Israel's Right to Exist

In this realm, Israel has argued over the years that Jews have a right to establish a state in Palestine, that they have a right to establish a "Jewish" state in Palestine, that this state has a "right to exist," and that it has a "right to defend itself", which includes its subsidiary right to be the only country in the region to possess nuclear weapons, that it has the "right" to inherit all the biblical land that the Jewish God promised it, and a "right" to enact laws that are racially and religiously discriminatory in order to preserve the Jewish character of the state, otherwise articulated in the more recent formula of "a Jewish and democratic state". Israel has also insisted that its enemies, including the Palestinian people, whom it dispossesses, colonises, occupies, and discriminates against, must recognise all these rights, foremost among them its "right to exist as a Jewish state", as a condition for and a precursor to peace.

Rights are non-negotiable

Israel began to invoke this right with vehemence in the last decade after the Palestine Liberation Organisation had satisfied its earlier demand in the 1970s and 80s that the Palestinians recognise its "right to exist". In international law, countries are recognised as existing de facto and de jure, but there is no notion that any country has a "right to exist", let alone that other countries should recognise such a right. Nonetheless, the modification by Israel of its claim that others had to recognise its "right to exist" to their having to recognise "its right to exist as Jewish state" is pushed most forcefully at present, as it goes to the heart of the matter of what the Zionist project has been all about since its inception, and addresses itself to the extant discrepancy between Israel's own understanding of its rights to realise these Zionist aims and the international community's differing understanding of them. This is a crucial matter, as all these rights that Israel claims to possess, but which are not recognised internationally, translate into its rights to colonise Palestinian land, to occupy it, and to discriminate against the non-Jewish Palestinian people.

Israel insists that these rights are not negotiable and that what it is negotiating about is something entirely different, namely that its enemies must accept all its claimed rights unequivocally as a basis to establish peace in the region and end the state of war. However, the rights that Israel claims for itself are central to what the Palestinians and the international community argue is under negotiation – namely, colonisation, occupation, and racial and religious discrimination. But these three practises, as Israel has made amply clear, are protected as self-arrogated rights and are not up for negotiations.

Even Charles Krauthammer Doesn't Get It?

Many Right-wing bloggers (including yours truly) quote him and link him all the time, but does Charles Krauthammer get it about Israel? After this column from Friday's Washington Post, Daniel Friedman argues that even erstwhile Israel defender Charles Krauthammer doesn't get it (Hat Tip: Shy Guy).

Krauthammer must think he's Moses because our hero goes on to dismiss any alternatives with a sweep of his hand. "The Israeli left, mugged by reality, is now moribund. And the Israeli right is chastened. No serious player believes it can hang on forever to the West Bank." Then, assuming a more totalitarian persona, he warn us and the Israelis that resistance to Obama's final solution is futile.. "Might they not resist? Some tried that during the Gaza withdrawal, clinging to synagogue rooftops. What happened? Jewish soldiers pulled them down and took them away." Israel's proudest moment, and since he supported the debacle known as "disengagement, and still does, it must be Krauthammer's too.

Alas, in Krauthammer's parallel universe the stars are all aligned for peace, save one. "The obstacle today, as always, is Palestinian refusal to accept a Jewish state." If only those pesky "Palestinians" would just read from the script... But of course, they won't. Never have, never will. Which brings me to the question I always put to the Krauthammers and the other "friends of Israel" who are waiting for Godot. Is there any limit to your patience with the Arabs? What will it take before you abandon the "land for peace" illusion and its "Palestinian state" solution? Feel free to express your answer as a timeframe or a Jewish body count. Funny, they never get back to me.

Carl in Jerusalem

Castro Moves to Correct the Discourse on Israel

The "delegitimization" of Israel is not to be taken lightly - professional agitators make the case that while Israel may have some theoretical "right to exist," nothing that Israel does to protect itself, advance itself or enhance itself is legitimate. [JINSA long ago rejected begging the Arabs to give Israel what no other country requires - permission.] Israel is legitimate by its history, the circumstances of its birth as a modern country and its defense of its territory and people. But, while the problem is real, two incidents remind us that there are circles and cycles to international affairs as there are to everything else; one made us smile.

1. [....] Castro criticized Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust and talked about the "unique" history of anti-Semitism. "I don't think anyone has been slandered more than the Jews. I would say much more than the Muslims. They have been slandered much more than the Muslims because they are blamed and slandered for everything. No one blames the Muslims for anything... The Jews have lived an existence that is much harder than ours. There is nothing that compares to the Holocaust."

Castro is an old dictator and a liar - and he's already recanted his comments on Cuban economics. But, in fact, in the early days he was far from an enemy of Israel or Jews. In the journal Cuban Studies 23 (University of Pittsburgh press), Jorge Perez-Lopez relates that Jews who left Cuba for Israel in 1961 were called "repatriados" (people returning to their native lands) although, he notes, most were of Eastern European origin. Other Cubans fleeing the revolution were called "gusanos" (anti-revolutionary worms). Israeli agricultural workers were common in Cuba and when Israeli president Yitzhak Ben Zvi died in 1963, Castro declared three days of official mourning. Algerian dictator Ahmed Ben Bella subsequently canceled his trip to Havana. Castro said he didn't care.

Only in 1974, when seeking leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement did Castro break relations with Israel. Which itself is a reminder that "delegitimization" is an old art form: after the Yom Kippur War, 29 African states severed diplomatic relations with Israel under severe pressure from the Arab states. And only two brave countries - Costa Rica and El Salvador - maintain embassies in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. Israel is the only country the United States considers unable to determine its own capital.