An Israeli leftist “gets” it—what took so long?
David Horowitz posted at his Daily Blog and sent out by e-mail the following letter from an Israeli woman in the Galilee:
Hi!
Despite the crazy situation, I’m still alive. More luck than brains, probably. I’m right in the middle of the battles. The Lebanese border is about 10 miles from my house, and we are under almost constant missile attack these last two weeks. Tsfat is almost deserted, but I was gone for a few days and came back, since this is my home and there is a lot to do here, for the old people and the terrified Ethiopian immigrants and the other down-and -outs who can’t flee. There is also a big hospital here in town (which has been hit twice), but is still taking in all the wounded civilians and soldiers from the fighting.
If ever there was a war we had no choice but to fight it is this one. I was such a gung-ho leftist all the years, saying we have to give the Arabs a chance for peace, pull out of Lebanon and Gaza and let them prove they really do want peace with us. But since we did pull out, terror attacks have just gotten worse.
The suicide bombings and the endless attacks on the border settlements were just the hints of the real entrenchment they were building. The abductions of the soldiers were just the trigger—they were trying to see if they could get away with coming right in and kidnapping anybody they want out of Israel. Can you imagine a border like that with Canada?
I hope we all live to tell about this. Ruthie and her daughter and grandchildren live in Haifa which is also under daily attack now. Two of my kids and their families live up here in the North, and two of Hannah’s kids and their families live here in Tsfat. I guess we’re all pretty stubborn—but as I said before, also pretty lucky, so far.
I can’t imagine how all this will end—but as far as I know, this is the only place in the world where anybody is seeking out and actually battling the Hizbulla. It’s a shame they are hiding out in the homes of and behind the backs of the Lebanese, but we did try to let them prove themselves responsible citizens of the world. and they blew it. If we don’t manage to put them out of action for good this time, it is definitely the end of Israel as a safe haven for anybody, including the world’s Jews
Wish us luck!
Lots of love—Mimi
I wrote to Mr. Horowitz:
Fine. The Hezbollah attack was the thing that finally “‘splained” reality to this leftist Israeli lady.
But please tell me this: How was this lesson different from all other lessons? Why did the suicide attacks starting in 1994 fail to “‘splain” reality to this lady? Why did the terror Intifada starting in October 2000 fail to “‘splain” reality to this lady? Why did the constant artillery attacks from Gaza starting almost as soon as Gaza was handed over to the Palestinians in 2005 fail to ‘splain” reality to this lady? Why did a hundred other incidents and attacks over the years not wake her out of her pacifist dream?
Part of the answer, I think, is that liberals cannot entertain any non-liberal principle by which they can rationally conclude that a liberal position is wrong. The only way they can realize a liberal position is wrong is when it reaches a point where it becomes literally unbearable and so their rejection of it doesn’t have to be based on argument. In this case, Mimi didn’t “get” it until her own town in the Galilee was bombarded by rockets. Artillery fire from Gaza into the Negev, since that did not affect her town directly, was not enough to make her “get” it.
Leftists are so committed to their leftism that the ONLY WAY they can, even briefly, give up their leftist ideas is when it becomes a matter of vital urgency and so they are cleared of any responsibility for having betrayed their leftist beliefs. Everyone will understand and forgive her for ceasing to support the peace process when her own town is being attacked. If five or ten or 13 years ago she had said, “This peace process is a lie, an illusion, it can never work,” then she would have lost her leftist credentials. But if she only abandons her leftist position under extreme duress, then she still keeps her leftist credentials.
The tragicomic upshot is that the leftists will never learn from the disasters that their own beliefs have brought on them. Since the “lesson” was not based on a rational insight into reality, but only on an instinctive reaction to a mortal threat, as soon as the immediate threat passes, she will gravitate back to her usual leftism.
As support for what I said above, consider the fact that Mimi evidently feels no remorse for her past leftist stand of demanding that Israel keep “giving peace a chance.” “I am a leftist, so naturally that’s what I believed,” she seems to be saying, and therefore in her own mind she did nothing wrong. Which shows that she has not given up her leftist principles. I don’t mean that she does not support the fight against Hezbollah; she clearly does. I mean that as soon as that fight is over she will be supporting the next effort to make peace with the Arabs, by giving away the gains to Israeli security that have just made at such a high cost. This has been the pattern of the Israeli left (i.e. the Israeli center) throughout Israel’s history. They recognize that at the moment they must fight the Arabs, and they fight with good will; but they also indulge the fantasy that as soon as the Arabs are defeated, the Arabs will be ready to accept Israel’s existence. So the Israelis follow each successful military effort with a renewed peace process, throwing away both their hard-earned gains, and their hard-earned lessons.
