What so often motivated Europe’s appeasers, Winston Churchill understood, was cowardice and dishonor. “Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last,” he said of the political elites who thought the best way to confront the threat posed by Nazi Germany was to avoid confronting it. “All of them hope that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured.”
What would Churchill say of the European elites today who imagine that the best way to confront the threat posed by Hezbollah, one of the world’s deadliest and most fanatic terror networks, is likewise to avoid any confrontation?
Comments
Jeff, you've got to settle down a little and relax, you're working way to hard to find the BAD GUYS. The bad guys, and the real terrorists presently, are right in front of you and they are the Israeli Jews who continue to settle in the West Bank and East Jerasulam. I think these are your right-wing religious Rabbi Jerusalemites, who believe that God has given them the world, but minamaly the West Bank and jerusalem. And they are the single biggest impediment to peace, not only between the Palestinians and the Israelis, but their belligerence continues to p$is off the rest of the Arab world most notably Iran. If someone doesn't stop these clowns, they are going to cause World War III. More "god-people" screwing up the planet!!
You are so misguided. Israeli Jews have sought peace with Palestinian Arabs since the British left in 1948. The Arab and Muslim world has used tanks and artillery, suicide bombers, rocket attacks, propaganda, civilian shields and other means in an effort to eliminate Israel. The "peace process" will be an illusion until the Arab and Muslim world accepts the permanent existence of a tiny Jewish majority nation in its midst.
You should use your time better to redecorate the cave you must live in. I can agree that the Israelis should I stop building settlements on the West Bank, but to call this the biggest impediment to peace is naive at best. Others that might be nominated for "biggest" is the refusal of any of the Muslim nations to consider the reality of the State of Israel. They continue to call for it's complete destruction. Would that be tolerated if any other state was involved ? Another would be the almost constant bombardment of Israel by missiles from Palestinian controlled territory, not to mention suicid murderers. If the US or any of it's foriegn bases were bombarded by missiles would there not be a great hue and cry followed by an overwhelming response ? Yet when Israel responds to missiles by military action they are called terrorists.
Hezbollah is an evil, murderous organization. These people hate us and we should admit that and realize there is no negotiating with people who see negotiating as a sign of weakness.
JJ's Sunday 'bear baiting' piece, designed not to enlighten, but to generate eyeballs, with charged rhetoric like 'cowardice and dishonor' tossed in just stoke the fire. Not worth discussing except to note what all impartial observers know, that every conflict has two sides.
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It is unfortunate, but telling, that Jeff continually has to write educational articles about the history of antisemitism and its roots in Europe and the Middle East. Besides antisemitism, we now see waves of anti christian persecutions in Eygpt and other " new democracies". In Eygpt we are seeing waves of Coptics leaving the country. Sound familiar?
First the Islamists came for the Jewish minority in majority Muslim nations. Now that they have almost eradicated ancient Jewish communities in their societies, they are trying to eliminate Christians, Bahai, gays, secular liberals and women with modern aspirations. Thank you, Jeff Jacoby, for raising this issue.
Ozark, This is always what the Israeli right wing does. They try to go into scare tactics about how backward and evil and oppressive Islam is, and in my opinion, it is all of that and MORE. BUT, that is a red herring in this debate. This a dispute about LAND, not ideology. And the Palestinians have a legitamate claim to it. So people shouldn't side step that by trying to basically say "well...maybe so...but look how backwrd and opressive they are relative to the Israelis". That's just a bs move.
Jacoby is one hundred percent correct. Hezbollah is undeniably a terrorist organization and should be treated no different that Al Qaeda.
Well Jeff gets one part right, Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. After that he like so many others merely goes on a rant instead of a ratinal discourse as to what should follow the designation he seeks. He could take the position that all of Islam is a terrorist organizatin and save himself a lot of future writing. He could also list all of the anti-semites that are christian and save even more trees in the future. However, neither of these efforts would contribute anything to the solution of the problems of the ME.
