Comments on: President Obama’s appalling silence on Syria

By: Richard Smith

Richard Smith — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 10:15:36 +0000

America has been responsible for bloodshed all round the world from South East Asia to Iraq but this idiot Boteach thinks it is some sort of light unto the nations with a responsibilty to rule the world spreading Boteach values. The whole world is sick and tired of this bullshit. Ordinary Americans are sick and tired of this bullshit too.

By: Richard Smith

Richard Smith — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 10:15:36 +0000

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 17:15:25 +0000

Ravi Singh, the point about the League of Nations I was making was that its Mandate for Palestine is the basis in international law for the Jews right to settle throughout the lands under the Mandate. You can call the League what you want (though since both China and Japan were represented, along with South American countries, I am not sure your generalization of it being "a bunch of white colonial countries" withstands scrutiny). I suppose you could say that it was unfair that the principal powers that won WWI got to call the shots on the settlement, but that is what happens to the losing side and their populations. One of the issues was, of course, how to square Wilson's ideas of self-determination where, on the ground, populations were mixed up ethnically and religiously. Overlaid on this problem was power politics pure and simple.
Your (and many other's) claim that it was European guilt that "was the root cause behind Israel's creation" shows that there is a rather large chunk of history that is being ignored. For centuries (and not withstanding the fairly new, but insidious, practice of Temple Denial), it was a given that the Jews' historic homeland was in what the Europeans then called Palestine (though it was given no such designation by the Ottomans which attached the area mainly to Syria). There were many attempts from several quarters (almost exclusively by Protestants), starting in the early-mid 19th century, to try to restore the Jews to the land. The reasons varied, but the objective was the same.
As a final point, though this too is a separate discussion, neither the League of Nations nor the UN created Israel. While the Mandate anticipated the creation of a state at some point, this was never carried through. Israel was created "the old fashioned way:" they had established the infrastructure for governance, announced their independence at the point when there was no sovereign control of any of the Mandate territory (that ended when Britain left and the Mandate terminated in May 1948) and, when attacked, were able to repulse the aggressors. It is, by the way, a very unusual circumstance where a territory exists with no sovereign power exercising control – but that is the situation.
The end of your post impliedly puts the problem in its correct focus, but not as I think you intended. Once the Palestinian Arabs recognize that Israel has a right to exist where it is – which will require them to, among other things, reject the view that (a) any land conquered by Muslims remains the property of Muslims – which might also be of some comfort to Greece and Spain, among others and (b) that notwithstanding certain unfortunate (to be charitable) references to Jews in the Qur'an and associated texts, the Jews are in fact not the worst enemies of Islam and may be accepted as friends. Indeed, there is probably a reason that the Israeli Arabs have made clear that they will reject any final settlement that places their village on the Palestine side of any border.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 17:15:25 +0000

By: Ravi Singh

Ravi Singh — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 11:27:54 +0000

The league of nations was a collection of colonial powers who thought they could do what they wanted, and knew it all…. add to that they were utterly unrepresentative of the world at large.. they were a bunch of white colonial countries, which made up a very small minority of the world.
Very much like the UN of 1948. 55 odd countries dominated by the white European, American, Australasian nations along with Aparthied S Africa. In a truly representative UN Israel would never have been created. European guilt was the root cause behind Israels creation.
You make a valid point when you say " weather it is a good idea or not is a separate issue" . It is not exactly a seperate issue, nevertheless there is obviously something wrong with the idea because it will not go away just by wishing it away, and the longer it kept simmering the worse it becomes, particularly for Israel

By: Ravi Singh

Ravi Singh — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 11:27:54 +0000

By: Alan Miller

Alan Miller — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 11:08:59 +0000

Carter was a peanut processer, not farmer. A fact conveniently distorted by his ad men then.

By: Alan Miller

Alan Miller — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 11:08:59 +0000

Carter was a peanut processer, not farmer. A fact conveniently distorted by his ad men then.

By: Corri Gottesman

Corri Gottesman — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 03:34:13 +0000

lsgolf52 — it is painful and scary to hear or read any reference of President Obama as an "ape" since people of African descent have been referred to as such (and other primates) by American racists since slavery. If you wish to criticize the President while at the same time not contribute to racist ideas, please find other metaphors or adjectives to describe President Obama.

By: Jeff Boyd

Jeff Boyd — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 00:42:41 +0000

Don't expect or hope for anything worthwhile out of Obama.

By: John Spencer Cohen

John Spencer Cohen — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 00:21:56 +0000

Obama is not going to act against any of his Brethren, many of whom have the same name as him (Hussein).He feels far more comfortable attacking Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East and the only true ally that America has. Not only is he doing a disservice to Israel, he is ruining the USA. He and his sidekick Hilary are the biggest disaster that has befallen the USA since the peanut farmer Carter was in the White House.

By: Rhonda Blender

Rhonda Blender — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 23:20:16 +0000

I believe the quote "Never Again" is not one that Americans generally use. It originated among Jews as a response to the Holocaust.

By: Ibn Q Rassooli

Ibn Q Rassooli — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 22:57:13 +0000

It is truly sad and shocking how many academicians in the USA have fallen into the gutter of Political Correctness and Historical Revisionism the same as most of their media.
What is happening in North Africa (Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Mali, Chad, etc) and Syria are the RESULT of Obama's utter stupidity in removing Mubarak & Gaddafi and replacing them with the enemies of HUMANITY: the Muslim Brotherhood who are also al Qaida.
He single handily removed SECULAR dictators to replace them with SHARIA observant Muslims.
Obama & Hillary Clinton should be IMPEACHED and removed from office in disgrace.
Now it is pay back time and every country in the world will suffer UNLESS all of them band together to stop and reverse the scourge of Muhammadan Islam before they take over the world.

By: Timmy Keeffe

Timmy Keeffe — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 22:44:47 +0000

I see on Rabbi Shmuley is looking for donations on his web page yet he has the cheek to PLEDGE 25 MILLION DOLLARS on the head of Assad. If he has 25 million ( donations) to burn why not give it to charity.

By: Timmy Keeffe

Timmy Keeffe — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 22:28:36 +0000

What a load of rubbish, It was the sunni rebels./terrorists who fired 2 missiles at that school. The school was in government controlled area. The so called most famous Rabbi in America want to get his facts straight#.