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Ben writes:
The whole time I was reading Mimi’s letter, I was thinking, she doesn’t even understand that her stupidity caused this. People like her have practically brought Israel to its knees. Hezbollah has only been able to do this because of people like her who put handcuffs on the true conservatives of Israel. Like the religious Israelis in the Gaza strip who were forced out of their homes. I’m sure Mimi was cheering that day stating that a new era of peace had dawned.
Instead of conservatives telling her how wrong she was and get her to admit it, the conservatives just want to hug her and act like she has repented from liberalism. Like you said, what they don’t realize is as soon as the missiles stop falling, Mimi will go back into her insane liberalism. The whole letter is about how she was an insane liberal but now that missiles are hitting her town she is at least a “conservative” now. That’s what I got out of it.
Yes, all the conservatives and “conservatives” like Dennis Prager are wetting their pants thinking that Israel has finally woken up from the slumber of liberalism and are going to begin to fight back and destroy the enemy. However, I’m not so optimistic.
What I have seen so far is nothing but a war being fought with kid gloves. Israel could have destroyed this bunch years ago and they can also destroy them now very quickly. They are fighting this war in the same manner that the U.S. is fighting the war in Iraq. Lebanon (like Iraq) has been held up as this great wonderful nation of people who really just want to be free, who are so innocent and have nothing to do with Hezbollah. So in a typical liberal fashion, the only way the Israelis can justify to themselves this war is … they are helping Lebanon be free of “terrorists.”
I don’t know how many Israeli leaders I have heard say that by doing this, in effect they are helping Lebanon. To me it doesn’t matter if this is true or not, what it shows me is Israel doesn’t think that their right to exist trumps the Lebanese right to be free from Hezbollah. They are making that part of their goal now. To protect themselves from missiles and help Lebanon to be free from terror.
Same as we did in Iraq where it was no longer about America’s security but about Iraqi freedom. These goals are acceptable to liberalism. It’s only when civilians die that you begin to hear the liberals wail. They want the right to exist only if no civilians die.
This is backed up by Mimi’s inane statement of:
“It’s a shame they are hiding out in the homes of and behind the backs of the Lebanese, but we did try to let them prove themselves responsible citizens of the world. and they blew it.”
See how the liberal mind works? First she mentions the “innocent” Lebanese so you know for a fact it is bothering her since it goes against liberalism to kill “innocents” even if it guarantees your survival. But the part that got me the most was, the terrorist organization known as Hezbollah was known to Mimi just a month ago as “responsible citizens.” Also one other thing, notice she says citizens of the world? Every thought pattern of this woman is liberal and I doubt it has changed. Not yet anyway.
This war is nothing compared to what is coming if they don’t end this liberalism. Unfortunately, Mimi will never see that her liberalism has caused this.
I don’t care how much the conservatives froth at the mouth over this, to me it’s not looking good. Now I don’t know what it will take for Israel to really get serious and destroy their enemies once and for all but this isn’t it. Not yet anyway.
LA writes:
I want to underscore the importance of Mimi’s comment about “responsible citizens,” as brought out by Ben. Mimi actually thought, until some very recent moment in time (Hezbollah’s cross-border raid that killed a squad of Israeli soldiers? Hezbollah’s firing of rockets into Israel?) that the Hezbollah were, at least potentially, “responsible citizens of the world.” Mimi does not live in Paris or Stockholm, thousands of miles away from the reality. She lives ten miles south of the positions that the Hezbollah have occupied for the last six years during which they have been amassing weapons and building a network of bunkers, culminating in the recent attacks. Yet, right up to the moment of her very recent turnaround, she was as naďve about the character and intentions of these Muslim extremists as the most PC, anti-Israeli denizen of London or Paris.
Once again we see the truth of the saying that Jews are just like everyone else, only more so. In this instance, they are liberal idiots, like most people in the Western world, only more so.
Ben writes:
Yeah this article really gave me an insight to the insane liberal Israeli mind. You’re right when you say their liberalism is as bad as the British. I wouldn’t have thought this was true because they live in the heart of Islam but it seems it is just as bad there.
