From UPI:
Israel’s ambassador walked out on the United Nations session that resulted in a strong call to Israel to end its military operations in the Gaza Strip.The 192-member General Assembly voted Friday night 156-7, with six abstentions, in favor of the non-binding resolution in an emergency special session.
It’s no surprise that the Islamic nations vote this way. They are hardly democratic and doctrinally racist against Jews (dhimmitude, etc.). But I always wonder about the Europeans. What are they thinking? Of course anyone with an IQ in the proverbial triple-digits knows that Israel pulled out of Gaza unilaterally not very long ago and that since then, virtually non-stop, Palestinians of various “progressive” stripes (Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Fatah) have been lobbing missiles into Israeli territory. What are the Israelis supposed to do? Allow them to continue? If Spain were lobbing missiles into France on a daily basis, it’s likely the Spaniards would be hit with a nuclear attack. The Israelis have been remarkably gentle in their response, if you consider historical comparisons.
So what is the motivation for the Euros? Part of it is certainly a desire to justify their own unconscionable treatment of the Jews during the Holocaust. (The Jews are bad, therefore what we did is not so atrocious… but, of course, it is.) But this hunger to escape responsibility has been augmented of late by an escalating desire to make nice with the Arab and Islamic worlds. And as we know, it’s not just about oil; Europe itself is now increasingly Islamic. As Mark Steyn points out, soon enough several European countries may be living under some version of sharia. At that point, their attitudes toward Israel won’t be subject to debate. They will be written in the Koran.
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14 Comments
1. cubanbob:If your going to do the time, might as well do the crime. Israel should not waste any more time with Gaza. Cut off the electrical service, seal the border completely and flatten Gaza with an artillery barrage. Repeat when necessary.
Nov 18, 2006 - 2:19 pm 2. Terrye:Roger:
I think they have convinced themselves that if Israel just ignored the Palestinians they would go away or something. I honestly do not understand how they can overlook Darfur and God only knows how many really terrible humanitarian crises in the world and harass the Israelis the way they do.
I just hope the Israelis keep building that wall and maybe if they pull out again, they just keep their troops out and bomb the place rather than put their soldiers back in.What is the point?
Nov 18, 2006 - 3:09 pm 3. heather:I would imagine Canada, playing ‘nice’ again, was one of the abstainers and not one of those with an opinion (I hope – one hopes for small blessings in this world.)
However, will someone please tell me why Israel is still a member of the UN??
Nov 18, 2006 - 3:36 pm 4. Rhy0lite:The motivation is not a mystery: the sands have shifted. The outcome of the war in Lebanon has transformed Israel from a front-line ally into a burden. The US mid-term elections results means that Europe needs to reassess their relationship with the US and Bush. Europe needs a negotiating piece to extract themselves from the debacle in the Muslim Arab world (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Turkey). Israel is the chess piece they can sacrifice to buy time. I sincerely doubt that Blair’s recent interview, the vote in the UN, and other shoes about to drop are unrelated.
Nov 18, 2006 - 3:43 pm 5. tioedong:Ah well…look at the good news.
Nov 18, 2006 - 6:23 pm 6. joe:It’s the world against the US, the Aussies, and the Micronesians (Micronesia, Naru, Palau and the Marshall Islands).
Heather,
I could answer your question once I figured out why the US is still a member of the UN
Nov 18, 2006 - 9:15 pm 7. ricpic:The European elites are deeply anti-semitic. Always have been. The period between 1945 and the early ’60s was historically a blip, during which their natural tendency was repressed in deference to the recent horrors. But the repressed inevitably returns…with a vengeance. That old Viennese Jew was right.
Nov 19, 2006 - 6:51 am 8. Old Dad:Roger,
I see it as a combination of realpolitik, dhimmitude, and latent antisemitism. The Euros have virtually disarmed. Their interests are almost purely economic–oil, markets, cheap labor. They’ve let their Muslim minorities grow dangerously large and unruly. What to do? Appease, buy time. Besides, who’s really hurt by throwing “that shitty little country” under the bus?
Maybe everything will be fine. In the meantime, their on Holiday.
Nov 19, 2006 - 7:11 am 9. Cynic:Has anyone read “Betrayal: France, the Arabs and the Jews” by David Pryce-Jones?
Augean Stables has a post which touches on the book.
http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2006/11/19/david-pryce-joness-new-book-betrayal/
There are some answers to questions posed about
their behaviour in the UN.
“….
And it isnít only rhetoric. Mr. Pryce-Jones describes how, immediately after World War II, senior officers in the French foreign service conspired to rescue Haj Amin Al-Husseini, the former mufti of Jerusalem, who had taken up residence in Nazi Germany during the war and who was answerable, upon Germanyís defeat, for various war crimes, including active support for the extermination of the Jews. The French, having sheltered him in Paris for months, eventually let him escape to Egypt in 1946 carrying a forged passport.”
By the way Ynet sees it this way:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3329796,00.html
“France fumes at US veto on proposal to condemn Israel for Beit Hanoun incident at Security Council, turns to General Assembly. Israel not satisfied; diplomatic source says ëIt is truly an Arab extensioní.
……..
The fact that the US also has veto power in the Quartet pushed France to reach a decision at the UN Security Council, where there is an automatic majority of Muslim and third world countries.
European countries such as Germany, Holland, Denmark, and Britain intended on refraining from the vote at the general assembly, which would have lead to many other eastern European and South American countries refraining as well.
Nov 19, 2006 - 12:11 pm 10. Carl Spackler:……”
One of my favorite shows on Cable is ëModern Marvelsí. I love all that big stuff. Ships. Trucks. Pipelines. At the other end of things I like the pictures I see of nano technology. Making engines with individual atoms. Wonderful.
The U.S. is big. The Federal Government owns half the land west of the Mississippi. Most of it dry desert. Iíd like us to move Israel. Not just the Jews, but everything. Build special barges, and drag, load, lift every thing, temple, tree the Israelis got.( I bet we could get the Saudi crime family to pay for it.)
The Jews showed up with nothing but will and nightmares, and then built the second largest economy in the area. In an area with hostile, and the most economically and politically incompetent people on earth, the Arabs. Plunk Israel in the American west, like some Jewish Utah and we would all be way, way richer. Iíd say 80% of American Indian tribal lands are larger than Israel. Whatís one more tribe so to speak.
Just think how theyíd hate it all even more. Priceless.
Nov 19, 2006 - 2:16 pm 11. PSGInfinity:Joe,
We’re there to honor the old mobster’s dictum (friends, enemies, proximity, some assembly required). We’re also there to safeguard one of our financial flanks. The U.N. openly dreams of creating a mandatory, independent tax authority. Our inSecurity Council veto ensures that doesn’t happen. If we surrender that, and our contribution, we give the U.N. causus taxii to implement their longtime dream.
And that would place us in an impossible position. So, better the enemy you know, and all that.
Nov 19, 2006 - 2:33 pm 12. Tom Holsinger:Nothing new here. Europeans want the Jews dead.
Nov 19, 2006 - 5:31 pm 13. joe:PSG,
And just who do you think is going to come to collect these taxes?
france?
Nov 19, 2006 - 7:12 pm 14. Richard Nieporent:And just who do you think is going to come to collect these taxes?
france?
No, the Democrats. And that will be on top of the Kyoto Global Warming Tax they will impose on us.
Nov 20, 2006 - 7:52 am