On April 20, Dennis Prager published a wonderful article in National Review Online regarding the present state of affairs regarding the U.S./Israel relationship and why “there is nothing to gain, and America’s soul to lose, by weakening or even seeming to weaken our support for Israel.”
Any explanation I could give would not do the actual article any justice so I will let Dennis speak for himself. The entire article is good, but the following are some quotes which I believe were the most appropriate for this Friday afternoon.
There is a fifth reason tens of millions of Americans, including many conservative commentators, support Israel and worry about America as American support for Israel wanes. To the Left in America and around the world, this reason is dangerous nonsense. But for a vast number of America’s Christians, for many Jews, and even many non-religious conservatives, it is deeper than any military or political reason. The reason is based on a verse in Genesis in which God, referring to the Jewish people, says to Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.”
One need not be a Jew or Christian or even believe in God to appreciate that this verse is as accurate a prediction as humanity has ever been given by the ancient world. The Jewish people have suffered longer and more horribly than any other living people. But they are still around. Its historic enemies are all gone. Those that cursed the Jews were indeed cursed.
And those who blessed the Jews were indeed blessed. The most blessed country for over 200 years has been the United States. It has also been the most blessed place Jews have ever lived in. Is this a coincidence? Many of us think not.
Those who curse the Jews still seem to be cursed. The most benighted civilization today is the Arab world. One could make a plausible case that the Arab world’s preoccupation with Jew-hatred and destroying Israel is a decisive factor in its failure to progress. The day the Arab world makes peace with the existence of the tiny Jewish state in its midst, the Arab world will begin its ascent.
The converse is what worries tens of millions of Americans — the day America abandons Israel, America will begin its descent.
May G-d bless America and Israel, and all of you this weekend!
Tags: Dennis Prager, Genesis, Israel
I like Genesis, but the tickets for their reunion tour were too expensive…
The Jews have been a blessing to every society in which they were welcomed.
goddessoftheclassroom wrote:
Absolutely.
Yeah, we bad crazy Dominionists have had our hearts in our throats a bit lately over Zero’s statements and actions towards The Nation of Israel.
Life is starting to resemble a bad Demi Moore film.
Scott Madsen wrote:
Demi Moore the actress, or Dhimmi Moore the fatslob director?
Scott Madsen wrote:
This one:
Pardon my bad crazy!
Frankly, I think it’s a huge strategic mistake to try to argue this on religious grounds. It may make you feel righteous, but it’s not going to convince anybody.
Notice the Arabs/Muslims don’t try to argue their case to the west as a religious one? They keep that part to themselves. They’re a little smarter about these things.
All you’re doing is feeding the Zionism = Jewish theocracy argument.
goddessoftheclassroom wrote:
The only biblical inscription on America’s Liberty Bell is the following quote from the Torah: (from Leviticus 25:10)
G-d Bless America and the Christians who founded her.
@ snork:
Go to the article. The “Religious argument” is #5. 1-4 IIRC had nothing to do with religion.
However, I have to argue the religious aspect as well because I know it to be true! Furthermore, your argument that it might not help isn’t necessarily based on facts either as a huge percentage of the United States does support Israel on religious grounds.
I do agree however that it should not be the ONLY argument to support Israel. But it surely is one of them.
Signs, Signs, everywhere a Sign
Yeah, yeah, wars, wars, and rumors of wars, and don’t prophesy and all of that….but its so much fun in a bad crazy sort of way.
Demi and a 12 pack…I’ll take one for the team.
/jus sayin I’m that kinda guy team first yah know
snork wrote:
Respectfully beg to disagree.
The consistent drumbeat from the Arabs is that they are “entitled” to the Temple Mount because it is “the third holiest site in Islam.” Day in, day-f*cking-out you hear this in the media. Well, sorry, Muslims—the Mount is the first holy site in Judaism, and—as long as we’re playing the “holy site” game—first trumps third. If the West, the Left, the intelligentsia, the idiotgentsia, whomever, are prepared to grant the Muslim claims credence on “religious grounds,” the Muslims lose without anyone turning a hair.
@ snork:
Say what?
Perhaps you have not seen the Al Qaeda Training Manual?
Hiding there religion in plain sight?
