Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Israeli Settlements – The Rest of the Story

At the age of 24, Ben Shapiro is not only a UCLA graduate and a Harvard Law School student, but a nationally syndicated columnist. Incredibly, he has been filling that latter position for 7 years – ever since he was hired as a 17-year-old college student, thereby becoming the youngest syndicated columnist in the country.

Ben has just issued an outstanding column, "The Case for Israeli Settlements, " which eloquently explains why, instead of castigating Israel for constructing new "settlements," we ought to be encouraging them. Here's a sample:
What's the problem with Israel building homes in its capital city? The problem is that the homes will be built in two neighborhoods -- Pisgat Zeev and Har Homa -- which lie east of the so-called "Green Line," the pre-1967 Israeli border.

And the international community doesn't like that at all. According to the international community, Israel's decision to build constitutes a slap in the face to its Arab neighbors, particularly the Palestinian Arabs.

Here's the question: so what?

The world should be far less concerned about Israel's settlement policy than about the terroristic, fascistic nature of Israel's enemies. Supporters of the so-called two-state solution -- in reality, a piecemeal attempt to dismantle the state of Israel by making its borders indefensible -- assume a moral equivalence between Israel and her enemies. They argue against Israeli settlements as if Israel were America and its Arab neighbors Canada, as if the Arab-Israeli conflict were a simple border dispute. In reality, Israel shares Western values; its enemies share values with the mullahs. The Arab-Israeli conflict is a conflict between two contrasting worldviews: freedom and fascism.

The rest of the world, including, sadly, our own State Department, doesn't see it that way. Of course, they'd deny it, but I believe Meryl Yourish has it about right when she explains the difference in attitude as "Israeli Double Standard Time, " in effect only on days ending with a "Y."

Go read all of Ben's column. It's a good start toward recognizing the reality that sooner or later, we're going to have to choose between good and evil.

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