In 1948, when the United Nations dealt with what was known as the Palestine Mandate, the land was split into two potential nations — Israel and Trans Jordan.
Israel was created for the Jewish people, many of them refugees and survivors of Adolf Hitler’s Holocaust. Trans Jordan was for the Palestinians, most of them Moslems. The idea was that they would live side by side in peace, just as smaller numbers of Jew and Moslems had lived together in Palestine for hundreds of years.
Could it have worked? We’ll never know, because on the very day Israel declared itself a nation, the entire Arab world attacked militarily. They swore that they would drive the Jews into the sea, that all Palestine belonged to the Arabs.
They lost in 1948, again in 1967 and again iin 1973.
Seventy-five years after Israeli nationhood, they’re at it again.
Hamas terrorists launched attacks into Israel on such a large scale that it’s basically a war.
There’s one difference between this and the earlier wars. A lot of so-called liberals in the U.S. and Europe have come around to where they see Israel as the bad guys because they oppress the poor poor Palestinians.
What a bunch of crap.
They call Israel the equivalent of South Africa during the apartheid years, but the comparison has very little validity. Israel is dealing with people who deny its right to exist, something South Africa never had to deal with.
The current Hamas attack and Israel’s retaliation are escalating the situation to a point where it’s difficult to imagine a peaceful solution that will leave Israelis and Palestinians living. side by side.
Damned religion.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not an atheist and never have been. In fact, I am a Roman Catholic. And if there is one thing I’m proud of, it’s that the Holy Father, Pope Francis, has said it’s possible to get to Heaven without being Catholic.
Far too many religions try to sell themselves by saying they’re the only road to salvation, which of course makes them enemies of all those other false religions.
It may be the impossible dream, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if people kept their religion to themselves or at least kept from trying to tell other people they were wrong and headed for perdition.
Until then, though, I’m not going to rag on Israel for retaliating against people who wish they were dead.