I’m impressed with the level of exchanges on here as we all wrestle with this horror show. Well done Sidey on some great points made.
To III and IA I would agree that going back to origins is extremely relevant. I wouldn’t agree that it’s a fair assessment that the Jews were given too much leeway between 1917 and 1948. Anything but. The UK was actually rebuked by the League of Nations in the 1930s for not fulfilling the Mandate to encourage Jewish settlement. We might also reflect on the 800000 Jews hounded out of Islamic nations after Israel was birthed and also the hundreds of 1000s of Holocaust survivors in European camps after WW2 with no welcome from most nations …not to mention the closing of the Mandate to Jews in the Nazi area which effectively steered millions to the gas Chambers. Not too much leeway for me!!
The charge that Israel ‘started the 1967 war’ I have heard before. I know why a kind of case may be made because of Israels pre emptive air strike ..but no serious historian denies that the Arab armies were massing with anything other than ethnic cleansing and Genocide in mind. This kind of distortion of history and the encouragement of a victim mentality amongst Israel’s neighbours is what perpetuates this problem. If anyone believes that Hamas, Hezbullah, Iran et al are partners for peaceful co existence then I’m a Mariner through and through and Matt Tees was my grandma.
