I don’t claim to have the entire corner on reality. Although I am by no means deluded, I am a flawed individual and therefore never claim to be that much smarter than anyone else. I do know however, that if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s not a dog. No matter how many people say otherwise.
Let me first get something out of the way. My personal feelings aside, I realize Benjamin Netanyahu is not liked by many people. He is a strong-minded and ambitious politician who comes off to many as smug and arrogant. Despite the fact that I do not share their sentiments, I realize there are even people who I have great respect for that feel that way. That being said, the facts don’t completely change just because of a dislike for a leader’s personality or even his policy.
Popularity or lack thereof often seems to come in the form of a fad. I am by no means saying that there are not many people who have carefully thought out their reasons for bashing Benjamin Netanyahu every opportunity they get, but there are numerous people out there who have remained silent and are only now speaking loudly about their dislike for the Israeli Prime Minister. It’s a very polarizing issue. Families and close friends will disagree vehemently over their feelings for him. Non-Jews with marginal knowledge of foreign affairs now know who he is, with many having formed an opinion. As is the case so often, people follow the hoards.
I am baffled by how so much of liberal politics has taken the form of sympathy for the Palestinians against the evil Israeli oppressors. But much of that is also caused by people being followers. The proof of that lies in the existence of liberals who do indeed support Israel and recognize the fact that Israel lacks a true partner in the peace process.
A friend of mine once said that people buy with emotion and try to back it up with logic. As the world is being sold a bill of goods regarding the situation in the Middle East, the salespeople are constantly scrambling to back up their anti-Israel rhetoric. For the sake of making my argument I will pretend I not only dislike Benjamin Netanyahu, but I will go one step further and pretend I don’t agree with his policies.
So I begin by pretending that I agree with the notion that Netanyahu is an arrogant, racist, self-serving politician who has done more to hurt Israel and its relationship with the rest of the world than he has to help it. I will pretend that I agree with the notion that he has shown American President Barack Obama no respect and is working against him in a way that is diametrically opposed to the great relationship between the United States and Israel. I am pretending all this is true. Now that I am doing this I have a few questions.
Has Iran threatened to annihilate Israel?
Has Israel ever suffered attacks from terrorist organizations? Let be more specific with my question. Has Israel been attacked consistently by terrorists from Lebanon in the North, Gaza in the South, and the Palestinian Authority in the east?
Were there terrorists attacks before Benjamin Netanyahu was Prime Minister?
Did anti-Semitism exist before Benjamin Netanyahu was Prime Minister?
Have offers for peace agreements that could have possibly led to a two state solution been made by Netanyahu governments?
Has the Palestinian Authority repeatedly turned away offers made by Israel?
Was Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas formerly a member of the terrorist organization Fatah?
Did Abbas help fund the massacre at the Munich Olympics?
Have close to 200,000 people been killed in Syria’s civil war?
Did Hamas use its people as human shields?
The answer to all these questions is YES.
Now I have 2 more questions.
Do most of the people who bash Bibi know the name of the head of ISIS? (without googling) It’s Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by the way.
Would Israel suddenly have willing peace partners in the region if Bibi was not Prime Minister?
The answer to both those questions is NO.
My point is not that Netanyahu is perfect. I recently had a discussion with someone very close to me who does not share my affection for him at all. Despite his feelings this person does not bash Bibi for sport. In fact he clearly gets no pleasure at all in criticizing him. He has his views, he speaks his views, but then supports Israel and its government with a passion and commitment greater than most of us, myself included. There’s a difference between being someone with a free voice who utilizes it to criticize their leaders than those who bash a high-profile public figure just because it’s become popular and everyone else is doing it.
No one would ever admit to this, but I’ve watched over the years as opinions get formed, they gain traction, and then all of a sudden countless numbers share these opinions without ever having any facts to back them up. If you want to disagree with Benjamin Netanyahu and produce facts that back up your argument, than I’ll listen. If however you want to come at me with a statement like Israel is an apartheid state under Netanyahu, I may just ignore you. If all you can talk about is how evil Bibi is but you say nothing about Syria, ISIS, Boko Haram and many others, I will realize your agenda has nothing to do with bettering the human race. And I will expect that in many cases, as soon as you find the next fad you’ll probably move on anyway.
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