Wednesday, June 18, 2008

A quick Ping-Pong of Ideas


Here are some brief excerpts from a number of discussions we had in our Political Forum:

What would you do with the Hamas in Gaza?
- Talk to whoever is elected by the Palestinians (what do you do with ש"ס - the Israeli Orthodox party "Shas"?)

What type of a deal are you willing to offer to Abbas?
- A true ending of the occupation.

Would you accept the right of Palestinian Refugees to return to Israel?
- A small group of them, yes. For the rest, a recognition of Israel for their tragedy.

Would you divide Jerusalem?
- Yes. (when was the last time you visited East Jerusalem?)

What would you do if Abbas refuses to sign an agreement?
- Offer him a decent one instead.

And spend a moment thinking about Iran... They are a destabilizing force in the Middle East.
- So is Israel.

And by their own admission, their goal is to "export" the Islamic revolution and destroy Israel in the process... But this is not just an Israeli problem. A nuclear Iran in the heart of the Middle East is something that should concern its neighbors, the US and Europe...
- So is Israel.

What would you do as the President of the US?
- Live to his promises: Make Israel evacuate all "illegal" settlements.

Would you let Iran arm itself with Nuclear weapons?
- I don't think we can't stop them.

What would you do if they do?
- The same thing we did when Israel became nuclear.

And again, please avoid demagogy and provocation...
- Sorry, can't do that...

Yeah, right, Shas and Hamas are the same...
- Tell me in what way they are different? (instead of making empty statements).

Yeah, Iran and Israel are both legitimate for a nuclear power.
- Why not? Because we are white, with blond hair and they are ugly Iranians?

We can't understand how someone who seems to be smart can think such thoughts.
- I'm thinking exactly the same about you, with one difference: I respect your opinions, however strange and wrong they seem to me. And I know that I may be wrong, so I'm trying to stay humble. but you - CAN'T be wrong, because God herself is your neighbor and you consult her personally.

I more and more believe that you hate Israel.
- I'll make an exception to my usual writing: this was a stupid comment.

Therefore I see no reason at the moment why we should do what you suggest.
- You actually suggest to do what I suggested to do 20 years ago: to talk to the PLO... So I'm pretty confident that 10 years from now (and ?,??? more innocent people dead), you'll suggest to do what I suggest now.

They declare almost every day that Israel should be demolished, wiped out. I don't remember Peres and BG using these term for any Arab country when we got the bomb.
- As I said, I don't care at all about what politicians say. It is only what they do (or don't do, in our case) that matters to me. What Israeli government has always done had the effect of denying the Palestinians from their legitimate right for a state. That's the same thing as wanting to wipe their state off the map.

(Ahmedinijad never said that he wanted to kill the Israelis, just to eliminate their state and send them back to Europe; But with regard to this statement, we can't take him seriously, we only do that when he says things that fit our opinion).

Shas joined more than once a government who had peace in their agenda.
Again, "agenda" means nothing. Olmert has peace in his agenda, but he has done nothing, so Shas have no problem sitting in his government and collecting the money. They are threatening every day to leave, the minute that he will mention any real issue (like withdrawal).

So Avner- please correct me if I am wrong- you are supporting terror from Gaza or any place to remove the occupied army from their land- is my statement correct?
- No. I don't support that. it's a crime. But that crime is the only thing that works with the "hard-heads" in our government. Like the "Arabs" that we have in our minds since our kinder-garden (did I mention indoctrination?), they (Olmert et al) only understand force.
Let's give them other options, and then, as Humi wisely suggested, we can hold it against them if they still chose to conduct terror.

And again. No one that lives outside the effected area from Kasam and shells has any legitimate to say anything about the action taking to protect those people.
- So why are you expressing your opinion in favor of a war, which your children will not take part in? (forgive my rudeness, I mean that my kids wont either, I hope, because I raised them to be Jobnikim (= Non-combat soldiers); I didn't do a great job in that as a father, but that's a different issue. In any case I am not suggesting that I have more right to speak than you do).

I guess it's not OK to speak up your mind, if you are out of the dangerous zone - unless, of course, you are on the Right side, in which case, go ahead, say what you want.

No comments:

Post a Comment