@ buzzsawmonkey:
Fair enough, but overall, that’s not one of their top arguments. Their main arguments are based on fake history, and fake anthropology.
goddessoftheclassroom wrote:
And the alternative of this is look at every society which has persecuted their jewish population. Look at how well the Egyptians and the Romans are doing these days…..
And while we’re dealing with middle east myth, right behind the myth that Israel is the locus of all conflict in the region is the myth that oil is the driving force behind policy. It’s only indirectly true; the oil turns into money, when the buyers actually buy, as in not take, the oil. The money, in turn buys influence. Agreeing to sell oil isn’t any kind of favor. It’s business. And business doesn’t give a crap if you’re a Romulan, and they don’t give a crap if the Romulans are at war with the Vulcans.
Nothing that anyone does in the region is “about oil”; but much is about money.
@ Truck Monkey:
England also comes to mind.
snork wrote:
Most of which are, ultimately, based upon religious claims which are in plain sight.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
I often wonder if their success is a direct result of their willingness to live by their values, and our failure in the West doesn’t result from our unwillingness to live up to ours.
@ WrathofG-d:
You quote something which wasn’t mine. I’m confused.
@ buzzsawmonkey:
I was trying to reply to # 18 and the islamic emphasis on religion.
What a lucky coincidence. A thread about Israel when I just found this site that has been compiled from old Life magazines at the time of Israel’s War of Independence: LIFE in Israel in 1948 – Part 1
it was on Friday, May 28, 1948 the Arab Legion succeeded at controlling the main Jewish street of the Quarter; they immediately destroyed the Hurva Synagogue (in anticipation of the arrival of King Abdullah) and began burning and looting Jewish shops..
Prager makes this point:
I hate to go all prophesy and bad crazy again, but Abbas Effendi
(Abdul Baha), the son of the founder of the Bahai Faith, and who is known by Bahai’s as the Center of the Covenant, has told of Islam being the minority religion to the point of near extiction after it all shakes out. It will be the reward for what they have done to others in the name of God, in particular the percecution of Jews and Bahai’s.
Just more bad crazinees, but it is out there for the record in what are known yo Bahai’s as Pilgrim Notes. These are citings of the words of their faiths central figures as witnessed by individual belivers in their audience. Not accepted as revelation by Bahai’s but taken in earnest as informal warnings and guideposts by their more devout.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
The Christian Arabs are making pretty much the same claims. They’re not arguing (at least when the mikes are on to the west) that the Islamic claim to the temple mount is a valid reason for the Palestinian claim to East Jerusalem; they’re arguing that all of Palestine was Arab before the Jews showed up after WWII.
Again, the “facts” are Fuldkommen Gak, but the argument is secular.
The “Zionist Hindu Crusader” Alliance Marches On
Documents captured from radicals and terrorists in Pakistan warn darkly about a new axis of evil in the world: a ‘Zionist Hindu Crusader‘ alliance bringing Israel, India, and the United States together in a war on Islam. They are wrong about the last part; all three countries want peaceful relations with Islamic countries based on mutual recognition and respect. The alliance isn’t a closed club, and Islamic countries are welcome to join. Otherwise, however, the radicals have a point. The deepening relations between the United States, India, and Israel are changing the geopolitical geometry of the modern world in ways that will make the lives of fanatical terrorists even more dismal and depressing (not to mention shorter) than they already are. Israel and the United States are both in a better long term position than many Americans sometimes think; one of the main reasons is an Indian-Israeli connection that most Americans know nothing about.
Snip
The relationship isn’t just about good wishes. India has the largest (reported) defense budget of any developing country; Israel is India’s largest supplier of arms. As two of the leading IT countries in the world, India and Israel also collaborate on a variety of high tech projects, some with military implications.
Snip
In one of the least-noted but perhaps more important shifts of the post Cold War world, that has all changed. Currently, Israel isn’t just popular in India. It is India’s largest supplier of high-tech weapons and the growing cooperation between the two countries is spreading into both economic and political fields. There is a strategic compatibility in their interests. Economically, the marriage of Indian and Israeli high-tech know how with India’s enormous force of educated, English-speaking labor, its vast internal market, and Israel’s marketing experience and connections with the advanced industrial economies make for a natural complementarity. Israel welcomes the rise of Indian economic and political influence in the Middle East and East Africa. Both countries view the activities of radicals in Pakistan and their use of Pakistan and Afghanistan for wider regional ambitions with deep concern.
