G:asa (07/01/82)
A recent comment equated Israeli military action in Lebanon with
the well-known "Final Solution" of Nazi Germany. Such stupidity
beggars description. Were the Israelis in a position analogous to the
Nazis, the PLO would even now be learning the lessons taught to the
Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, instead of being offered passage to Syria
under Red Cross protection....
One may endlessly debate the wisdom of establishing Israel on
land wrested from its inhabitants by colonial powers. Certainly one
wishes that Israel were more enlightened about the treatment of
minorities within Israel itself, and that the connection with South
Africa were not so strong. All in all, however, I think in view of
the fact that Israel's neighbors refuse to recognize its existence and
have attacked it numerous times (vowing as they did so to "push Israel
into the sea") that Israel's military response has been remarkably
restrained.
The hypocrisy of Israel's critics is astonishing: few are
innocent of genocide or of territorial violations. And one wonders
how long the United States would tolerate, say, terrorist gangs
operating out of Mexico with the goal of regaining California, or of
Seminole Indians raiding Miami from Cuba? Ho ho ho....
It will be interesting to watch the U.S. trying to squirm out of its
"special relationship" with Israel, now that it realizes which side
its bread is buttered on (i.e., Saudi oil). Alas for the Jews! The
most persistently and bitterly persecuted people of all time, they may
now be facing a second Holocaust before too long....
John Hevelin ...ucbvax!G:asa