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...and perhaps, like "The Pink Nigger" you mihgt get an idea of what really motivates the Jews. The commandments set down by Moses are the same ones celebrated today and include the same kind of racism which the Jews experienced themselves over the centuries. During the medieval period, if the plague was coming to a town in Europe the Jews would be rounded up and thrown in a pit and set fire. Now there's a race memory to stop you and make you think.The reason behind Israel's clinging to their small state is because they know many in the world still hate them and would not blink if they were exterminated. It took a long time for anyone to blink as the gas chambers roared throughout Europe. That's not a bad reason for pulverising your enemies, especially if they have publicly and vociferously called for your racial anhhialation. Link that with the strong bond between the religionists in America and their spiritual brothers and sisters in Israel and there is little wonder te US demands it's citizens to pay taxes to protect Israel.
Racism is not unique to the Jews,or Arabs et al, it is unique to humanity. No other creature on earth dicriminates such. The Jews also see themselves as God's chosen people, unique amongst nations and a beacon of light in a dark and evil world. That's no myth, that's belief and belief is the strongest motivator on earth next to self preservation. Combine the two and you have modern Israel who act unilaterally because they know that many people still hate them.
America cannot afford to set them adrift because if it does the incantation that "God bless America" will fall on deaf ears as this blessing is conditional on the protection of God's chosen people. That's what many there believe.
The problem is bigger than Gaza, but Gaza is just the latest battleground against an Islam that has refound it's militancy and prides itself on the success of the past. Why do you think Bin Laden has called for a worldwide caliphate? He wants to go back to the future because to do otherwise would be just too depressing and a man needs a cause to give life meaning. Perhaps he believs he is an incarnate Saladdin.
Being a frail and easily destroyed human, I detest the shedding of human blood over a piece of uselss dirt, but it's truly bewildering what belief motivates people to do. Obviously Bush beleives in what he does. How often has he started a speech with "I believe"? As has Obama. Ultimately it is what you believe which makes you what you are and simply the Jews believe that they have the right to destroy those who seek their destruction. That and their belief in their moral and spiritual superiority sets them on a course of clashing with anyone who wants to dominate them and wants them dead. they learnt that a long time ago, not just during the nazi holocaust. This clash between the Jews and the Palestinians is centuries old, read Genesis. Do you really think one more battle is going to make that much difference? American leaders know this and I doubt if the writer of this piece has botherd to read the two books that the "people of the book" live their lives by. They do not subscribe to the moral rleativism of the post modern west. In their eyes we are heathens and adulterers and idolators and worthy of death. It's complex and I have only touched the surface. America will not abandon Israel as its very existence depends on having those feisty Jews as a bulwark against the resurgence of the Muslim caliphate under Salddin revisited. The events of history are separated by time, but the players have long, long memories. Read Kevin Crombie's excellent book, "Anzacs, Empires and the restoration of Israel" and all the questions posted here will be answered. the answers may not be pleasant but they are facts brought about by the actons of en and women who knew infinitely more than we and believed in things stronger than us. The world we have now is their legacy, for good or ill, we have the baby now, and must start rearing it into adulthood. For this we need all the skills in the world.
