, et cetera, but I just don’t know that there were many of them, nor have they ever been in power in Israel.

    Israel has had several leaders and governments who were by any standards extreme. For example, the former terrorist Menachem Begin, former leader of the Irgun, was Prime Minister of Israel from 1977-1983. Then there was former senior member of the Stern gang, Yitzhak Shamir, Prime Minister of Israel from 1983-84, and again in 1986-1992. He once said "neither Jewish ethics nor Jewish tradition can disqualify terrorism as a means of combat."

    Then there was Ariel Sharon, former leader of Unit 101, under whose leadership the Qinya massacre of 1953 and other atrocities occured. He was Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006.

    Regardless of the undoubted qualities and experience of these individuals, they were NOT moderates!

    I also belive you are wrong that journalists would not be welcome:

    GG: It depends. I mean, it’s probably, you’re probably right that especially now, Western journalists, Jewish journalists, would not be welcome in Gaza for reasons that aren’t that difficult to understand.

    Right now, the Free Gaza movement (http://www.freegaza.org) has at least five westerners living and working alongside the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Western journalists are desperately neeeded to report on the atrocities now being comitted in Gaza, and the Palestinians realise this.

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