Snip
This “Zionist Hindu Crusader” alliance is a nightmare scenario for radicals and terrorists in the Islamic world. The emergence of closer relations between the American global superpower, the regional Israeli military, and technological superpower, and the rising superpower of India is a basic challenge to the worldview of the extremists. The radicals have imagined a world in which the west and especially America is in decline, Israel faces a deep crisis, and a resurgent Islamic world is emerging as a new world-historical power.
Snip
OT – HAha! the couple dozen (not several thousand as FoxNews just reported) protestors continue to mill around at the state capital 2 hours after the bill (1070) was signed into law. morons. I’m thinking these couple dozen are the ones that were bussed in from los angeles (about 60) and their bus just left them there. too bad. there are no public restrooms down there. egads. it’s gonna smell bad.
any city or county which refuses to enforce this law can be sued by the citizens. take that sanctuary city lovers.
snork wrote:
The whole argument that “the Jews showed up after WWII” is Fuldkommen Gak to anyone who knows anything about the history of the region; the history of the Zionist effort, going back to the 1880s; the history of Jewish residence in the Land, going back to time immemorial; the history of Jewish-majority population in Jerusalem, going back as far as the Ottomans kept records.
@ WrathofG-d:
I don’t support Israel for religious grounds or, for that matter, out of any extremist philosemitic views. Rather, I think the case for supporting Israel can be made on the brutal grounds of realpolitik and American national interest. Bluntly, Israel is the only reliable ally we have in the oil-rich Middle East. Iraq may one day become a second, or she may not, but anybody that trusts the Gulf Nations is beyond foolish. That includes the Saudi-purchased fools in the State Department. When the chips are all on the table, Israel and Israel alone can be counted on to stand with the USA. It is only wisdom to, in turn, support her. If for no other reason than that may be the only way to ensure that she is there in our time of need.
It has me thinking of t-shirt logos./
@ buzzsawmonkey:
The Romans didn’t name Judea “Judea” as an insult to the “Palestinians”. Anyone who pays attention to the history of the region (this would apparently not include anyone in the State Department) knows that.
@ Iron Fist:
Heh.
@ mjazz:
Jewish Jerusalem 1948…..same area after the muslims get to it.
Jewish Joseph’s Tomb 2000…same holy tomb once muslims got to it.
Jewish Gaza 2005….same area after the Muslims get to it.
Jewish Neve Dekalim Synagogue (Gaza) 2005…same area after muslims got to it.
Some things never change!
Koranimals.
@ Kirly:
I am proud of Arizona,way to go,take back your beautiful state!
@ vagabond trader:
“It’s In the Koran,” by Patrick Henry.
@ Guggi:
Love it,Israel must do what is best for Israel. India will be a great ally, a natural ally.They both won their independence from Britain around the same time and have both been holding back the jihadi tide ever since.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
your link is broken.
here’s the good one. i think.
http://www.qubetv.tv/videos/detail/80
more ot…
Hayworth picks up big endorsement.
in other news, John McCain throws temper tantrum. ok, i made that part up.
@ Kirly:
Thanks.
I remember when that video was popularized by the Mad King. That almost makes me old enough to have lived contemporaneously with the stegosaurus!
@ Kirly:
Y’all are on the leading edge of American History, ain’t ya? Free carry of guns, crackdown on illegals, Sherrif Joe, etc., I mean. A new drive to State Autonomy. You even have a Firearms Freedom Act. If I were to move from Tennessee, Arizona is at the very top of the lists to where I’d want to move.
I have said if before and I will say it again Juan Willimans is a baraq’s ass.
@ Kirly:
@ buzzsawmonkey:
lol.
Learn Hebrew: Tzion
@ buzzsawmonkey:
you’re welcome.
Michelle Malkin rips McCain to shreds while endorsing JD Hayworth.
i wonder how many Arizonans remember this…
and never forget that he voted for TARP and then said he was misled.
Iron Fist wrote:
you betcha!
I’ve said it before IF, the more right thinking individuals the better. gotta keep our numbers up to counter all those damn californians that have moved here the last 20 years…. says the woman who moved from california 22 years ago.
snork wrote:
Well, I’m a Christian and I totally believe this. You may think I’m crazy and I don’t reeally care. It’s more real to me than this keyboard I’m typing on – that’s how real it is to me.