Here you have an organization whose creation and sole purpose as stated over and over again by Hezbollah themselves is the destruction of Israel. Yet she feels so superior in calling them potential responsible citizens of the world. Her snotty attitude that in essence says, “Hey I gave them a chance to be like me, but they wouldn’t, so now we are justified to protect ourselves.” Like you said, she now feels justified putting her advanced liberalism on hold until the rockets stop.
The conservatives if they really want to help Mimi would explain clearly to her why this is happening instead of putting their arm around her and giving her a hug. But this goes back to the “we’re all Americans” syndrome the “conservatives” have. Instead of trying to convert liberals during these bad times, they just accept any small change as conservatism and get excited.
I also believe Olmert is a carbon copy of Mimi. I’m not optimistic about this war. I see Israel very soon as you mentioned stopping this and giving them back all their gains.
Jeff in England writes:
Ben seems to be inferring that Israel should not care about the means in the pursuit of a “good ending” for Israel in their conflict with the Hezbollah and the rest of the Lebanese people. This is a simplistic and simplistic view. Many Lebanese hated Hezbollah and would have welcomed a military campaign by Israel that didn’t kill ordinary Lebanese in such numbers. Many Lebanese were very sympathetic to the Israeli plight. Some Lebanese being killed and maimed are Christian. If the majority of Lebanese had been actively supporting Hezbollah then Israel would have more of a case for the amount and nature of the force they are using. Or if the very survival of the Israeli state was truly threatened, then Ben’s “any means necessary” by Israeli military force inference would have far more validity. But neither are the case. And the means used must take that into account. I completely understand Ben’s impatience with the means being used to subdue Hezbollah. However the reality is too many ordinary Lebanese are being injured during this latest conflict in Lebanon.
If Hezbollah are using ordinary people as a shield then we must think of different ways to destroy it. Does Ben want Israel to nuke Lebanon so as to win the war thoroughly and quickly?
LA replies:
I think such a discussion has to deal with particulars as much as possible, and not vague generalities such as that Israel is using “too much” force and is hurting “too many” Lebanese. At this moment and for the last two weeks Hezbollah in Lebanon have been launching rockets at Israeli cities. Despite continual bombardment by Israel of Hezbollah areas the rocket attacks on Israeli cities continue. The Hezbollah fighters are ensconced in southern Lebanon and all the way up to the suburbs of Beirut. They have military centers from which they transport and launch rockets at Israel, located in the midst of the Lebanese population. Israel urged Lebanese to clear out of the area. Critics of Israel’s “disproportionate” response have an obligation to say exactly what Israel is supposed to do about rocket attacks coming at Israeli cities from a terrorist group situated inside Lebanon and among the Lebanese population.
James N. writes:
You said: “Mimi actually thought, until some very recent moment in time (Hezbollah’s cross-border raid that killed a squad of Israeli soldiers? Hezbollah’s firing of rockets into Israel?) that the Hezbollah were, at least potentially, “responsible citizens of the world.””
And here’s the thing: All the Israelis (well, most of them, anyway) claim that their “right to exist” was given by some stupid UN “resolution,” and they want more treaties and more agreements, for more people to recognize their “right to exist,” and finally for it to be guaranteed by the “international community.”
I’m quite sure Mimi would agree.
But what if the mythical “international community” should declare that Israel had NO right to exist? What is given can be taken away.
What if UN resolution 1-2009 were to specify that all Jews had to evacuate Palestine in 60 days?
Would the Jews who are begging a nonexistent international authority for their nonexistent “right to exist” go quietly?
Israel has the same right to the Land (on this earth, anyway) as the U.S. has to the Dakotas. We wanted them, we took them, and we kept killing the people who disagreed until they gave up.
That’s how a People get the right to a Land.
Is Israel really serious about what they want? Are they willing to pay the price to get it?
Ben writes:
Jeff took my argument to an extreme saying I think they should use nuclear weapons. That’s not what I was saying at all. My point was on the propaganda being used by the enemy (making sure all infrastructure was built around women and children) to get the usual liberal response out of the West.
The response being that Israel must come up with some great liberal solution to take out Hezbollah and not kill ordinary Lebanese citizens at the same time. Everybody knows there is no liberal solution to this. Hezbollah was counting on this. Seems it’s working.
Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 26, 2006 12:13 AM | Send