First, let it be noted that this author is an Episcopalian.
To "the powers that be" seventy five years ago, who chose to carve a Jewish state out of the predominantly Islamic Palestine, your action simply escapes me. True, with six million Jews simply murdered by the Nazi regime (and that a good number would have stepped up and served in the Wehrmacht), those remaining were "owed" a self-governing, sovereign, Homeland.
It can be said that Palestine was the cradle of Judaism, but it was also the cradle of two other major religions - Christianity and Islam.
"Plunking down" a sovereign state governed by one religious movement, was simply "asking for it".
The Jewish state should have been carved out of the defeated Nazi Germany, after all, they surrendered unconditionally. I for one think such should have comprised the German states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. Here there would have been both a maritime port and arable land - and far more of such than in Palestine.
Some here may disagree, but to me, our world would have been a much safer place to inhabit.
Posted by irishchieftain (Member # 1473) on :
The land that became the modern State of Israel was absolutely not “predominantly Islamic”. To even suggest that granting the demands of rogue nations like Iran to utterly destroy the state of Israel and hand it to that bloodthirsty bunch is at the very least complete ignorance of history and certainly complete ignorance of the true intent of such terrorists; it is frankly tacit approval of genocide, or suggesting that genocide would result in a sudden breakout of world peace.
The powers that were created the Balfour Declaration, back when what the then-defunct Ottoman Empire called Southern Syria was for the most part uninhabited; this was supported by the League of Nations. The Muslim Arabs that falsely call themselves “Palestinian” (and only since the late 1960s) started moving there long after Jews started migrating back there (i.e. the Jews in the 1920s, the Muslim Arabs afterwards). This land was called Judaea (after the patriarch Judah, the father of the Jews) during the early days of the Roman Empire, who renamed it “Palaestina” following the destruction of the Second Temple, after the Philistines.
The land of Israel was absolutely not the cradle of Islam. That originated wholly in Arabia.
PLO general Zuheir Mohsen, in a 1977 interview with the Netherlands’ Truow,, infamously declared: “The Palestinian people does not exist.”
I urge you and others to avail of sources of true history instead of relying on historical revisionism.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
First Mr. Helfner, thank you for correcting my factual errors regarding where the origins of Islam occurred. I was starting to doubt my statement after having read more in recent articles appearing in The Times and Journal.
But I thank you for not disagreeing that the Jewish people were "owed" a sovereign self-governing State. That some group (the UN) "in a land far away...." (New York could just as easily been in another galaxy) "plunked" this state down where they did simply on the grounds that it was the cradle of the inhabitant's religion, whom I do recognize had been migrating to the region for some time prior, will escape me.
Posted by irishchieftain (Member # 1473) on :
Interesting web of propaganda was just unraveled over the past two days.
First reports concerned a Christian hospital in Gaza that was reported destroyed, claiming 500 lives; the media immediately jumped to blame Israeli airstrikes.
Later evidence shows that a rocket from either Hamas or Islamic Jihad (as if they were really separate entities) was the offending weapon. The media had taken Hamas reports as gospel, and not for the first time in history.
Further footage verifies that the hospital in question was in fact not destroyed. The errant terrorist rocket hit the parking lot, destroying some cars et al.
Look for more of this kind of “journalism” to pop up (and hopefully get slapped down just as rapidly) while hostilities continue.
Posted by irishchieftain (Member # 1473) on :
As time passed, even more vile propaganda. The World Central Kitchen incident is portrayed as a massive tragedy (and supposed evidence of Israel’s cruelty as the world holds them to a warfaring standard impossible and illogical to uphold, particularly since it makes victory impossible; certainly they do not hold Hamas to that standard), but evidence exists of WCK’s collusion with Hamas. Not to mention the head of that organization, José Andrés, a far-left activist who has not been shy with respect to his opinion of Trump in particular.