On a side note that’s one thing about some Rabbi’s that always drove me crazy – that we Christians only support Jews and the Country of Israel because we want to convert them. Not true – it’s because we BELIEVE GOD!
Kirly wrote:
Now, that’s just unfair. He had to pass the bill to learn what was in it, just like Blinky Pelosi said we all had to do with Obamacare.
WrathofG-d wrote:
We also have that pesky Star of David on all our money!
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
hahahahahahah. yeah, i forgot, senater McLame / McAmnesty lives in bizarro world with prez 0bama and his band of angry progressives.
@ mjazz:
Great pics.
@ citizen_q:
100%. I used to respect the motherfucker. I thought he was smart, if on the wrong side of the issues, but since Obama has been elected, he has gotten stupid. He doesn’t seem to bother to think about the shit he is shovelling. Take this issue right now. Why does he support illegal immigration? That is what he is doing. I wish someone would just ask him WTF are you thinking? *spit*
BTW, like your Avatar. I considered digging around for Mandy Manner’s “Piss on Allah” avatar, but I decided that’d be mean
Truck Monkey wrote:
Shoot – just look at Europe and the slow death they are experiencing!
@ buzzsawmonkey:
The Arabs are historically imperialist-colonialists who displaced native peoples in the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Maghreb, but they must conceal this past in order to gain the support of Leftist “useful idiots”. Thus, the denial of the ancient and continued presence of the Jews in the Levant and the Arabization of Byzantium and Sassania.
mjazz wrote:
Oh that’s a keeper! Kinda puts a snag in that little ditty about it being arab doesn’t it? Someone should send this to obaMAO!
vapig wrote:
Let you’re heart be still, and know that some “rabbis” are stuck on stupid – and stuck on a past negative history with Christianity that no longer is the case.
You could also probably measure this stupidity with their actual religiosity. (IE: the less religious the more dislike of religious Christians) -now what might seem odd is that just because they are “rabbis” they might not actually be religious.
The bottom line here is that you shouldn’t let them bother you as they don’t represent the bulk of Jews whom you would want to have anything to do with anyway.
snork wrote:
This lie only works for those ignorant of the persistent and brutal conflicts in Algeria, Yemen, Spanish Sahara, Iraq, Iran, Kurdistan, Azerbaijan/Armenia/Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkey, Balochistan, Chechnya/Dagestan/Ingushetia, Abkhazia/South Ossetia, Lebanon, and Cyprus. Meaning most of academia.
@ vapig:
I second that emotion. Sometimes you see things like “Christians support Israel because they believe the Temple has to be rebuilt in order for Jesus to return” or other misrepresentations. I support Israel 99% of the time because Israel is right and the arabs are wrong. I also believe the rebirth of Israel is the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
@ vagabond trader:
No spin there, history as it happened.
vapig wrote:
Compare that with the following…
Hmmm….liberty vs slavery….hmm…….
What a difficult choice…….
Reading about this weeks Torah portion, I came across the following:
how true!
it goes on to state:
How true. I think this applies to American society as well and the folly of multiculturalism and identity politics. Despite the intent, the many different cultures, etc., we embrace today instead of the melting pot the U.S. once was, is hurting us as a Country.
WrathofG-d wrote:
Naw – that doesn’t surprise me – you should see the Methodists.
/with no offense to observant Methodists here……
@ WrathofG-d:
Gotta run—sundown is nearing on the East Coast—but please note that the double portion read this week contains the two famous Levitical prohibitions against homosexual behavior, not the modern pseudoclassification of “homosexuality,” which was a concept that did not exist until relatively recent modern times.
Note, too, that these prohibitions follow—the first time immediately, the second time at a remove—the prohibitions against child sacrifice to Moloch. Which makes clear that the prohibitions against homosexual behavior were originally directed against avodah zarah (idol worship) and the orgiastic rites which accompanied that worship.
mjazz wrote:
So do I. Some Israeli’s (Wrath?) believe that since it was created by man (UN) that it somehow doesn’t count that God restored it to them. As a Christian I believe that God can move man’s heart to do His Will.
I think it is time to stop the cycles of blessings and curses. In the words of the Obama State Department: “it is not sustainable”.
Therefore Israel must accept the blessing of a Palestinian State.
