Name:     Michael L. S.   [E-Mail]
      Location:  Earth
      Website:  Middle East Resource Center

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Two days ago was the anniversary of the glorious Six-Day War in which we routed three Arab armies (who were also being helped by four additional countries to varying degrees) in less than a week. I've selected two wonderful articles in honor of the occasion:

Legacy of 1967 Defeat Still Burns, and
40 years on, Israel remains a prisoner
And a lovely piece yet again exposing the world's hypocrisy: What if Israelis had abducted BBC man?

While vanquishing our enemies has over the forty years brought its negative ramifications to us, the effect on the Arab world seems to have been one of denial. The vast majority of Arabs are not obsessed with Israel or the conflict, but their hatred for Israel is latent at best and always visceral. This is true of people in southern Lebanon (whose anger at having had their land obliterated is, of course, misdirected) as it is of Arabs in places such as Bahrain who have never (knowingly) met a Jew, let alone are they in any way affected by this tiny state, my moledet. Their monstrous leaders (civil and religious) are still supremely successful at keeping the Arab's mind so preoccupied with this supposed blood adversary that she or he is blissfully unaware of those robbing, incarcerating and mistreating them blind at home. The only way that this conflict will ever have a chance of getting resolved is the democratization and, concomitantly, secularization of swaths of the Arab world. Naturally, since that is not in the interest of the ruling religious and temporal elites and since it is more likely that their overthrow would usher in the crazy jihadis, this will not happen any time soon.

As for us, despite all our ills, let us rejoice. Forty years ago, without anyone's help (remember, the U.S. was not aiding Israel in any way back then), we singlehandedly annihilated three armies many times bigger and stronger than ours. And in the intervening four decades, despite being a meager island in a sea of hostility, despite the island being almost entirely barren land, despite years of atritious terror attacks, despite SO many parameters stacked against us, we have grown ever mightier. We are today a state that can compete on an equal footing with and even outdo the most advanced countries in the world in terms of artistic, scientific, economic, agricultural, military, political and so many other achievements.

If I was religious, I would say that a higher force really has chosen us to be a special people in this world.


עוד אבינו חי - עם ישראל חי

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