And now of course, Iran launched an attack on the country they call the “little Satan” ostensibly in retaliation for the slaying of one of their top generals. Israel intercepted 99 percent of what Iran threw at them.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
All I can say, Mr. Helfner, regarding your immediate is that possibly there is an alternative news source supporting your report that there has been collusion between Hamas and World Central Kitchens, but any news source that I review, and from which I formulate my opinions, has not reported on these matters.
I have given financial support to World Central Kitchens each year since I first learned of their mission at the start of the Ukraine war - and I have no intention of withdrawing such.
They do good work; and both charity rating agencies, Charity Navigator and Guidestar, rate them "effective".
Finally, what is coordination, as distinct from collusion? The first noted is needed for the efficient delivery of the relief. The second means the aid giver is advising the relieved as to how best attain battlefield advantage. Once again, possibly your news sources can establish the latter has occurred, but mine most certainly have not.
Posted by MontanaJim (Member # 2323) on :
No evidence exists whatsoever of collusion between Hamas and the world central kitchen. its founder is world renowned and is no less than a hero for helping feed the hungry. Voicing a negative opinion of donald trump doesnt make him bad. Millions of people agree with him. we have brains and dont bow down to donald trump, nor are part of his cult.
Posted by irishchieftain (Member # 1473) on :
quote:Originally posted by Gilbert B Norman: All I can say, Mr. Helfner, regarding your immediate is that possibly there is an alternative news source supporting your report that there has been collusion between Hamas and World Central Kitchens, but any news source that I review, and from which I formulate my opinions, has not reported on these matters.
I have given financial support to World Central Kitchens each year since I first learned of their mission at the start of the Ukraine war - and I have no intention of withdrawing such.
They do good work; and both charity rating agencies, Charity Navigator and Guidestar, rate them "effective".
Finally, what is coordination, as distinct from collusion? The first noted is needed for the efficient delivery of the relief. The second means the aid giver is advising the relieved as to how best attain battlefield advantage. Once again, possibly your news sources can establish the latter has occurred, but mine most certainly have not.
Then you need to review more sources. And no questioning of whom the relief, as described, is actually going to, in Ukraine as well as Gaza? (the former has plenty of pro-Russian moles, take note)
Posted by irishchieftain (Member # 1473) on :
quote:Originally posted by MontanaJim: No evidence exists whatsoever of collusion between Hamas and the world central kitchen. its founder is world renowned and is no less than a hero for helping feed the hungry. Voicing a negative opinion of donald trump doesnt make him bad. Millions of people agree with him. we have brains and dont bow down to donald trump, nor are part of his cult.
You sure do like to rant, do you not. Never mind throwing proof by assertion and argumentum ad populum on top of your ad hominems.
You have no clue what WCK is really up to, do you? Neither do I, but I sure want to find out.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
quote:Originally posted by irishchieftain: Then you need to review more sources.
Mr. Helfner, I think my daily reads, The Times and Journal, qualify as respected news sources - and quite possibly the two most respected on this planet!!!
But you're not the only one I get it from. Start with my Sister - an Evangelical Trumpist whose sources are Newsmax and One America (she dropped Fox - they didn't fight hard enough for Trump during '20). And my auto salesman; I don't know where she digs up her stuff - probably the same sources as you do.
Posted by irishchieftain (Member # 1473) on :
There is that word “respected”. That might get in the way of “truthful”. As for sources, there are many English-language ones from Israel itself, from varying points of view (which are allowed there; neither Hamas nor Fatah extend the same courtesy to its respective populations they rule over).
There is no such thing as a “Trumpist”, just as there is no ideology called “Trumpism” following that. These are loaded terms intended to label and divide people.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
I must agree Mr. Helfner, that use of Trumpist as a noun is weak definition, which does not appear to be recognized by Merriam Webster, but is by Wiki:
So what was I to say; that both my Sister and the auto salesman who has now sold me three of such (of the five I have acquired since '96 from the dealership) are "Trump believers"?
And finally, my Sister is quite educated; Bachelor's Smith, Master's Columbia, yet she drinks Trump's Kool Aid (the auto salesman; an Associate's from a community college).