Courtesy of Tikkun Olam:
Last year, Mr. Obama stated at the U. N. General Assembly that
“America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements.”
-In the same breath as he said it is time for peace in the Middle East “without preconditions.”
Good point. Just like he said it was time for America to stop meddling in other countries affairs.
@ Overlook:
They withdrew from Gaza and in gratitude the Gazans sent them missiles.
@ Philip_Daniel:
I’ve always thought islam was the religion of the devil. God is all about free will. Satan enslaves.
@ buzzsawmonkey:
Ha! Where were you earlier regarding the sexual immorality/earthquakes conversation.
Just got done reading this as well:
@ WrathofG-d:
We’ll have to take this up Sunday, or thereafter.
@ vapig:
For years Russia wouldn’t let the Jews emigrate, then all of a sudden they were allowed to, which I believe is mentioned in Ezekiel.
Iron Fist wrote:
I used to consider his opinions and generally respectfully disagreed with many if not most. At that time, I chalked it up to having a different perspective.
I have forgotten the exact issue, but Juan got in an argument with Charles Karuthammer about some obama issue where Charles manuvered Juan into say in almost as many words that racism is bad unless it is the right kind of racism.
And fairly condemns both him and most of the lefty/prog social engineering with regards to racism.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
As I said before, the left manufactures identities out of activities. If I drive, they see me as a driver. If I drink, they see me as a drinker. This may seem trivial, but it’s not, because if it’s an identity, it’s harder to justify the government controlling a behavior; thus the medicalization of drinking, for example.
WrathofG-d wrote:
vapig wrote:
Emphasis must be put on the word “some” because although there are discussions about this (very, very, very ‘inside baseball’ type of discussions), those who actual believe it are exceptionally few in number (I’ve never met, heard, or seen one personally, if that tells you anything). That being said, I personally still don’t believe they could use Jewish Law to justify dismantling or destroying it because of the harm it would cause the Jewish people in general. (Despite what the morons of NK say. From what they say/do, I have a lot of difficulty believing they are even religious Jewish)
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
Shabbat Shalom, Buzz!
@ mjazz:
I should like to audit the great Blessings and Curses ledger in the sky.
mjazz wrote:
How so? I’m reading Ezekiel right now.
Overlook wrote:
Check out the Tshirt
Ok Wonderful Weekend All….& Gut Shabbos!
@ vapig:
I was going to say I was a little hazy on it,
Ezekiel 34:13 says they will return to their own land:
I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land.
There are other parts in Ezekiel that mention Gog and Magog (Russia) attacking Israel that I might have gotten mixed up with that.
@ vapig:
{vapig}
EXACTLY!
@ citizen_q:
I remember that!
(Cross-posted from Dragon’s Den)
I find it fascinating, in the “watching a slow-motion train wreck” sense of the phrase, to observe Obama’s attitude toward Israel. Historically speaking — never mind any religious angles — it’s a very bad idea to mistreat the Jews as a people. That’s been proven many times, from the Babylonians and Egyptians to the Nazis and Soviets. All of those have disappeared as major powers, even though the countries themselves still exist. Up until now, the U.S. has treated the Jews well, and been a friend to Israel since its creation. Obama’s changed that drastically, trying to give Israel orders that, if followed, would do it serious damage.
Being a panentheistic polytheist myself, I don’t worship the Jewish deity, but I certainly don’t deny that he exists, and it seems quite clear that his promise to bless those who blessed his people and curse those who cursed them is still operative and very effective. Given Obama’s treatment of Israel and its Prime Minister, that’s a very bad omen for the United States. If Israel has to launch a preemptive strike against Iran, and U.S. forces do indeed — as some sources say — attack the Israeli strike aircraft … well, I’m not sure what will happen. It won’t be good, that much I am sure of.
Obama’s already done a lot of damage to this country, possibly irreversible. If he manages to get HaShem upset enough at us, this country is totally toast.
Me, I like Israel, and think it ought to have its full territory, including Gaza and the West Bank, under its control. (Yes, the U.S. Empassy should be in Jerusalem!) But I’m quite sure I’ll get caught in whatever holocaust Obama brings down on our heads, considering how close I live to D.C.
Go, Israel!
snork wrote:
They don’t make arguments, they make threats. Those are pretty much secular, in as much as losing one’s head is a non-denominational way to expire.