Imagine if pro-Palestinian protesters made clear they don't support Hamas -- the way left-wing, pro-Israel Jews are constantly making clear that they don't support the "settlements" in the West Bank.
It would look something like this:
We, the undersigned, are Palestinians and supporters of the Palestinian cause, and we wish to disavow Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and anyone else who would use violence against civilians in our name.
We cherish the unbroken connection of millions of Palestinians to the land of our ancestors. Some of us believe that Palestinians have a right to all of the land; some of us are prepared to accept a two-state solution. We embrace a diversity of views about the future.
Yet we reject terrorism as a means to achieve our national goals. There is never an excuse for it -- whether by Israeli settlers or by Palestinian militants. It is self-destructive, and it is also immoral.
We abhor the terror attacks of October 7. There is no justification for them. They provoked a response that has devastated Gaza. They were enabled by countries like Iran that do not care about us and do not bear the cost of their aggression.
We can no longer be silent.
Our people have fought bravely for their land. Yet war, and terror, have set us back, costing us more land and diminishing the justice of our cause in the eyes of people who would otherwise be our allies.
Israeli violence is no excuse for Palestinian violence. Our duty to condemn terror exists independent of the conduct of the other side.
We call on the nations of the world to support Palestinian leaders who join our commitment to oppose terror. We ask them to invest in the Palestinian people, rather than propping up those who exploit us.
We look forward to a brighter future -- a day when we can hold our heads high and take pride in the morality and success of our cause.
Signed,
(Nobody ever)
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
An interesting weekend -- one of the last of Daylight Savings Time -- in which there is much to celebrate, much to contemplate, and a bit to worry about.
The Gaza peace deal is shaky, but holding, after the living hostages returned; the shutdown is still going on, with no end in sight; the China trade war is heating up; and the confrontation with Venezuela continues to escalate.
The "No Kings" protest was a dud, despite the media's attempt to inflate it. What I find fascinating is that the Democrats have basically stolen the rhetoric and the imagery of the Tea Party protests, circa 2009. They claim they are defending the Constitution -- just like the Tea Party did.
On the one hand, this is good. How wonderful to have a political system in which both sides, bitterly opposed though they are, articulate differences through the Constitution -- and not, as in so many other countries, outside it.
On the other, this is sheer hypocrisy for the Democrats. Not only did they malign the Tea Party as ...