As to the Europeans outside of the folks in the ME I can't think of a group that must be as war weary as Europe. Should they list Hezbollah? Will it do any good? Probably not. But hey Jeff has to write about something.
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Ah "Kitch" as much as I enjoy talking with you your anti-anything Islam makes a rational conversation difficult. We both dislike religious institutions intensly but your hatred of the Arab world is something I just can't deal with. I know you don't hate arabs you just hate Islam but you really can't seperate out their faith anymore than we can filter out your Judeao-Christian culture. My problem with Jeff is he is just too simplistic.
Islamic fundamentalism is as diverse as Christian or any other religion. However, you and I can agree on the fact that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization.
Yes, Hezbollah is a world wide murderous terror orgainization. It murdered a Head of State, Lebanon's Rafiq Hariri in a car bombing. Hairi's son, the current prime minister knows who did it. But he keeps quiet for fear for his own life. It blew up a Jewish community center in Argentina. And of course it blew up 243 US marines in Beirut in 1983. It's leader's stated goal is to kill Jews everywhere..... Because of Hezbolla, all Jewish synagogues in the United States have police details on major Jewish holidays.
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The whole Judaeo-Christian edifice is piffle. Really? I assume you believe in monogamy or any numbe of other Christian moral virtues even down to the ole work ethic. Piffle? I don't think so it pretty much permeates the culture and has made my life quite difficult on many levels.
As to my saying you hate arabs please note I qualified it. The thing is you seemingly never see their viewpoint or wish to consider it when trying to develop a reasonable solution to the ME. That is all I meant by it. They do after all have a cultural as well as personal viewpoint that needs be considered.
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I agree vis a vis Hezbollah as I have previously stated. Perhaps it just comes across to me that you generalize on the subject. Let us write it off to my poor interpretation of what you are saying.
Whether Islam is a remnant of a political movement falls into the same fondue as Joseph Smith and the Golden Tablets in up-state New York (was that the Catskills) or a religion - both overlays on the Judeo-Christian God without Biblical foundations - is the first question which needs to be addressed. Islamic evicerated the early Christians in the Levant and with the exception of the Spanish held oppressively in the Magreb, Turkey and the Balkans. Unlike Christianity which spread around the Mediterranean without force, Islam, an Arabian Pennisula movement, relied on armies, rape and coercion. It should and will eventually be a small minority around the Mediterranean.
To accord it a legitimate voice in Jerusalem, Alexandria, Fez or Constantinople, rewards oppression.
Israel is only reason that Islam is not the official religion of the Emirate of North America.
"Unlike Christianity which spread around the Mediterranean without force, "
Believe it or not, the inquisition was not exactly the Busby Berkeley musical of "History of the World, Part I "
So are we really suprised that Mr Jacoby, Zionist spokeperson of the Globe..., hates Hezbollah? Of course Zionists hate Hezbollah because the group has managed to liberate Lebanon. Furthermore, this group has also protected lebanon from Israeli expansion. They also have been elected to the Lebanese parliment.... huh. Lebanon has elections? wow.... Lebanon is an independent country that has been the playground for quite some many decades for other country's interests... Hezbollah, at least defended their own country from hostile neo colonialists.
Personally, I do not want to follow their idea of social reform, however, given the choice between being an apartheid slave or worse in a Zionist colonialized Lebanon and a beneficiary of Hezbollah's defense, I would choose my indigenous protectors.
So why do we not speak of state terror? Israel had violated the peace and security of many, many ME countries and tries to play the victim, as usual.
This is all propaganda, Islamophobia and as usual, one sided" Jeffery-speak..."
You are one sick puppy. Hezbollah is fighting in Syria to save the fascist regime of Assad.
In case you doubt my assertion about the reactionary role of Hezbollah in Syria:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2013/03/01/Syria-rebels-accuses-Hezbollah-of-attack/UPI-31891362149056/